Dr. Nina Simone – Alabama Got Me So Upset
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“The name of this tune is Mississippi Goddam
And I mean every word of it…”
“You listen to her not when you are raw, but when you are thoughtful.” From “Bitter and Beautiful, the professional honesty of Nina Simone.
Nina Simone was born on February 21, 1933 in the small town of Tyron, North Carolina.
“She listened to Bach (“Bach and I hit it off marvelously”), read James Baldwin, saw French movies. Born Eunice Waymon, she took her stage name from Simone Signoret” from here.
Nina as High Priestess, has everything you need to know about her site.
Nina was placed with a tutor called Mrs Massinovitch who introduced her to the music of Bach. ‘Once I understood Bach’s music,’ Nina recalls, ‘I wanted to be a concert pianist. Bach made me dedicate my life to music.’
Nina Simone is often classified as a jazz singer, but this is what she had to say in 1997 (in an interview with Brantley Bardin):
“To most white people, jazz means black and jazz means dirt and that’s not what I play. I play black classical music. That’s why I don’t like the term “jazz,” and Duke Ellington didn’t like it either — it’s a term that’s simply used to identify black people.” (Women’s history about.com)
Youtube animation film of “My Baby Just Cares For Me”
John Malkovitch opened his film “Dancer Upstairs” with Nina Simone in the background and ends the film with her song, Who knows where the time goes.
“Just in Time” sung by Nina graced “Before Sunset” (Richard Linklater).