In March of 1964, Nina Simone introduced this new song in a concert at Carnegie Hall. She prefaced it by saying it was a showtune, but "the show hasn't been written for it yet."
The reason for the song - the manifold reasons - however, were playing out all across the county, in Alabama, Tennessee, Mississippi, Arkansas, Maryland, etc. In countless places, blacks struggling for equal footing had been assaulted, denegrated, and murdered. It was - and still is, evidently - only the beginning.
This version is from a concert in Holland in 1965.
I could write pages and try to sound impressive, but there's no point and no reason. It wouldn't be adding icing to her cake, but wood shavings, and who needs that?
Nina Simone. Mississippi Goddam. Says it all.
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