The artistic genius of Nina Simone found expression not only in piano playing, singing, and composing (she despised the term ‘jazz’ and always called herself a black classical pianist), but also in passionate activism for civil rights. Simone embodied an individualist and nonconformist spirit that was truly libertarian….
I wish I knew how it would feel to be free
I wish I could break all the chains holding me
I wish I could say all the things that I should say
say ’em loud, say ’em clear
for the whole round world to hear.
I wish I could share all the love that’s in my heart
remove all the bars that keep us apart
I wish you could know what it means to be me
Then you’d see and agree
that every man should be free.
I wish I could give all I’m longing to give
I wish I could live like I’m longing to live
I wish that I could do all the things that I can do
though I’m way overdue I’d be starting anew.
Well I wish I could be like a bird in the sky
how sweet it would be if I found I could fly
Oh I’d soar to the sun and look down at the sea
and I’d sing cos I’d know that
and I’d sing cos I’d know that
and I’d sing cos I’d know that
I’d know how it feels to be free
I’d know how it feels to be free
I’d know how it feels to be free
Nice song, but I prefer SHE-WOLF by Shakira, dedicated to those who are always saying they’re going but never do.
I don’t know shakira…and going where?
Nina’s great. What a genius. I listen to her piano riffs and I imagine that’s how Bach might have played them…there’s a long stretch in one version where it’s all counterpoint, improvised on the spot.
And that’s someone Julliard (or was it Curtis?) – bless them – turned down.
She never quite got over that..and add to it the racial snubs and isolation, as well as her restless love life and possible bipolarity, it made for a very difficult life that showed in her anger and occasional belligerence.
But she was brave, original, and uncompromising.
I only wish she’d stayed the young, often pretty Nina, instead of becoming mannish and a kind of caricature of herself later on.
That was sad.
But you know it wasn’t easy to be a classical music genius in the body of a poor black girl.
Beautiful.
(She had an affair with the Prime Minister of Barbados, though, so I don’t think she was too principled :P. But nobody is perfect.)
Well, I don’t applaud all her personal choices or even her politics, outside her desire to see her people treated like equal human beings.
Naive leftists often have the weirdest ideas about what goes on it some of the socialist paradises they extol.
But she can sing..and she can play.
Her sense of timing is impeccable. Listen to her sing something and go and listen to someone else do the same number and you can see the difference.