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
Black Is The Colour
Nina Simone Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
His face is like roses so fair
He's the prettiest face
And the neatest of hands
I love the ground on where he stands
Oh I love my love
And this he knows
If you no more on earth I see,
I can't serve you as you have me
The winters passed and the leaves are green
The time is passed that we have seen
But still I hope the time will come
When you and I will be as one
I go to the Clyde to mourn and weep,
But satisfied I never could sleep
I write you a letter
Just a few short lines
I'll suffer death ten thousand times.
So fare you well my ain't true love
The time has passed but I wish you well
But still I hope the time will come
When you and I will be as one.
I love my love and this she knows
I love the ground whereon he goes
He's the prettiest face and the neatest of hands,
I love the ground where on he stands.
In the song "Black Is the Color," Nina Simone sings about the beauty of her true love, whose hair is as black as coal. She describes his face as fair like roses, and expresses how he has the prettiest face and neatest hands. Simone’s love for him is so deep and fervent that she loves the very ground he walks on. In lines repeated throughout the song, she professes her love for her true love and her attachment to the ground he stands on. While their time together has passed, she still holds hope that they will be together someday.
The song has a melancholic tone, as Simone sings about the passing of time and her unrequited love. Despite the pain and sorrow she feels, her love for her beau remains unyielding. She continues to express her devotion to him, even though he is not physically present.
The song can be interpreted as a metaphor for the beauty and power of blackness. The color black, which is traditionally associated with darkness and death, is celebrated for its strength and resilience, as embodied in the love the singer has for her dark-haired, dark-skinned lover. The song is a tribute to blackness as something to be cherished and revered, and as an integral part of the singer’s identity.
Line by Line Meaning
Black is the color of my true love's hair
My true love's hair is as dark as the night sky.
His face is like roses so fair
His face is delicate and beautiful like a blooming rose.
He's the prettiest face
His features are perfectly symmetrical and aesthetically pleasing.
And the neatest of hands
His hands are immaculately clean and tidy.
I love the ground on where he stands
I adore every inch of land he sets foot on.
Oh I love my love
I have an intense passion and affection for my love.
And this he knows
My love is aware of my devotion to them.
If you no more on earth I see,
In the event that I never see my love again,
I can't serve you as you have me
I will always hold dear the love they have bestowed upon me.
The winters passed and the leaves are green
Time has moved on, and everything around me has grown and changed.
The time is passed that we have seen
The time we shared together has come and gone.
But still I hope the time will come
I continue to long for the day when we will reunite.
When you and I will be as one
When we will be united as a single entity of love and devotion.
I go to the Clyde to mourn and weep,
I visit the River Clyde to grieve and cry.
But satisfied I never could sleep
Yet I cannot find contentment or peace in my bed at night.
I write you a letter
I express my feelings in writing in hopes of reaching my love.
Just a few short lines
But the few words I pen fail to truly convey the depth of my emotions.
I'll suffer death ten thousand times.
I would rather die a thousand deaths than live without my love.
So fare you well my ain't true love
I bid farewell to my one and only true love.
The time has passed but I wish you well
Though time has torn us apart, I still hope for their happiness and wellbeing.
Lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC
Written by: PAUL JOHN WELLER
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
@opheliesemiramis3158
All the lyrics of this version :
Black is the color of my true love's hair
His face so soft and wondrous fair
The purest eyes
And the strongest hands
I love the ground on where he stands
I love the ground on where he stands
Black is the color of my true love's hair
Oh I love my lover
And well he knows
Oh I love the ground on where he goes
And still I hope that the time will come
Still I pray that the time will come
When he and I will be as one
Lord When he and I will be as one
Black is the color of my true love's hair
Black is the color of my true love's hair
Black is the color of my love, so fair
Black is her body, so firm, so bold
Black is her beauty, her soul of gold
I carry my love in my heart
Every... everywhere
And no matter where I go
She is always there
I remember when she came to me
In a vision of my mind
I remember when she said to me:
"Don't ever look behind"
She said: "Look ahead", and I would see
Someone always loving me...
Her picture is painted in my memory
Without a color of despair
And no matter where I go
Black is the color of my True love's hair
@CosmasConnolly
This is an old Irish ballad. As an Irishman I can say I have never, ever, heard a more beautiful rendition.
@sabbahelhajjami1735
I didn't know it was an Irish sog, whatever it's one of my favorite songs ever
@sean_d
Although popular in Ireland due to Christy Moore it's origin is Scottish, (after all it mentions the Clyde). Listen to Christy's intro...
https://youtu.be/uYpgsPB-Bkw
@astridanayalation4512
Thank y’all for sharing this fact 🎈
@MDC23
As a french, I didn't know it was an irish ballad. Thanks a lot for letting us know it
@lewieq9596
I am not familiar with Irish ballads but I sure got the feeling of it from her sensitive rendition. I am glad about that.
@drumrnva
I like this performance, but I also like the audience. They know when something special is happening, and they know how to let the quietness resonate. Seems like that is pretty rare these days.
@WimiBussard
holds smartphone click click click upload selfie with background and flash
@gamwpanagia
+Wimi Bussard Gotta earn them facebook creds!
@giorgos091973
+gamwpanagia (bad nickname)