The Gathering
Strange Fruit
[Verse 1]
Southern trees bear a strange fruit
Blood on the leaves and blood at the root
Black bodies swinging in the Southern breeze
There's a strange fruit hanging in the poplar trees

[Verse 2]
Pastoral scenes of a gallant south
The bulging eyes and the twisted mouth
Scent of magnolia, sweet and fresh
And the sudden smell of burning, burning flesh

[Instrumental Break]

[Verse 3]
Here is a fruit for the crows to pluck
For the rain to gather, for the wind to suck
For the sun to rot, for the tree to drop
Here is a strange and bitter
A strange and bitter
Crop