Nina Simone

Nina Simone
Album: Anthology -- The Colpix Years
Song: When I Was A Young Girl

Feist
Album: Let It Die
Song: When I Was A Young Girl


Nina Simone is one of the most expressive artists I know.  I've spoken about my admiration for Fiona Apple, for her willingness to be fragile, to leave herself emotionally bare in performance.  Nina Simone has been there and back again repeatedly.  (Incidentally, I've done more than my fair share of performing over the years and I can attest to how brave and special artists like these are.)

Simone trained to be a classical musician, but when those plans went awry she started singing the blues and interpreting jazz and pop standards.  Gradually she increased her fan base, and by the 60s and early 70s she was featured at some of the world's biggest jazz and blues festivals.  She was known in particular for her captivating performances; exuberant one moment, emotionally ragged the next.  Only after her death in 2003 did the truth come out, that she had been diagnosed with severe bipolar disorder relatively early in her life, and it was a cross she bore throughout her career.

Some of my favorite YouTube moments are of her performances.



And if you really want to hear and see raw-nerved emotion on stage, check out her version of "Feelings".  In the hands of a lesser artist it would seem maudlin, perhaps even anti-musical.  But Simone's interpretation is electrifying, so in touch with the song's message that even seemingly given musical characteristics like intonation and timbre are subservient.  She's unafraid to sing off-key or to utter a hoarse, raspy whisper in place of a melodic line so long as it serves the needs of the song.  This is what it means to be a true musician.  If you read this blog regularly you know that I am unafraid of using superlatives; so much so, in fact, that I run the danger of making them meaningless.  But I can honestly say that I am more in awe of Nina Simone than any other performer I have featured.

But I am not here to discuss either of these songs.  The song that first made me fall in love with Simone is "When I Was A Young Girl".  Unfortunately, I was unable to find a live video performance of the song, but the audio version is still sublime.

Finally, we all know Feist.  She's awesome.  But you may not know that she can be downright vicious as a live performer.  Check out her interpretation of the song.  Great stuff.