Top Ten Songs by Nina Simone

Nina Simone’s top ten songs? How can anyone really rank the top ten (or top whatever number) songs of any great musician with a vast, diverse and long-lived career like Nina Simone’s? Some musicians might be able to tell you ten songs where Ms. Simone’s singing was best or her piano playing, or where her arrangements of classic songs were spectacular or when her original compositions were most effective and evocative. But all I can do, coming up with a Top Ten for Nina Simonem is list ten songs I love and think well display different aspects of this famed singer, songwriter, pianist, and civil rights activist’s extensive songbook. So here are ten top songs from Nina Simone. Anyone who likes Nina Simone is likely to find another ten, or twenty, or thirty, just as good without even looking very hard. Here are mine in no particular order:

1. I Wish I Knew How It Would Feel To Be Free. This song, to me, is all things Simone: there’s sweetness, a call for justice and power, beautiful piano, soft and loud sections showcasing different aspects of Simone’s famed raspy voice. It’s sort of a civil rights song, sort of a folk song, a cover of a song other people have done but which Simone sings in her own, unmistakable way. It’s just a great song. (Also try: her version of O-oh Child)

2. Love Me Or Leave Me. This song (there are several Simone versions) also shows off a lot of quintessential Nina Simone. You have a great piano solo in the middle of it which clearly displays Simone’s classical piano training. You have her strong, bluesy voice. And in this case, instead of any political message, the lyric and the story she tells is personal. Simone is great with blues and love songs. And you have an example of Simone taking a musical standard and creating her own distinct version of it. (Also try: From the Little Girl Blue album: My Baby Just Cares for Me, Porgy.)

3. Trouble In Mind. This is another of my personal top ten Nina Simone song with several different versions. The recorded version is light-hearted and shows off more Simone piano. The live version is distinctly darker: slower, referencing suicide via oncoming train. The piano work here is different but still classic Simone. Many people classify Nina Simone as a jazz or blues artist. I think she’s so all over the board that it’s difficult (or not useful) to pin her down, but the live version of Trouble In Mind is definitely a good blues song. (Also try: Nobody Knows You When You’re Down And Out, Where Chilly Winds Don’t Blow)

4. Mississippi Goddamn. Nina Simone eventually became an expatriated American because she was so disgusted by racism. This song, written in the height of the civil rights movement, is Simone’s own composition. “And I mean every word of itâÂ?¦” she says. (One trademark of many top Nina Simone songs is her editorial commentaries that start live recordings.). The rapid fire piece plays like a take off on jouncy show tunes, infusing them with sarcastic protest-laden lyrics. This isn’t a song I play to over and over again, but it’s so Nina Simone and a must-listen. (Also try: the slower original civil rights-era ballads Young, Gifted & Black, and Why?-The King of Love is Dead.)

5. Little Girl Blue. I recommend this whole album, Nina Simone’s first. This song, which also has several versions, is quiet, reserved, soulful, sad, and has Simone using her piano to elegant effect, echoing the reflective lyrics with a familiar, classic Christmas carol. It’s just a quiet, beautiful song. Nina has many of them. This is just my favorite. (Also try: I Think It’s Going To Rain Tonight, Every time We Say Goodbye)

6. Like A Woman. Nina Simone covered several Bob Dylan songs including The Times They Are A-Changing. This arrangement has a beautiful opening few bars on piano and then Simone just does her thing. A lovely sad vocal and definitely an example of Simone taking a 60s-70s era song someone else made great and making it great in her own way. (Also try: Released, Lost In Juarez, My Way, Here Comes the Sun, Never Tired)

7. Strange Fruit. Billie Holiday made this song about lynching a haunting classic. Listening to Nina Simone’s version, you will realize two classic versions of a song can exist. Haunting, with Simone’s voice sounding like it comes from somewhere otherworldly. Spare, musically, and unsparing, emotionally. (Also try: her original compositions- Images, Four Women)

8. Sugar In My Bowl. Nina Simone wrote this song about wanting a little lovin’. Simone loves songs can be sweet, sassy, sad, sexually charged, or all of the above, as is the case with this song. (Also try: Turn Me On, cover of In The Dark, Since I Fell For You, Do I Move You?)

9. Forbidden Fruit. This song is a good mix of elements found alone or in various combinations in a lot of Nina’s songs: African American spiritual roots, folk-ish lyrics, rollicking blues like you’d find in a speakeasy. This song mixes them all up in a funny retelling of the Garden of Eden story. (Also try: Work Song, Gimme A Pigfoot, Children Go Where I Send You, Swing)

10. In The Morning. I like this song this song as an example of Simone as part of the sixties and seventies and of the many covers she did of popular songs. You don’t really think of breezy optimism when you think of Nina Simone, especially in her later years, but you can hear it in this song. (Also try: You Don’t Know What It’s Like; Oo-Oh Child.)