Nina Simone
Day 28 of #BlackHistoryMonth Black Theory:
Nina Simone
“What kept me sane was knowing that things would change, and it was a question of keeping myself together until they did” I Put a Spell on You: The Autobiography of Nina Simone
“I am just one of the people who is sick of the social order, sick of the establishment, sick to my soul of it all. To me, America’s society is nothing but a cancer, and it must be exposed before it can be cured. I am not the doctor to cure it. All I can do is expose the sickness.”
“And because of the better quality in pop music, I find that the gap between my audience and what I am trying to say is closing. I still have the old audience I had before, but it’s growing now. However, it is difficult to retain your standards with the pressure of trying to make money, which always has its rules…It’s hard to walk the tightrope of doing what you think is your best and making money at it. The pressure of show business is on all the time and show business is a fickle business. Whatever is popular now—that’s all that counts. I have to constantly re-identify myself to myself, reactivate my own standards, my own convictions about what I’m doing and why.”
“It’s funny about music…music is like…music is one of the ways by which you can know everything which is going on in the world. You can feel…through music…Whew…you can feel the vibrations of everybody in the world at any given moment. Through music you can become sad, joyful, loving, you can learn. You can learn mathematics, touch, pacing…Oh my God! Ooh…Wow…You can see colors through music. Anything! Anything human can be felt through music, which means that there is no limit to the creating that can be done with music. You can take the same phrase from any song and cut it up so many different ways—it’s infinite. It’s like God…you know?” The Real Nina Simone, Interview in Downbeat Magazine, 1968
“I ain't got no home, ain't got no shoes
Ain't got no money, ain't got no class
Ain't got no skirts, ain't got no sweater
Ain't got no perfume, ain't got no beer
Ain't got no man
Ain't got no mother, ain't got no culture
Ain't got no friends, ain't got no schooling
Ain't got no love, ain't got no name
Ain't got no ticket, ain't got no token
Ain't got no God
Then what have I got
Why am I alive anyway?
Yeah, what have I got
Nobody can take away
Got my hair, got my head
Got my brains, got my ears
Got my eyes, got my nose
Got my mouth, I got my smile
I got my tongue, got my chin
Got my neck, got my boobs
Got my heart, got my soul
Got my back, I got my sex
I got my arms, got my hands
Got my fingers, got my legs
Got my feet, got my toes
Got my liver, got my blood
I've got life
I've got my freedom
I've got life
I've got life
And I'm gonna keep it
I've got life
And nobody's gonna take it away” Ain't Got No/i Got Life
“Don't you know you're life itself
Like a leaf clings to a tree
Oh my darling, cling to me
For we're creatures of the wind
And wild is the wind
So wild is the wind” Wild Is The Wind
“The people that built their heaven on your land are telling you yours is in the sky”
“There is no oxygen in the air
Men and women have lost their hair
Ashen faces legs that stand
Ghosts and goblins walk in this land
When tomorrow becomes yesterday
And tomorrow becomes eternity
When the soul with the soul goes away beyond
When life is taken and there
Are no more babies born
And there is no one and there is everyone
When there is no one and there is everyone
Tomorrow will be the 22nd century
Man became the thing that he worships
Man today became his god
That was the day that man
And woman truly became bored
Man became his good man became his evil
Man became his god and man became his devil” 22nd Century
“And you there, sitting on the goddamn fence!
Stop selling the dope
Stop sniffing the cocaine and buying crack
Stop using the needle
And for God's sake, stop killing each other!
This stuff is giving me nightmares!
Let no man write your epitaph
Don't let this be the sign of the times
Time, mess with your mind
Say time, oh mess with your mind
Time” Sign O’ the Time
“Hound dogs on my trail
School children sitting in jail
Black cat cross my path
I think every day's gonna be my last
Lord have mercy on this land of mine
We all gonna get it in due time
I don't belong here
I don't belong there
I've even stopped believing in prayer
Don't tell me
I tell you
Me and my people just about due
I've been there so I know
They keep on saying "Go slow!"
But that's just the trouble
"do it slow"
Washing the windows
"do it slow"
Picking the cotton
"do it slow"
You're just plain rotten
"do it slow"
You're too damn lazy
"do it slow"
The thinking's crazy
"do it slow"
Where am I going
What am I doing
I don't know
I don't know
Just try to do your very best
Stand up be counted with all the rest
For everybody knows about Mississippi Goddam
I made you thought I was kiddin'
Picket lines
School boy cots
They try to say it's a communist plot
All I want is equality
for my sister my brother my people and me
Yes you lied to me all these years
You told me to wash and clean my ears
And talk real fine just like a lady
And you'd stop calling me Sister Sadie
Oh but this whole country is full of lies
You're all gonna die and die like flies
I don't trust you any more
You keep on saying "Go slow!"
"Go slow!"
But that's just the trouble
"do it slow"
Desegregation
"do it slow"
Mass participation
"do it slow"
Reunification
"do it slow"
Do things gradually
"do it slow"
But bring more tragedy
"do it slow"
Why don't you see it
Why don't you feel it
I don't know
I don't know
You don't have to live next to me
Just give me my equality
Everybody knows about Mississippi
Everybody knows about Alabama
Everybody knows about Mississippi Goddam
That's it!” Mississippi Goddam
“Hard times in the city
In a hard town by the sea
Ain't nowhere to run to
There ain't nothin' here for free
Hooker on the corner
Waiting for a train
Drunk lying on the sidewalk
Sleeping in the rain
And the people hide their faces
And they hide their eyes
'Cause the city's dyin'
And they don't know why
Oh, Baltimore
Ain't it hard just to live?” Baltimore
“And now we got a revolution
Cause i see the face of things to come
Yeah, the Constitution
Well, my friend, its gonna have to bend
I'm here to tell you about destruction
Of all the evil that will have to end.
Some folks are gonna get the notion
I know they'll say I'm preachin hate
But if i have to swim the ocean
Well i would just to communicate
Its not as simple as talkin jive
The daily struggle just to stay alive
Singin about a revolution
Because were talkin about a change
Its more than just evolution
Well you know, you got to clean your brain
The only way that we can stand in fact
Is when you get your foot off our back” Revolution, Pts. 1, 2
Links:
Lyrics -
https://www.azlyrics.com/n/ninasimone.html
Music -
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCJ-FRbWianyv9q-Ly9whFQQ
Website -
Interviews -
https://www.musicismysanctuary.com/real-nina-simone-1968-interview-beat-magazine
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8olEruTT_io
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kLb1OTLmIzE
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QxXnnx0269I
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SAGKjOTjQcY
https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=403163374866910
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9yM72wn8WqI
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PzbyAsIuuO8
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LZXIW7RS6V4
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JcVrbRaNLxY
https://www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&v=t-a7l0Gvabk&t=101s
Video -