The music producers at Columbia Records thought that subject of the song (the lynching of black people) might upset people. A music producer called Milt Gabler said that Holiday could record it for his label called Commodore Records. That was done in April 1939 and Holiday sang "Strange Fruit" over the next twenty years. The song did not get played on the radio but still sold well. Gabler said that this was because the other side of the record was "Fine and Mellow", which was a jukebox hit. Later, she recorded "Strange Fruit" again for Verve.