Nina Simone: For all We Know and Others

Why?
Because it's beautiful and I want to keep it. When I hear it an exquisite sadness brings me close to tears.
Here we hear the influence of her early classical training. Part of the sadness is that she was never to become the concert pianist that she aspired to become. She was a student at Julliard and wanted to go on to Curtis but that was not to be. In addition to her race and background, Nina Simone had a disagreeable temperament. I read somewhere that she fought depression and may have had BPD. Like so many creative people she is a tragic figure with a rich and memorable legacy.



She gave voice to the powerful undercurrents of the Sixties in a way that you didn't have to be black to understand. Mississippi Goddam comes across like a clenched fist. This is not her best rendition but it's what I found at YouTube. Too flat...she seems tired...singing to pay the rent. Here's another link to a poor video with a more soulful sound track. More passion. Great lines..."This is a show tune...but the show hasn't been written for it yet..."




Love songs? Think not?
You gotta be kidding.
Check this...




ENGLISH TRANSLATION:
Don't leave me
We must forget
All we can forget all we did till now
Let's forget the cost of the breath
We've spent saying words unmeant
And the times we've lost hours that must destroy
Never knowing why everything must die at the heart of joy
Don't leave me don't leave me
Don't leave me don't leave me

I'll bring back to you the pearls of rain
From a distant domain where rain never fell
And though I grow old I'll keep mining the ground
To deck you around in gold and light
I'll build you a domain where love's everything
Where love is king and you are queen
Don't leave me don't leave me
Don't leave me don't leave me

Don't leave me
For you I'll invent
Words and what they meant only you will know
Tales of lovers who fell apart and then fell in love again
There's a story too that I can confide
Of that king who died from not meeting you
Don't leave me don't leave me
Don't leave me don't leave me

And often it's true that flames spill anew
From ancient volcano's we thought were too old
When all's said and done scorched fields of defeat
Could give us more wheat than the fine April sun
And when evening is nigh with flames overhead
The black and the red aren't they joined in the sky
Don't leave me don't leave me
Don't leave me don't leave me

Don't leave me
I will cry no more
I will talk no more hide myself
To look at you and see you dance and smile
And hear you sing and laugh
Let me be for you the shadow of your shadow
The shadow of your hand the shadow of your dog
Don't leave me don't leave me
Don't leave me don't leave me