Strange Fruit by Billie Holiday
A legendary piece of jazz music, Strange Fruit was first performed and recorded by Billie Holiday in 1939. The lyrics had been written by Abel Meeropol in 1937 as a simple poem, with Holiday bringing the words to life in his distinctive fashion.
Source: vernonvine.org
This song, which has been covered by countless artists like UB40, Jeff Buckley, and Nina Simone, is all about racism in the United States, with a big focus on the lynchings of African-American people in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.