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
Nina Simone
Nina Simone Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Just who do you think I am?
You raise my taxes, freeze my wages
And send my son to Vietnam
You give me second class houses
And second class schools
Do you think that all colored folks
Mr. Backlash
I'm gonna leave you
With the backlash blues
When I try to find a job
To earn a little cash
All you got to offer
Is your mean old white backlash
But the world is big
Big and bright and round
And it's full of folks like me
Who are black, yellow, beige and brown
Mr. Backlash
I'm gonna leave you
With the backlash blues
Mr. Backlash, Mr. Backlash
Just what do you think I got to lose
I'm gonna leave you
With the backlash blues
You're the one will have the blues
Not me, just wait and see
In the song "Backlash Blues," Nina Simone expresses her frustration with the mistreatment and discrimination against Black people during the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s. By addressing her lyrics to "Mr. Backlash," Simone personifies the backlash against the Civil Rights Movement and calls out the injustices faced by Black people. She highlights the negative impact of policies like taxation and military conscription, which disproportionately affected the Black community. Simone also addresses the inequality of education, housing, and job opportunities, which resulted in a perpetual cycle of poverty and a lack of upward mobility for Black people.
Line by Line Meaning
Mr. Backlash, Mr. Backlash
Addressing the person who has been treating the singer unfairly and dismissing them with their authority
Just who do you think I am?
Questioning the person's perception of the singer, implying that they do not see or acknowledge the singer's worth
You raise my taxes, freeze my wages
Expressing the injustice that the singer is facing as a result of the person's actions
And send my son to Vietnam
Highlighting the consequences of the person's actions on the artist's family and loved ones
You give me second class houses
Referring to the unfair and unequal treatment experienced by the artist in terms of housing
And second class schools
Referring to the unfair and unequal treatment experienced by the singer in terms of education
Do you think that all colored folks
Challenging the person's assumptions and prejudices towards people of color
Are just second class fools?
Questioning the person's perception of people of color and implying that it is incorrect and unfair
Mr. Backlash
Addressing the person responsible for the artist's oppression and injustice
I'm gonna leave you
Asserting that the artist will not tolerate the person's actions and will take action to resist and overcome oppression
With the backlash blues
Referring to the singer's feelings of anger, sadness, and frustration in response to oppression
When I try to find a job
Referencing the difficulties of finding employment as a person of color due to discrimination and systemic inequality
To earn a little cash
Highlighting the need for financial stability and the challenges faced by people of color in attaining it
All you got to offer
Disparaging the lack of support and assistance provided by the person responsible for the singer's oppression
Is your mean old white backlash
Referring to the systemic, institutionalized racism and discrimination experienced by people of color
But the world is big
Asserting that the world and its potential for change and progress is not limited by the person's actions or attitudes
Big and bright and round
Portraying a hopeful and optimistic perspective of the world and its possibilities
And it's full of folks like me
Highlighting the diverse and vibrant community of people of color around the world who share the singer's experiences
Who are black, yellow, beige and brown
Referencing the range of ethnicities and cultures that exist among people of color, and asserting that all are deserving of respect and dignity
Just what do you think I got to lose
Challenging the person to consider the consequences of their actions and whether or not they truly have power over the artist's life
You're the one will have the blues
Asserting that the person will ultimately suffer the consequences of their oppressive behavior, rather than the artist
Not me, just wait and see
Asserting confidence that the artist will overcome oppression and injustice, and that the person responsible will ultimately face consequences for their actions
Lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC
Written by: LANGSTON HUGHES, NINA SIMONE
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
@norunnerup
Birds flying high
You know how I feel
Sun in the sky
You know how I feel
Breeze driftin' on by
You know how I feel
It's a new dawn
It's a new day
It's a new life
For me
And I'm feeling good
I'm feeling good
Fish in the sea
You know how I feel
River running free
You know how I feel
Blossom on a tree
You know how I feel
It's a new dawn
It's a new day
It's a new life
For me
And I'm feeling good
Dragonfly out in the sun, you know what I mean, don't you know
Butterflies all havin' fun, you know what I mean
Sleep in peace when day is done, that's what I mean
And this old world is a new world
And a bold world
For me
For me
Stars when you shine
You know how I feel
Scent of the pine
You know how I feel
Oh, freedom is mine
And I know how I feel
It's a new dawn
It's a new day
It's a new life
It's a new dawn
It's a new day
It's a new life
It's a new dawn
It's a new day
It's a new life
It's a new life
For me
And I'm feeling good
I'm feeling good
I feel so good
I feel so good
@NinaSimoneMusic
New Nina Simone tees, accessories and classic vinyl now available at the official Nina Simone store! Shop now: https://ninasimone.lnk.to/officialstore
@jesusreyes7685
https://youtu.be/VafXwQGS24I
@gwoof3182
Liking it good
@Reyes-jk8yz
👌👌👌👌👌
@Jelissei
I read "teeth" and was surpised she still needed new teeth : (
@captainaryan26
जबर्दस्त प्रदर्शन
@GawxArt
Perfect song for Perfect Days
@heyyall75
This was the song we used when we were introduced at our wedding ❤
@kevincollins2761
lost my mind during that final scene when i saw it last night. quite possibly the best film of 2023.
@reginafisher9919
Nice