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
Old Jim Crow
Nina Simone Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Where you been baby
Down Mississippi and back again
Old Jim Crow don't you know
It's all over now
Old Jim Crow
What's wrong with you
It's the things you do
Old Jim Crow don't you know
It's all over now
Old Jim Crow
You've been around too long
Gotta work the devil
'Til your dead and gone
Old Jim Crow
Yes, don't you know
It's all over now
It's all over now
Old Jim Crow
You know it's true
When you hurt my brother
You hurt me too
Old Jim Crow don't you know
It's all over now
Old Jim Crow
I thought I had you beat
Now I see you walkin'
And talkin' up and down my street
Old Jim Crow don't you know
It's all over now
Old Jim Crow
You've been around too long
Gotta work the devil
'Til your dead and gone
Old Jim Crow don't you know
It's all over
All over
Oh Lord, it's all over
All over
It's all over
It's all over
It's all over now.
Nina Simone's song "Old Jim Crow" is a powerful statement against racism and inequality. She addresses Jim Crow, the system of segregation that dominated American society and politics for decades, and urges it to go away. She sings about how Jim Crow has hurt her and her brother, and how it's time for it to disappear.
Simone's lyrics use empirical evidence to prove the point that Jim Crow has been defeated. She says that it has been to Mississippi and back, indicating that people have fought against it and now are at a point where they can say that it's all over. The repetition of the phrase "all over now" emphasizes the finality of the situation by using the lyrics like a mantra.
Simone's lyrics also acknowledge the work it took to overcome Jim Crow, stating that it took the dedication of generations of people to ensure it could come to an end. When hurt this song speaks out about how that pain will not be tolerated, and when it is towards one of her own people, the pain is doubled up as if they were a member of her immediate family.
Overall her lyrics take a very strong stance against inequality and expose the pain racism and segregation has caused. It urges the Jim Crow era of American history to come to an end and invites the listener to partake in this endeavor.
Line by Line Meaning
Old Jim Crow
Referring to the era of racial discrimination and segregation in the United States when laws and customs prevented blacks and whites from mixing freely and enjoying equal rights.
Where you been baby
Asking where Jim Crow has been and what he has done, as if he is a person rather than a system of oppression.
Down Mississippi and back again
Referring to the location where Jim Crow laws originated and evolved, spreading to other states along with the Great Migration of black people.
Old Jim Crow don't you know
Addressing the symbol of Jim Crow as if he were present and conscious of his impact on black people's lives.
It's all over now
Asserting that the era of Jim Crow laws and practices is over, and that black people have won legal rights and social recognition.
What's wrong with you
Pointing out that Jim Crow is not a person but a flawed system that harms both black and white people alike.
It ain't your name
Suggesting that the name Jim Crow is not the problem, but rather the acts of discrimination and violence committed under its banner.
It's the things you do
Referring to the oppressive practices, policies, and attitudes that followed Jim Crow laws, such as lynchings, poll taxes, segregation, and racism.
You've been around too long
Claiming that Jim Crow has outlived its usefulness and that it is time for a new era of equality, justice, and reconciliation.
Gotta work the devil
Implies that racism is evil and must be opposed by all means necessary, including political activism, civil disobedience, and spiritual resistance.
Til your dead and gone
Arguing that eradicating Jim Crow requires a long-term commitment and sacrifice, that black people cannot stop fighting racism until it has been completely eliminated.
You know it's true
Asserting that the harm caused by Jim Crow is not imaginary, but real and deeply felt by black people in their daily lives.
When you hurt my brother
Suggesting that black people share a bond of kinship and solidarity, that an injury to one is an injury to all, and that racism is a common enemy.
You hurt me too
Emphasizing the personal and collective impact of racism, that black people suffer emotionally, socially, and economically from the effects of Jim Crow.
I thought I had you beat
Referring to the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s and the legal victories it won against discrimination, suggesting that black people believed they had overcome Jim Crow laws and practices.
Now I see you walkin'
Acknowledging that racism did not end with the Civil Rights Movement, but continues to affect black people's lives, sometimes in subtle or indirect ways.
And talkin' up and down my street
Imagining Jim Crow as a person who still haunts black neighborhoods with his whisperings of racial stereotypes, fears, and resentments, perpetuating a legacy of division and distrust.
All over
Repeating the refrain of the song to emphasize that the era of Jim Crow is over, that black people have made progress, but that there is still much work to do in building a just and equitable society.
Oh Lord, it's all over
Invoking a sense of hope and faith that God will help black people overcome the legacy of Jim Crow and realize their full potential as human beings, regardless of their skin color.
Lyrics © Warner/Chappell Music, Inc.
Written by: JACKIE ALPER, VANDER GROEF, NINA SIMONE
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 !!!!!!!!