Today is a killer
Just heard on the news, late, that Nina Simone is dead. Another key influence of my coming-of-age years gone.
First thing I ever heard her sing was "Strange Fruit" - long before I heard the Billie Holiday original. Even now, I still get chills when I hear Nina sing it. As an impressionable 16 year old it rocked me to my soul and opened my eyes wider than a piece of music had ever done before.
I never did get to see Nina live. Had tickets for a show at Ronnie Scott's about 20 years ago, but was too sick with flu on the night to make it to the gig.
If I knew where to find a music link, I'd point to Nina's Blues, a favourite instrumental. Can't find a link to the track, but this seems appropriate too:
Paul Laurence Dunbar, the first black man to achieve a measure of national recognition for his poetry in the U.S., wrote a simple verse he called "Compensation". Nina set it to music and recorded it as "Compassion" in 1969.
Compensation / Compassion
Paul Lawrence Dunbar and Nina Simone
Because I had loved so deeply,
Because I had loved so long,
God in His great compassion
Gave me the gift of song.
Because I have loved so vainly,
And sung with such faltering breath,
The Master in infinite mercy
Offers the boon of Death.
