ABSTRACT
This chapter demonstrates the role of the cognitive process in understanding and interpreting irony in a musical example through the interwoven layers of textual, musical and performative ironies in Billie Holiday's 1959 video-recorded performance of Strange Fruit. He argues the discussion of speed, efficiency and accuracy is significant in the case of music because the lyrics are not just read or recited as speech; they are sung. A first-time listener to Holidays performance of Strange Fruit must contend with numerous obstacles before appreciating the ironies that are the foundation of the lyrics. The most significant barrier was that nightclubs typically programmed music for entertainment and this was not an enjoyable song. Allanas, a Harvard-educated English teacher likely calculated, even planned, for how and when listeners would discover his ploy. He wrote Strange Fruit initially for a New York teacher's union publication, a politically left, well-educated and culturally-aware audience.
