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
Work Song
Nina Simone Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Breaking rocks and serving my time
Breaking rocks out here on the chain gang
Because they done convicted me of crime
Hold it steady right there while I hit it
Well reckon that ought to get it
Been
Working and working
I committed crime Lord I needed
Crime of being hungry and poor
I left the grocery store man bleeding (breathing?)
When they caught me robbing his store
Hold it steady right there while I hit it
Well reckon that ought to get it
Been
Working and working
But I still got so terribly far to go
I heard the judge say five years
On chain-gang you gonna go
I heard the judge say five years labor
I heard my old man scream "Lordy, no!"
Hold it right there while I hit it
Well reckon that ought to get it
Been
Working and working
But I still got so terribly far to go
Gonna see my sweet honey bee
Gonna break this chain off to run
Gonna lay down somewhere shady
Lord I sure am hot in the sun
Hold it right there while I hit it
Well reckon that ought to get it
Been
Workin' and workin'
Been
Workin' and slavin'
An'
Workin' and workin'
But I still got so terribly far to go
The song "Work Song" sung by Nina Simone tells the story of a man who is incarcerated for a crime he committed because he was poor and hungry. The singer is part of a chain gang working in a quarry, breaking rocks and serving time for his crime. The lyrics convey a deep sense of despair, frustration and hopelessness as the singer reflects on his past and present situation. He talks about the judge sentencing him to five years of labor on the chain-gang and how he still has so far to go.
The song highlights the harsh reality of the prison system and the cycle of poverty that many people are trapped in. The singer talks about his desperation to see his honey bee and break free from the chains that bind him. The lyrics have a strong rhythm and are beautifully sung by Nina Simone, conveying the pain and suffering of the singer.
Overall, "Work Song" is a powerful social commentary on the justice system and the inequality that exists in society. It is a reminder that poverty and hunger are not crimes and that everyone deserves to be treated with dignity and respect.
Line by Line Meaning
Breaking rocks out here on the chain gang
I am laboring hard, day and night breaking rocks while chained to other prisoners
Breaking rocks and serving my time
I am being punished for a crime I committed by working hard hour after hour breaking rocks
Because they done convicted me of crime
I was accused of a crime and found guilty by the system that enforces the law
Hold it steady right there while I hit it
Stop for a moment and just wait patiently right here while I take another swing at this task
Well reckon that ought to get it
I think that should do it, I did my best to complete the task successfully
Been
Working and working
But I still got so terribly far to go
I have been laboring for a long time, but it seems that there is no end to my hard work
I committed crime Lord I needed
I committed a crime out of desperation because of my hunger and poverty
Crime of being hungry and poor
My crime was being poor and in a state of extreme hunger
I left the grocery store man bleeding (breathing?)
When they caught me robbing his store
As a result of my act of robbery, the grocery store man was seriously injured or killed when they caught me
I heard the judge say five years
On chain-gang you gonna go
The judge sentenced me to five years of labor in a chain-gang as punishment for my crime
I heard the judge say five years labor
I was given a five-year sentence of hard labor as my punishment
I heard my old man scream "Lordy, no!"
My father cried out in horror when he heard the judge's sentence
Gonna see my sweet honey bee
I plan to visit my beloved and cherished partner
Gonna break this chain off to run
I intend to break free from the chain-gang in order to escape
Gonna lay down somewhere shady
Lord I sure am hot in the sun
I plan to find some cool and shady spot to rest as I am really struggling to cope with the heat
Been
Workin' and workin'
Been
Workin' and slavin'
An'
Workin' and workin'
But I still got so terribly far to go
I have been tirelessly working and enduring years of slavery, but the road ahead still looks long and arduous
Lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC, Warner Chappell Music, Inc.
Written by: NATHANIEL ADDERLEY, OSCAR BROWN JR.
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
@michaelmachine
For me Nina Simone is everything! One of a kind artist whom i had the pleasure of working with and was friends the last 10 years off her life....i miss you each and every day. Love Michael
@hardusludus
A lady of class... And most portantly: a great and true artist
@igotasweetass
just....wow. Nina. She was somethin else.
@dinowilliams7911
If you like good jazz you got to love Ms Nina she's great
@OjaysReel
There's a special place; one where only Nina's voice can take me to. Ah, this is music.
@TheThatgirl007
That was truly AMAZING!
@OlyaProhorova
She is a goddess!!!
@NMarceloP
I'm crazy for this song and the jazz ladies!
@tiltajoel
So relaxed.
@Guy1314ful
We love Nina! From Brazil \o/