Nina Simone
Some artists eased into protest.
Nina Simone didn’t.
She trained as a classical pianist. Wanted concert halls. Bach and Chopin. Instead, the world handed her smoky clubs and a country on fire.
So she used what she had.
After the 1963 church bombing in Birmingham that killed four Black girls, Simone sat down at the piano and wrote fast. Angry. Direct. A song that didn’t hide behind metaphor or politeness.
Mississippi Goddam wasn’t coded. It wasn’t subtle. It named the place. Named the problem. Named the fury.
Radio stations banned it. Some venues wouldn’t book her. The record literally cracked in half when shipped to parts of the South.
She kept playing it anyway.
Simone didn’t separate music from politics. To her, they were the same thing. Every performance carried the weight of the moment. Every lyric said the quiet part out loud.
After a week of warm lights and familiar standards, tonight doesn’t whisper.
It tells the truth straight.
To Be Young, Gifted and Black:
Four Women:
I Wish I Knew How It Would Feel to Be Free:
Sinnerman:
Mississippi Goddam:
This is an open thread
