Simone was born Eunice Kathleen Waymon on 21st February 1933 in Tryon, North Carolina, USA, one of eight children. Like a number of other black singers in the U.S., she was inspired as a child by Marian Anderson, and began singing at her local church, also showing great talent as a pianist. Her public debut, a piano recital, was made at the age of ten. Her parents, who had taken seats in the front row, were forced to move to the back of the hall to make way for white audience members. This incident contributed to her later involvement in the civil rights movement.
Simone's mother, Mary Kate Waymon (who lived into her late nineties) was a strict Methodist minister; her father, John Divine Waymon, was a handyman and sometime barber who suffered bouts of ill-health. Mrs Waymon worked as a maid, and her employer, hearing of Nina's talent, provided funds for piano lessons for the little girl. Subsequently, a local fund was set up to assist in Eunice's continued education.
At seventeen, Simone moved to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, where she taught piano and accompanied singers. She was able to begin studying piano at New York City's prestigious Juilliard School of Music but lack of funds meant that she was unable to fulfill her dream of becoming America's first Black classical pianist. She later had an interview to study piano at the Curtis Institute, but was rejected. Simone believed this rejection, which fueled her hatred of racism, was because she was black.
Simone turned to blues and jazz after getting her start at the Midtown Bar & Grill on Pacific Avenue in Atlantic City, taking the name Nina Simone in 1954; "Nina" was her boyfriend's nickname for her, and "Simone" was after the French actress Simone Signoret. She first came to public notice in 1959 with her wrenching rendition of George Gershwin's "I Loves You Porgy" (from Porgy and Bess), her only Top-Forty hit in the United States. This was soon followed by the single "My Baby Just Cares for Me" (this was also a hit in the 1980s in the United Kingdom when used for television advertisements for Chanel No 5 perfume).
Throughout the 1960s, Simone was involved in the civil rights movement and recorded a number of political songs, including "To Be Young, Gifted and Black" (later covered by Aretha Franklin and Donny Hathaway), "Backlash Blues", "Mississippi Goddam" (a response to the murder of Medgar Evers and the bombing of a church in Birmingham, Alabama killing four black children), "I Wish I Knew How It Would Feel to Be Free", and Kurt Weill's "Pirate Jenny", from The Threepenny Opera, re-cast in a southern town.
In 1961, Simone recorded a version of the traditional song "House of the Rising Sun", which was then covered by folk-blues artist, Dave Van Ronk, and later recorded by Bob Dylan, where it was picked up by The Animals and became their signature hit. Other songs she is famous for include "I Put a Spell on You" (originally by Screamin' Jay Hawkins), The Beatles' "Here Comes the Sun", "Four Women", Bob Dylan's "I Shall Be Released", the Bee Gees' "To Love Somebody", and "Ain't Got No (I Got Life)". The latter, from the musical Hair, was her debut in the UK charts, reaching number two in 1968, and a remixed version of the recording by Groovefinder was a UK Top Thirty hit in 2006.
Broadway musicals also supplied several hits for Simone: "My Baby Just Cares for Me", "Love Me or Leave Me", "Feeling Good", and "Ne Me Quitte Pas". Also "You Can Have Him" on the LP Live at Town Hall recorded when she was twenty-six years old; at the end of this operatic performance, which displays her great skill as an actress as well as a musician, she whoops with joy. This single recording encapsulates her extraordinary power, wit, flexibility, sensuality and occasional menace.
In 1987 Nina experienced a resurgence in popularity when "My Baby Just Cares for Me", a track from her first Bethlehem Records album (1958) became a huge hit in the UK and elsewhere. Nina's versatility as an artist was evident in all her music, which often had a folk-music simplicity.
In a single concert, she moved easily from gospel-inspired tunes to blues and jazz and, in numbers like "For All We Know", to numbers infused with European classical stylings, and counterpoint fugues.
Throughout most of her career she was accompanied by percussionist Leopoldo Flemming and guitarist and musical director Al Shackman.
In 1971, Simone left the United States following disagreements with her agents, record labels, and the tax authorities, citing racism as the reason. She returned in 1978 and was arrested for tax evasion (she had withheld several years of income tax as a protest against the Vietnam War). She lived in various countries in the Caribbean, Africa, and Europe, continuing to perform into her 60s. In the 1980s, she performed regularly at Ronnie Scott's jazz club in London. In 1995, Simone reportedly shot and wounded her neighbour's son with an air pistol after his laughing disturbed her concentration.
She had a reputation in the music industry for being volatile and sometimes difficult to deal with, a characterization with which Simone strenuously took issue.
Though her onstage style could be somewhat haughty and aloof, in later years, Simone particularly seemed to enjoy engaging her adoring audiences by recounting sometimes humorous anecdotes related to her career and music and soliciting requests. Simone's regal bearing and commanding stage presence earned her the title the "High Priestess of Soul."
In 1993, she settled near Aix-en-Provence in the south of France. She had been ill with cancer for several years before she died on 21st April 2003 in her sleep at her home in Carry-le-Rouet.
