Nina Simone

The piano on this track was sampled by Celeste for "Stop This Flame." "Sinnerman" was written by Les Baxter and Will Holt and released by the Les Baxter Orchestra in 1956. Nina Simone made it absolutely hers on her 1965 album, "Pastel Blues."

Adapted from the traditional work song "Rosie".

A reggae-styled cover of a Randy Newman song, Simone recorded all the vocals in a one-hour session and was notably unhappy with the final album, talked about at length in the biography, Princess Noire. uncpress.org

Clocking in at over 10 minutes, Nina Simone's version of this African-American traditional spiritual song is an outpouring of intense emotion, possibly tied to her own religious beliefs or her political fervor in the battle for civil rights (condemning her own sins or condemning society's). It is featured on her 1965 album Pastel Blues. This song was inspired by the Book of Exodus, where Moses leads a group of people out of Egypt only to be punished by a series of plagues when they are not truly repentant for their sins. The story is also told in Psalm 78. www.songfacts.com

On this day in 1965, Nina Simone released the album 'Pastel Blues.' Of the 'Pastel Blues' Joe Muggs of Noisey said, "This is the blues as both urban and urbane, delivered with full knowledge of and passion for its history, and with all the guts and power that white rockers could ever muster, but with all the finesse, sophistication and abstraction that her Juilliard classical training could bring to bear on it."

Aretha also recorded this tune on her 1967 album 'I Never Loved a Man the Way I Love You.' Nina recorded this one live in Munich in March of 1969.

Here's #415 of Listener- Voted Opening Track Countdown! --- In her 1992 autobiography also titled "I Put A Spell on You", the iconic singer, songwriter, musician, and activist Nina Simone, said the track's purpose was to inspire black women to define beauty and identity for themselves.

This is a remix of a cover. Nina Simone is performing a song written by Barry Gibb and Robin Gibb and released by The BeeGees in 1967.

Talib Kweli's "Get By" also samples Nina Simone's "Sinnerman". Watch the video of this remix at www.youtube.com

Rika would like to see Feeling Good by Nina Simone on the next Golden Record!