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
I Hold No Grudge
Nina Simone Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
There's no resentment und'neath
I'll extend the laurel wreath and we'll be friends
But right there is where it ends
I hold no grudge
And I'll forgive you your mistake
But forgive me if I take it all to heart
Yes I'm the kind of people
You can step on for a little while
But when I call it quits
Baby that's it
I'm the kind of people
You can hurt once in a while
But crawling just ain't my style
I hold no grudge
Deep inside me there's no regrets
But a gal who's been forgotten may forgive
But never once forget
Nina Simone's song I Hold No Grudge was written by Tom Lanier and appears on her 1965 album "I Put a Spell on You." The song has a mellow sound and the lyrics are expressive and powerful. The message behind the song is about forgiveness, but it's also about knowing your worth and learning to draw the line when people cross it.
The opening lines "I hold no grudge, there's no resentment und'neath" indicate that the singer has forgiven the person who has wronged her, but intends to keep her distance. She is willing to offer an olive branch by extending the "laurel wreath" as a symbol of peace but makes it clear that there is a limit to her kindness: "But right there is where it ends."
The singer is strong and confident in her sense of self-worth. She is willing to forgive mistakes but is also clear that she will take it to heart and make sure it doesn't happen again. The chorus expresses that she's the kind of person who can be stepped on or hurt, but crawling is not her style. She won't let people take advantage of her kindness, and when she calls it quits, that's it.
The final verse "Deep inside me there's no regrets, but a gal who's been forgotten may forgive, but never once forget" declares that the singer has moved on from the past and has forgiven the person who has wronged her. However, she will never forget what happened, and the experience has made her stronger and wiser.
Line by Line Meaning
I hold no grudge
I don't have any lingering negative feelings towards you.
There's no resentment und'neath
I don't have any hidden anger towards you.
I'll extend the laurel wreath and we'll be friends
I'm willing to make peace and be friends with you.
But right there is where it ends
Don't expect anything more than that.
And I'll forgive your mistake
I'm willing to let go of whatever wrong you did.
But forgive me if I take it all to heart
I might take it personally, so please understand.
And make sure that it doesn't start again
Don't let it happen again or else it's over.
Yes I'm the kind of people
This is just who I am.
You can step on for a little while
You can take advantage of me for a short period of time.
But when I call it quits
Once I'm done, it's done.
Baby that's it
That's final.
I'm the kind of people
This is just who I am.
You can hurt once in a while
You can cause me pain occasionally.
But crawling just ain't my style
But I won't let you walk all over me and degrade myself.
Deep inside me there's no regrets
I don't have any regrets about what happened.
But a gal who's been forgotten may forgive
But as a woman who has been mistreated in the past, I am more likely to forgive.
But never once forget
But I won't forget what happened and let it happen again.
Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group, Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC
Written by: ANGELO BADALAMENTI, JOHN CLIFFORD
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
Juste Lilly
I hold no grudge
There's no resentment und'neath
I'll extend the laurel wreath and we'll be friends
But right there is where it ends
I hold no grudge
And I'll forgive you your mistake
But forgive me if I take it all to heart
And make sure that it doesn't start again
Yes I'm the kind of people
You can step on for a little while
But when I call it quits
Baby that's it
I'm the kind of people
You can hurt once in a while
But crawling just ain't my style
I hold no grudge
Deep inside me there's no regrets
But a gal who's been forgotten may forgive
But never once forget
anıl
burada hiç bir korsan ölümle iflah olmaz.
akof
tabi efendim
G. Christianson
OMG, she wails it ... and nails it.
Juste Lilly
I hold no grudge
There's no resentment und'neath
I'll extend the laurel wreath and we'll be friends
But right there is where it ends
I hold no grudge
And I'll forgive you your mistake
But forgive me if I take it all to heart
And make sure that it doesn't start again
Yes I'm the kind of people
You can step on for a little while
But when I call it quits
Baby that's it
I'm the kind of people
You can hurt once in a while
But crawling just ain't my style
I hold no grudge
Deep inside me there's no regrets
But a gal who's been forgotten may forgive
But never once forget
Graceful Tenacity
Yes ~ a beautiful work for a beautiful vessel! It's actually been about a year since it got to hear it last. Thanks to the 'outer man' for sharing only such goodness within :)
black hole of nothing
arada bir canını acıtabileceğin insanlardanım biliyorum.... ama ben bitti dediğimde... biter.
black hole of nothing
@mavi sürgün evet
mavi sürgün
boyle mi diyo sarki
PurpleDivaDesigns
Bravo Queen!!! Amazing!!!
Jay Gordon
I absolutely love her X