In late 1968 I was back in my home town of Harrogate, spending way too much time hanging around the New Park Transport Cafe listening to the jukebox. 1968-69 was a great time for jukebox music, 45's were being released thick and fast, each one a gem.
This was where I first heard Nina Simone. 'Ain't Got No / I Got Life' was her fusion of two songs from the musical "Hair". Nina did some re-writing of the songs to create a very powerful statement. According to Daphne Brooks "She begins with the "desolation, alienation and disenfranchisement" of "Ain't Got No", then transitions to the "jubilant affirmation" of "I Got Life."" I loved the flip side of this single too, the Jimmy Webb composition 'Do What You Gotta Do'.
Both of those tracks are on this compilation, released originally in 2019 but re-released in this yellow vinyl version in 2021. The title is of course incorrect. There could never be a Nina Simone "Ultimate" collection, the amount of work is too broad and spans too many years to be contained in one, two or even three albums.
Even though this selection reaches back to 1965 for my wife's favourite track 'Feeling Good' (re-released in '94) and back to 1962 for the amazing 'My Baby Just Cares For Me' (re-released in '87), it misses others that should be integral to anything calling itself "Ultimate". Where is the 1959 live version of 'The Other Woman' from her Town Hall show? How could they not include 1964's 'Mississippi Goddam' (released as "Mississippi *@!!?*@!") her "first civil rights song" (her words). This collection does include 'I Wish I Knew How It Would Feel To Be Free' and 'To Be Young, Gifted and Black' so there are songs that reflect her political and social stance.
Nina has her own way of interpreting other people's music and that does get showcased on this album. She takes Leonard Cohen's 'Suzanne' and tears it apart, Dylan's 'Just Like a Woman' gets Nina's piano intro before wringing out even more emotion than the original. I've always loved Jerry Jeff Walker's song 'Mr. Bojangles'. I don't think I've ever heard a version I DIDN'T like. Nina sings with her own feeling for the story, her own inflection and then, right at the end, her fingers dance over the piano keys in a 5 second staccato and all you can see is Mr. Bojangles taking his final bow. Glorious.
Of course interpretation is a two-way street - just find and listen to Nina's original 1964 version of 'Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood' alongside the 1965 version by The Animals.
Nina's private life has been the subject of books, film and theatre and there's no doubt she had a volatile side, although that was diagnosed in the 1980's as bipolar disorder. There are however quite a few instances of some outrageous behavior. In 1985 she shot at a record executive who she thought was stealing her royalties. In '95 she shot and wounded a neighbors son with an air gun. The boy's laughter was disturbing her !! .. and fellow singer/songwriter Janis Ian wrote in her autobiography that Nina once made a shoe shop assistant take back a pair of used sandals. At Gunpoint!!
Nina passed away in her sleep in her home in France in 2003 at the age of 70.
What a 70 years it was.
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