Simone was the recipient of a Grammy Hall of Fame Award in 2000 for her song "I Loves You Porgy." She has also received fifteen Grammy Award nominations. On Human Kindness Day 1974 in Washington, D.C., more than 10,000 people paid tribute to Simone. Simone received two honorary degrees in music and humanities, from the University of Massachusetts Amherst and Malcolm X College. She preferred to be called "Dr. Nina Simone" after these honors were bestowed upon her. Only two days before her death, Simone was awarded an honorary degree by the Curtis Institute, the music school that had refused to admit her as a student at the beginning of her career.
In 2002, the city of Nijmegen (The Netherlands) named a street after her, the Nina Simonestraat. Simone lived in Nijmegen between 1988 and 1990.
Simone was inducted into the North Carolina Music Hall of Fame in 2009.
In 2010 a statue in her honor was erected in Trade Street, Tryon, North Carolina, her place of birth.
*Official site
Ain't Got No
Nina Simone Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Ain't got no money, ain't got no class
Ain't got no skirts, ain't got no sweaters
Ain't got no Perfume, ain't got no beard
Ain't got no mind
Ain't got no mother, ain't got no culture
Ain't got no friends, ain't got no schooling
Ain't got no ticket, ain't got no token
Ain't got no God
What have I got?
Why am I alive anyway?
Yeah, what have I got?
Nobody can take away
I got my hair, I got my head
I got my brains, I got my ears
I got my eyes, I got my nose
I got my mouth, I got my smile
I got my tongue, I got my chin
I got my neck, I got my boobs
I got my heart, I got my soul
I got my back, I got my sex
I got my arms, I got my hands
I got my fingers, Got my legs
I got my feet, I got my toes
I got my liver, Got my blood
I've got life, I've got my freedom
I've got life, I'm gonna keep it
I've got life, I'm gonna keep it
Nina Simone's "Ain't Got No/I Got Life" is a powerful and thought-provoking song that speaks to the basic human experiences of loss, struggle, and resilience. The lyrics in the first stanza are a catalog of all the things that the singer "ain't got" - no home, no shoes, no money, no class, no skirts, no sweaters, no perfume and no beard; ultimately, the singer concludes that they "ain't got no mind." In the second stanza, the list continues, adding that the singer has no mother, no culture, no friends, no schooling, no love, no name, no ticket, no token, and no God. This catalog highlights the many ways in which we define ourselves and our existence through external markers, such as social class, clothing, education, and religion.
However, the refrain of the song is a powerful counterpoint to this list of losses: "I've got life, I've got my freedom, I've got life, I'm gonna keep it." Despite all the things that the singer lacks, the one thing they do have is life itself, and this is something that can't be taken away. The second half of the song is a celebration of the singer's physical existence, listing all the parts of their body that they "got." This celebration of the physical self is a contrast to the emphasis on external markers in the first stanza, emphasizing that our bodies are a fundamental aspect of our own aliveness and freedom.
Overall, "Ain't Got No/I Got Life" is a powerful reminder of the resilience and power of the human spirit in the face of adversity. The song encourages us to find meaning and value in our own existence, even in the face of loss, and to celebrate the basic physical experiences of being alive.
Line by Line Meaning
Ain't got no home, ain't got no shoes
I don’t have a home to come to, and no shoes to wear while I walk around.
Ain't got no money, ain't got no class
I don't have enough money to live life hassle-free and have no class or refinement.
Ain't got no skirts, ain't got no sweaters
I don't have anything to quickly put on to feel warm or look good.
Ain't got no Perfume, ain't got no beard
I don’t have any perfume to fancy myself up or a beard to grow on my face.
Ain't got no mind
I feel like I have no sense of purpose or understanding when it comes to the world.
Ain't got no mother, ain't got no culture
I don’t have any maternal figure to comfort me, and no significant cultural identity.
Ain't got no friends, ain't got no schooling
I don't have any friends to share experiences with, and no past education to fuel my knowledge.
Ain't got no love, ain't got no name
I do not have anyone to truly love and no name of my own to be recognized by others.
Ain't got no ticket, ain't got no token
I don’t have any forms of payment to get me to places I’d like to go.
Ain't got no God
I don't have any profound belief or faith in a higher power.
What have I got?
What possessions or traits make my life worth living?
Why am I alive anyway?
What is the purpose or reason for existing?
Yeah, what have I got?
Yes, exactly, what do I have?
Nobody can take away
Even if I have little to my name, there are intrinsic qualities of my life that no one can deprive me of.
I've got my hair, I've got my head
I have hair growing atop my head and the brain within it.
I've got my brains, I've got my ears
I maintain my intellectual and audial capabilities.
I've got my eyes, I've got my nose
I have working eyesight and smelling abilities.
I've got my mouth, I've got my smile
I have the power of speech and the gesture of a smile.
I've got my tongue, I've got my chin
I am able to taste things with my tongue, and my chin differentiates my face from others.
