Nina Simone – Sings the Blues

RECOMMENDATION OF THE WEEK

Nina Simone – Sings the Blues

This week’s Recommendation of the Week is, in my opinion, one of the most essential albums ever made and the best from one of the most iconic, most powerful people in music history. Sings the Blues by Nina Simone is not just an album of great songs, it’s a movement, an incredible force of strength and pride. It’s a statement of power and a declaration that through the pain, suffering, and injustice will come a reckoning, a spiritual awakening that can’t and won’t be stopped.

Nina Simone is so much more than a musician. Yes, she was an unbelievably talented classically trained pianist, a masterful virtuoso, and an unbelievably powerful singer. Her songs were the perfect mix of blues, jazz, and soul, blending these styles unlike anyone before or after. However, calling her just a great musician is really underestimating her impact. She was the embodiment and the definition of power. Her words, confidence, and passion demanded your attention. Her presence as a live performer must have been so impactful, captivating, and even a little intimidating. In her music, you will find moments you’ll experience, maybe inadvertently, that will shake you to your core so hard that you just stand still, frozen in awe, searching for the faintest grasp of the magnitude experienced.

This has been my experience when I listen to Nina Simone, especially Sings The Blues. I feel the world come to an abrupt halt on its axis. The seismic shift is palpable and an unstoppable call to attention. In that moment, I come to realization of the magnitude, and it’s as if I am bearing witness to something a devoutly religious person may call “divine intervention”. Her words and emotional command can also make you cry as if you are feeling all her pain in a moment of vulnerability and heartbreaking fragility.

The power of her music and her message lives in the heart and soul of all who are suffering, oppressed, and kicked down. With her spirit hurt but unbroken, unwavering and undying, she welcomes the fight. She was at the heart of the Civil Rights movement, and her powerful message and resolve still echoes loudly today. Her unbreakable will, fierce resistance, and determination forever live eternally in the fight and struggle for equality. She is symbolic of the spirit and strength of Black people and their continuous fight against the injustice so cruelly brought upon by a system built to oppress them.

Nina Simone’s story is a tragic and heartbreaking one. Learning about her life, particularly in the years before her musical career, really gave a sense of how she became the powerful, iconic legend that she was and what made her an eternal symbol of strength. She was born and raised in extreme poverty in North Carolina. Her family was devoutly religious, she was raised in the church. In the church, she learned to play the piano and she displayed incomparable talent. She also learned at a young age to stand on her beliefs, no matter what the consequences. At a recital, when she was 12, she declared, resoundingly, that she would only begin playing when her parents were allowed to return to their seats in the front. They were removed because the seats were reserved for white people. This moment shaped Nina’s lifelong fight for equality and dedication to the Civil Rights Movement. She later attended a summer at Juilliard, and applied for admission to Curtis Institute of Music, a lifelong dream of hers. She was denied admission due to the school’s vile racism, suffering another heartbreaking moment that forever shaped her.

As her career started to take hold, her fight for equality and presence in the Civil Rights Movement of the 60s grew exponentially. Her songs like “Mississippi Goddamn”, “I Wish I Knew How It Would Feel To Be Free”, and “Backlash Blues” are essential fight songs and are the part of the soundtrack to the movement. As she became more powerful, an unstoppable presence in the movement, she found it harder to remain hopeful, especially after the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, which inspired her painful yet beautiful response to his death, “Why? (The King Of Love Is Dead)".

She would leave the United States, never to return, in the early 1970s. She stated that she could no longer live in a system designed to oppress and destroy Black people at will. She moved to France and suffered many years of mental health issues. She did continue to perform, but her suffering was immense and took a great toll on her. Her critics and oppressors continued to target her, forcing her to expend all her energy in the fight. She would leave this world in 2003, after many complicated years of heartbreak and angst.

Her legacy is one of unmatched power, resilience and strength. Her music is timeless and continues to inspire generations in the endless fight for justice. 

Sings the Blues is one of the most important works of art in history. It is the ultimate proclamation, declaration, and call to action. It is unapologetic in its defiance of a racist, oppressive system. With its beauty, passion and a spirit that leaves you forever changed upon listening, it is an essential experience, giving the listener the feel and insight into a power greater than them. This is not a religious power, but a spiritual power, unified and deeply rooted in the struggle to be free.

Sings The Blues is an historical work that is just as relevant today as it was during the 1960s Civil Rights Movement.

If you only take one of my recommendations, this should be the one.

Essential Track: “Backlash Blues”