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
Brown Eyed Handsome Man
Nina Simone Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
he was sitting in the witness stand
The judge's wife called up the district attorney
Said you free that brown eyed man
You want your job you better free that brown eyed man
Flying across the desert in a TWA,
I saw a woman walking across the sand
To get a brown eyed handsome man
Her destination was a brown eyed handsome man
Way back in history three thousand years
Back every since the world began
There's been a whole lot of good women shed a tear
For a brown eyed handsome man
That's what the trouble was brown eyed handsome man
Beautiful daughter couldn't make up her mind
Between a doctor and a lawyer man
Her mother told her daughter go out and find yourself
A brown eyed handsome man
That's what your daddy is a brown eyed handsome man
Milo Venus was a beautiful lass
She had the world in the palm of her hand
But she lost both her arms in a wrestling match
To get brown eyed handsome man
She fought and won herself a brown eyed handsome man
Two, three count with nobody on
He hit a high fly into the stand
Rounding third he was headed for home
It was a brown eyed handsome man
That won the game; it was a brown eyed handsome man
In Nina Simone's song, Brown Eyed Handsome Man, the lyrics describe the power and influence of a man who possesses one simple, yet defining characteristic: brown eyes. The song opens with the story of a man who has been arrested for unemployment and is sitting in the witness stand. However, the judge's wife calls up the district attorney and demands that he free the "brown eyed man" if he wants to keep his job, showcasing the power that this trait holds.
Simone then jumps to a woman walking across the desert, walking 30 miles to Bombay just to find herself a "brown eyed handsome man." The song then speaks on how throughout history, women have shed tears over these men and how it's caused trouble. A daughter is advised to find herself a brown eyed man, following in the footsteps of her father. The song ends with the story of a baseball game, where a brown-eyed man wins the game with a home run.
This song speaks to the idea that there is something inexplicable about brown eyes that make them attractive and powerful. Whether it be the history, genetics or just how it looks, the song highlights the power of this feature and the influence it can have over people.
Line by Line Meaning
Arrested on charges of unemployment,
He was arrested because he could not find work.
he was sitting in the witness stand
He was in court waiting to hear his sentence.
The judge's wife called up the district attorney
The judge's wife contacted the prosecutor handling the case.
Said you free that brown eyed man
She demanded that the man be set free.
You want your job you better free that brown eyed man
The judge's wife threatened the prosecutor to secure the man's release.
Flying across the desert in a TWA,
The singer was flying across the desert in a plane operated by Trans World Airlines.
I saw a woman walking across the sand
She saw a woman walking across the desert.
She been a-walkin' thirty miles en route to Bombay.
The woman had walked for thirty miles on her way to Bombay.
To get a brown eyed handsome man
She was traveling to find a man with brown eyes who was also handsome.
Her destination was a brown eyed handsome man
The purpose of her journey was to find and meet a brown eyed handsome man.
Way back in history three thousand years
This phenomenon has been happening for thousands of years and is not new.
Back every since the world began
Throughout the history of the world, this has been happening.
There's been a whole lot of good women shed a tear
Many good women have cried over this issue.
For a brown eyed handsome man
Because of the appeal of a brown eyed handsome man.
That's what the trouble was brown eyed handsome man
The problem was that the man was brown eyed and handsome, which caused trouble.
Beautiful daughter couldn't make up her mind
A beautiful daughter was indecisive.
Between a doctor and a lawyer man
She was trying to pick between a doctor and a lawyer.
Her mother told her daughter go out and find yourself
The mother suggested that her daughter go and find herself.
A brown eyed handsome man
A man who had brown eyes and was handsome.
That's what your daddy is a brown eyed handsome man
The mother was trying to guide her daughter towards a man like her husband.
Milo Venus was a beautiful lass
Milo Venus was a beautiful woman.
She had the world in the palm of her hand
She was powerful and had control over her surroundings.
But she lost both her arms in a wrestling match
She lost both of her arms in a physical fight.
To get brown eyed handsome man
She fought to win the attention and affection of a brown eyed handsome man.
She fought and won herself a brown eyed handsome man
After fighting for him, she won the brown eyed handsome man.
Two, three count with nobody on
There were two strikes and three balls with no one on base.
He hit a high fly into the stand
He hit a ball very high into the stands.
Rounding third he was headed for home
He was rounding third base and heading for home plate.
It was a brown eyed handsome man
The player who hit the high fly ball and rounded third was a brown eyed handsome man.
That won the game; it was a brown eyed handsome man
The brown eyed handsome man's actions during the game caused his team to win.
Lyrics © ENTERTAINMENT ONE U.S. LP
Written by: Chuck Berry
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
Harry strings
on Blackbird
This is one of the inspired song have ever heard, it's touches my soul..
Daniel
on Feeling Good
Just unbelievable, I dig it. Great music & artists.
Nikolaos Souroufis
on Sinnerman
amazing !!!!!!!!