 The lyrics were drawn from a poem from 1937 by Mirapole. See, that Brian can do it. Bam. It's a protest song of the lynching of black Americans. Right. Oh, and it was written by Billie Holiday. It was. Wow. Well, it was written and composed by Lewis Allen, who wrote the poem, but she recorded it as a song. It's the only way somebody could record that tune and do it.