I've got my neck, I've got my boobs
I have a neck that connects my head to my body, and breasts to feed infants.
I've got my heart, I've got my soul
I own emotions and a non-material essence of who I am.
I've got my back, I've got my sex
I own a spinal column to keep me upright, and genitalia to attribute to my gender identity.
I've got my arms, I've got my hands
I have limbs to perform manual tasks and hands to grasp objects.
I've got my fingers, Got my legs
I have detailed appendages at the end of my arms and two legs to support my body.
I've got my feet, I've got my toes
I have feet to move me around and toes to balance on.
I've got my liver, Got my blood
I have a liver to cleanse my toxins and blood to circulate through my body.
I've got life, I've got my freedom
I possess the powerful experience of existence and the right to live it the way I choose.
I've got life, I'm gonna keep it
The experience of living is worth more than material possessions, and I will hold onto it relentlessly.
I've got life, I'm gonna keep it
The experience of living is worth more than material possessions, and I will hold onto it relentlessly.
Lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC
Written by: Galt MacDermot, Gerome Ragni, James Rado
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
@MrMariaZerpa
Ain't Got No / I Got Life
Nina Simone
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 sweaters
Ain't got no perfume, ain't got no love
Ain't got no faith
Ain't got no culture
Ain't got no mother, ain't got no father
Ain't got no brother, ain't got no children
Ain't got no aunts, ain't got no uncles
Ain't got no love, ain't got no mind
Ain't got no country, ain't got no schooling
Ain't got no friends, ain't got no nothing
Ain't got no water, ain't got no air
Ain't got no smokes, ain't got no chicken
Ain't got no
Ain't got no water
Ain't got no love
Ain't got no air
Ain't got no God
Ain't got no wine
Ain't got no money
Ain't got no faith
Ain't got no God
Ain't got no love
Then what have I got
Why am I alive anyway?
Yeah, hell
What have I got
Nobody can take away
I got my hair, got my head
Got my brains, got my ears
Got my eyes, got my nose
Got my mouth
I got my
I got myself
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 lives
I've got headaches, and toothaches
And bad times too like you
I 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
Ohhh
I've got life!
@tnpvnp
"I've got life,
I've got my freedom,
I've got life,
I've got life
And I am gonna keep it,
I've got life
And nobody's gonna take it away,
I've got life!"
One and only - Nina Simone <3
@RudydeGroot
Lyrics:
(EDIT: I see my lyrics are now implemented in the YT subtitles.)
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 sweaters
Ain't got no perfume - ain't got no love
ain't got no faith.
I ain't got no culture - ain't got no mother
Ain't got no father - ain't got no brother
Ain't got no children - ain't got no aunts
Ain't got no uncles - ain't got no love
ain't got no mind.
I ain't got no country - ain't got no schoolin'
Ain't got no friends - ain't got no nothin'
Ain't got no water - ain't got no air
Ain't got no smokes - ain't got no (...?)
ain't got no ...
Ain't got no water - ain't got no love
Ain't got no faith - ain't got no blood
Ain't got no wine - ain't got no money
Ain't got no faith - ain't got no God
ain't got no love.
And what have I got ...
Why am I alive anyway ...
And what have I got ...
[that] Nobody can take away ...
I got my hair - got my head
Got my brains - got my hair
Got my eyes - got my nose
Got my mouth - I got my s...
I got my selves.
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 LIFE!
I got headaches and toothaches
and bad times too - like you.
[I got my hair I got my head ... and reprise until fade.]
@B501M
i like from 2:23-2:25
Nina dons this curious little smile, & then sings the chorus, along with the other band members, relaxing &
gettin' all sassy 😅
& sure {more} certain /
sure
of
herself
❤ ❤ ❤
You tell THAT AUDIENCE, Nina!!! 😂
Tell 'em what you got ! ! ! 😅
Go, girl, go !!!
🎉❤🎉❤❤
@arnetrautmann9783
Can we please take a second and give a shout-out to that amazing bass player? He deserves some love.
@sbakernyc5761
This version one of the most powerful songs ever recorded
@dantesanchez2491
I love how this song conducts a deconstruction " I ain't got nothing", leting the ego go away, to then proceed to build from what is real: me, genuine and truly me. Realizing how powerful we're when we've understood who we are. Awakening is such a powerful transformation tool. Bless Nina for that.
@leila1662
Truly a REAL queen
@castielsisko2120
Actually it's about a freed slave just being happy to be alive. It ain't about ego lol
@miscellaneousSLUDGE
@@castielsisko2120 think again my friend, we are all enslaved, to be truly free is to let go of your ego
@castielsisko2120
@@miscellaneousSLUDGE we're not all chattel slaves you dingus too many people center their ego around not having one and you're giving me a similar vibe here.
@castielsisko2120
@@miscellaneousSLUDGE this song is quite literally about about someone getting out of chattel slavery and just being happy to be alive
@JoeG15
Man this version gives me chills every time. What a rock star, RIP.
@AlexandreAuCambodge
💝