Saturday, October 17, 2009

Nina Simone - Mississippi Goddam

This song actually reminds me of two important songs: "That Old Black Magic," as sung by Sammy Davis Jr, and Public Enemy's "Welcome to the Terrordome." The former because Nina has Sammy's tendency (or Sammy has Nina's tendency) of inserting these excellent asides into their songs; before launching into the crescendo that ends his song, Sammy announces: "Meanwhile, back at the ranch...," in Nina's case, it's possibly the greatest note in music history, "This is a show tune, but the show hasn't been written for it yet."
The way it resembles "Welcome to the Terrordome" is that the thing we often forget about Public Enemy is how great a rapper Chuck D is. We already know that Public Enemy's songs are incendiary and smart, but "Welcome to the Terrordome" reminds us that the dude can spit hot fire (much like the five greatest rappers of all time; Dylan, Dylan, Dylan, Dylan, and Dylan).
"Mississippi Goddam" was a big deal in its time as a protest song, but it also just totally rocks. Nina Simone's fucking awesome, the end.

1 comment:

Werdna said...

Nina is always hugs. Always.