Power, power, power, power....to have power like a Nina Simone I just might run to the Devil, but then of course, the song 'Sinner Man' would be written about me, the envious.
Loot introduced me to that song, 'Sinner Man' a few years ago and I recognized it from The Thomas Crown Affair, but to listen to it in what seems a quite necessary 10 plus minutes, especially that last minute and a half or so, when she confesses to the Lord how she needs Him, oh Lord, oh Lord, its absolutely spellbinding. I haven't heard a song quite that rapturous in my life.
Now, I don't profess to be a Nina Simone know-it-all. I know very little about her life, except that she was an ex-pat for most of her life, living and eventually dying in France. I think Loot once told me that he was able to see her in her first show at Carnegie Hall shortly before she died; what I would have paid to have been there with him.
I can only name three or four other songs that she does and I'm not sure whether they are remakes, like 'I Put a Spell on You' or 'House of the Rising Sun', which I think is a Leadbelly's song, but it might have actually come from an unknown creator and Leadbelly took it and made it famous; well, more famous .
I never delved too deeply into jazz, even when I was living with Hurlbut back in college, who was quite a jazz aficionado. Even Debs tried to lure me into that den of sound with the Coltrane and Miles Davis CD's she made for me and hell yes, I do see why those two are among the greatest in the biz, but I just never dedicated myself to it fully the way Hurlbut and Debs would have wanted me to.
There is always time and I think I'll try it out now, now that I've come to my senses I suppose. I always considered myself open minded to music, but I certainly have not been as much as I've professed or thought myself to have been. I barely, if ever, listen to classical either and I consider that a shame on myself, not to mention a sort of disrespect to my parents who are quite the avid classical music listeners, my father especially.
A number of times, my father would put on some CD and then ask me who I thought it was.
"Bach, no, no, Bellini--no, wait," I'd stutter.
"Buh," he'd breathe out heavily at me, disgusted, "its Verdi, you barbarian," or "its Chopin you fool."
..I think his reaction is funny and quite the right amount of seriousness and over-reaction that makes me love my father, but I know what he means. Its just something I should be more aware of. To not be a 'barbarian' is to have a more than average grasp and knowledge of almost everything around you, whether it be ballet or stamps or classical music.
It won't necessarily make my life 'better'; thats for me to determine, but to be well-rounded just may help out in other aspects of my life, maybe I can impress Trebek on Jeopardy, who knows.
Wasn't I talking about power. Power, power, power; and then some, in Nina Simone's lungs and beauty and in that invisible chamber in her heart that propels her passion to soar to heights unparalleled. For that power, I just might run to the Devil, he'd be waiting for me and Nina Simone, she'd be praying for me and with that voice, the Lord would definitely hear her.
The Mallet
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