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
The Last Rose Of Summer
Nina Simone Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
'tis the last rose of summer, left blooming all alone
All her lovely companions are faded and gone.
No flower of her kindred, no rose bud is nigh
To reflect back her blushes and give sigh for sigh.
I'll not leave thee, thou lone one! to pine on the stem
'thus kindly I scatter thy leaves o'er the bed
Where thy mates of the garden lie scentless and dead.
So soon may I follow, when friendships decay
And from love's shining circle the gems drop away
When true hearts lie wither'd and fond ones are flown
Oh! who would inhabit this bleak world alone!
The lyrics of Nina Simone's song The Last Rose of Summer are a poignant representation of the inevitability of loss and the pain of being left behind. The song is an adaptation of a poem by Irish writer Thomas Moore, which was set to music by various composers over the years. The central image of the song is that of a flower, the last rose of summer, blooming alone amidst the fading memories of its companions. The singer of the song addresses the flower directly, telling it that it is not alone and that it will be gently laid to rest alongside its fallen friends.
The song is a meditation on the fleeting nature of beauty and the inevitability of death. The image of the last rose of summer represents the passing of time and the loss of loved ones. The singer of the song acknowledges that, like the rose, we are all destined to wither and fade away, to be scattered among the fallen leaves of those who have gone before us. The final lines of the song express the fear and loneliness that comes with the loss of those we love, and the longing for connection and companionship that remains.
In this way, The Last Rose of Summer is a deeply moving and reflective song that speaks to the universal themes of love, loss, and the human condition.
Line by Line Meaning
'tis the last rose of summer, left blooming all alone
This is the final rose left blooming during summer, and it is all by itself.
All her lovely companions are faded and gone.
All of her beautiful friends have withered and died.
No flower of her kindred, no rose bud is nigh
There are no other roses like her or any rose buds nearby.
To reflect back her blushes and give sigh for sigh.
There is no other rose to share in her beauty and scent.
I'll not leave thee, thou lone one! to pine on the stem
I will not leave you all alone to suffer and wilt on your own.
Since the lovely are sleeping, go sleep thou with them
Since your beautiful friends have all died and are now sleeping, you should join them.
'thus kindly I scatter thy leaves o'er the bed
I will gently lay your leaves over the bed where all your friends rest.
Where thy mates of the garden lie scentless and dead.
Your garden friends are now lying lifeless and without fragrance.
So soon may I follow, when friendships decay
I hope to follow soon, after my friends leave me.
And from love's shining circle the gems drop away
When love fades and true friends depart, everyone loses their sparkle.
When true hearts lie wither'd and fond ones are flown
When true hearts have withered and loved ones have left, who would want to live alone in this harsh world?
Oh! who would inhabit this bleak world alone!
Living alone in this sad world is a bleak and terrible fate.
Lyrics © O/B/O APRA AMCOS
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
Joe Byrne
Absolutely love this. I love Moore's Melodies and Nina Simone and the combination is magical. This brings out the reedy quality of her voice that for me marks her out from others. The sadness is heart breaking....
Billy Brennan
The melody can not be attributed to Thomas Moore. However the poem/lyrics are his creation. The melody is a traditional Irish air called "Aislean an oigfear " that translates from Irish Gaelic to English as "The young man's dream". A beautiful rendition by Nina Simone none the less.
Miguel53de
The best version of the song ever. Long time searched for it - here it is now. Thank you very much 194871max.
Kristine Thomas
Her embellishments are genius!
Loe Lion
it's like discovering a hidden treasure since the Netflix " What happen, Miss Simone." Until then that film, I really found out how much I truly Love and Appreciate this beautiful Queen of Song. I believe her talent far outweighs her emotional flaws. She was one single woman trying to make it through this life. May her memory and legacy show the world its ok to be unique and different.. Hell... maybe sometimes even odd. May Nina Simone rest in peace.
indio Moreno
Every time, yes, every time I hear this song of the Great Lady Nina Simone, I start crying, while getting goose bumb all over my body...!! I think this will continue until I'm daeth and beyond that .. !! Thanks Lady Nina Simone,, Thnx and R.I.P...!!
Susan Edmond
Beautiful!
Christina Olvera
Nina was a classically trained genius who they refused her entrance to top musical school. Because what? She was too talented, she was black, she was too talented. But she showed them her real talent. MUSIC
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