Masaryk University Faculty of Arts Department of English and American Studies English Language and Literature Alena Kadlčíková Nina Simone’s lyrics as a reflection of African American culture Bachelor’s Diploma Thesis Supervisor: Jeffrey Alan Vanderziel, B.A. 2018 I declare that I have worked on this thesis independently, using only the primary and secondary sources listed in the bibliography. …………………………………………….. Alena Kadlčíková I would like to thank Jeffrey Vanderziel for his time, patience and valuable advice. I would also like to thank my family, colleagues and friends for their support and encouragement, when I needed it the most. Table of Contents 1. Introduction ............................................................................................................... 1 2. Nina Simone’s background and her beginnings as a piano player ............................ 3 3. Performance and the use of the element of signifying .............................................. 8 4. Simone’s musical career and her work before the year 1964 .................................. 14 5. “Mississippi Goddam” ............................................................................................. 18 The inspiration for the song ........................................................................................ 18 Performing “Mississippi Goddam” for the first time .................................................. 21 6. The change of the artistic creation of Nina Simone after “Mississippi Goddam” .. 26 “Four Women” ............................................................................................................ 29 “Backlash Blues” ........................................................................................................ 30 “To Be Young, Gifted and Black” .............................................................................. 32 7. Conclusion ............................................................................................................... 34 Works Cited .................................................................................................................... 36 Resumé ............................................................................................................................ 40 Summary ......................................................................................................................... 41 1. Introduction Nina Simone was without a doubt one of the most influential African American artists and fighters for civil rights of the second half of the twentieth century who lived and worked in the United States, Europe and Africa. Mainly during the 1960s and 1970s, she composed and performed countless songs that were pointing out the shortcomings in the American political and social system. As one of the women pioneers of the second wave feminism, she was not afraid to tell the unpleasant truth about the issues of racism out loud and fight for the rights of African Americans. Nina Simone, along with many others, was trying to break down the boundaries set for the African American people in the United States. Being the civil rights movement artist gave the purpose to her music and helped her with sharing her passion. Born in the American South, to the family of an entertainer and a Methodist church minister, Eunice Kathleen Waymon (Simone’s original name) had always had the bar set high. Early in her childhood, she decided that she would become the first African American classical pianist. That dream had changed, but she pursued her musical career and found her place amongst the greatest African American artists, civil rights activists and black feminists. Although Simone is often being referred to as a jazz singer, blues singer, folk, soul or gospel singer, she never wanted to be put in just one category. Simone knew how to “mix and match musical forms as a way to break free of the racial and gender circumscriptions placed upon her in popular music culture” (Brooks 176) and she was capable of using that gift in her and her people’s favor. Simone’s attitude towards the music and towards her audiences had always been different from any other singer’s attitude. Her performances were difficult and often very demanding for both, Simone and for her listeners. She had always been very straightforward, strict and passionate when her performance was concerned. But in the 1 1964, after the release of the song “Mississippi Goddam”, Simone’s attitude towards her work changed even more. She found the purpose for her music and she started to use it as a weapon in the fight for the African American civil rights. This thesis seeks to summarize Nina Simone’s life work and to point out and demonstrate the significant changes of the thematic and the lyrical content of the songs that Simone composed and chose to sing after the events of 1963 and the first performance of the song “Mississippi Goddam” in 1964. It also shows, how her individual songs reflect on the happenings in the United States that concerned African American people and their struggle and the African American history and culture. Using the information from the autobiography I Put A Spell on You, which Nina Simone wrote in collaboration with freelancer Stephen Cleary, the thesis first provides the information about Simone’s family, background and her beginnings as a piano player. The second chapter is dedicated to Nina Simone’s performances themselves, it describes her technique, abilities, costumes and visage and it touches upon the hypnotic skills of Simone and the use of the element of signifying in her work. The following chapters describe Simone’s artistic creation before the 1964 breakthrough performance of the song “Mississippi Goddam” and the striking change in her approach to the music and politics after the 1964 concert in Carnegie Hall. 2 2. Nina Simone’s background and her beginnings as a piano player Nina Simone is the stage name of the African American singer, pianist, songwriter and activist participating in the American civil right movements mainly in the late 1960s and the early 1970s. She was born Eunice Kathleen Waymon in the late winter of 1933. Nina Simone came from small town in the American South – Tryon, North Carolina. Like the other southern places in the beginning of the twentieth century, Tryon was segregated, but fortunately there was something different about it, “the town was physically more mixed than usual, blacks and whites took part in all sorts of activities together long before desegregation (…) it was just an easygoing small town with a council which existed only to ensure nothing happened to spoil the peaceful life the white folks led” (Simone and Cleary 4-5). Simone’s family were Methodists, father John Divine Waymon successively made living as a barber, driver and a handyman. He worked until his health condition allowed him to do so. Simone’s mother, Mary Kate Waymon, was a housewife (as she stated in the birth certificate of Eunice) and a Methodist minister for whom Nina Simone was the sixth child. Having seven siblings (five older and two younger), little Eunice Waymon was used to sharing everything and helping others. Life in the house of the Waymons had fixed rules: “there was never liquor on the house and there was no profanity. A Christian household” (Simone and Cleary 5). Although they were very poor, the family never suffered from hunger and they always had a place to live. Eunice started playing the piano when she was only 2 years old and strong enough to push down the keys. Since all kinds of events suggested that she was exceptionally gifted (she learned to play the simple tunes by herself, as a toddler she was capable of clapping hands along to the rhythm, …), the only explanation of her 3 talent for her parents and the people in the town was, that she “had received a gift from God”, like every child of the Waymon family, Eunice was “expected to excel” (Simone and Cleary 15). It did not take a long time until the whole town started to call her the “prodigy”. At the age of 6, Simone was a regular church pianist and she could do what she loved the most, play from dawn to dusk. Although Simone’s mother would allow her to play just the church music, because the “real songs”, as she would call them, were not appropriate, Simone loved all sorts of music and wanted to know and play them all. When she wanted to play other kinds of music, she would find a confederate – her father. He would alert her with a “whistle” if he saw “Momma coming down the road” while practicing the prohibited music (Simone and Cleary 17). The strong relationship between Simone and her father was what enabled the rebellious part of her to stand out and practice any kind of music she wanted. There were times, when making living was real struggle, for a short time, the family was even forced to move out of Tryon. Simone’s father’s health got worse and he needed care and help, mostly from Eunice who, at that time, did not have to study or work. When they moved back to Tryon, Simone’s mother was working for Mrs. Miller, the “first white person [Simone] knew at all, to speak to”, who came to listen Eunice playing in the church and declared that “with the talent [Eunice] had it would be sinful if [she] didn’t have proper piano tuition” (Simone and Cleary 21). Because the Waymon family did not have the money to pay for the piano lessons, Mrs. Miller offered to pay for one year of Eunice’s tuition and if it was worth it, she would continue. That is how Nina Simone met her tutor, the