Nina Simone Album

Ain't got no home, ain't got no shoes
Ain't got no money, ain't got no class
Ain't got no skirts, ain't got no sweaters
Ain't got no Perfume, ain't got no beard
Ain't got no mind

Ain't got no mother, ain't got no culture
Ain't got no friends, ain't got no schooling
Ain't got no love, ain't got no name
Ain't got no ticket, ain't got no token
Ain't got no God

What have I got?
Why am I alive anyway?
Yeah, what have I got?
Nobody can take away

I got my hair, I got my head
I got my brains, I got my ears
I got my eyes, I got my nose
I got my mouth, I got my smile

I got my tongue, I got my chin
I got my neck, I got my boobs
I got my heart, I got my soul
I got my back, I got my sex

I got my arms, I got my hands
I got my fingers, Got my legs
I got my feet, I got my toes
I got my liver, Got my blood

I've got life, I've got my freedom
I've got life, I'm gonna keep it
I've got life, I'm gonna keep it

Young, gifted, and black
Oh what a lovely precious dream
To be young, gifted, and black
Open your heart to what I mean

In the whole world you'll know
There’s a million boys and girls
Who are young, gifted, and black
And that's a fact!

You are young, gifted, and black
We must begin to tell our young
There's a world waiting for you
Yours is the quest that's just begun

When you’re feeling real low
There's a great truth that you should know
When you're young, gifted, and black
Your soul's intact!

To be young, gifted, and black
Oh how I've longed to know the truth
There are times when I look back
And I am haunted by my youth

Oh but my joy of today
Is that we can all be proud to say
To be young, gifted, and black
Is where it's at…Is where it's at…Is where it's at!

I want a little sugar
In my bowl
I want a little sweetness
Down in my soul
I could stand some lovin'
Oh so bad
I feel so funny and I feel so sad

I want a little steam
On my clothes
Maybe I can fix things up
So they'll go
Whatsa matter Daddy
Come on, save my soul
I need some sugar in my bowl
I ain't foolin'
I want some sugar in my bowl

You been acting different
I've been told
Soothe me
I want some sugar in my bowl
I want some steam
On my clothes
Maybe I can fix things up so they'll go
Whatsa matter Daddy
Come on, save my soul
I want some sugar in my bowl
I ain't foolin'
I want some sugar hmmm
In my bowl.

Lyrics to Mississippi Goddam!
Nina Simone, 1963

Mississippi Goddam (Nina Simone)
The name of this tune is Mississippi Goddam
And I mean every word of it

Alabama's gotten me so upset
Tennessee made me lose my rest
And everybody knows about Mississippi Goddam

Alabama's gotten me so upset
Tennessee made me lose my rest
And everybody knows about Mississippi Goddam

Can't you see it
Can't you feel it
It's all in the air
I can't stand the pressure much longer
Somebody say a prayer

Alabama's gotten me so upset
Tennessee made me lose my rest
And everybody knows about Mississippi Goddam

This is a show tune
But the show hasn't been written for it, yet

Hound dogs on my trail
School children sitting in jail
Black cat cross my path
I think every day's gonna be my last

Lord have mercy on this land of mine
We all gonna get it in due time
I don't belong here
I don't belong there
I've even stopped believing in prayer

Don't tell me
I tell you
Me and my people just about due
I've been there so I know
They keep on saying "Go slow!"

But that's just the trouble
"do it slow"
Washing the windows
"do it slow"
Picking the cotton
"do it slow"
You're just plain rotten
"do it slow"
You're too damn lazy
"do it slow"
The thinking's crazy
"do it slow"
Where am I going
What am I doing
I don't know
I don't know

Just try to do your very best
Stand up be counted with all the rest
For everybody knows about Mississippi Goddam

I made you thought I was kiddin'

Picket lines
School boy cots
They try to say it's a communist plot
All I want is equality
for my sister my brother my people and me

Yes you lied to me all these years
You told me to wash and clean my ears
And talk real fine just like a lady
And you'd stop calling me Sister Sadie

Oh but this whole country is full of lies
You're all gonna die and die like flies
I don't trust you any more
You keep on saying "Go slow!"
"Go slow!"

But that's just the trouble
"do it slow"
Desegregation
"do it slow"
Mass participation
"do it slow"
Reunification
"do it slow"
Do things gradually
"do it slow"
But bring more tragedy
"do it slow"
Why don't you see it
Why don't you feel it
I don't know
I don't know

You don't have to live next to me
Just give me my equality
Everybody knows about Mississippi
Everybody knows about Alabama
Everybody knows about Mississippi Goddam

That's it!

George Bass

Yeah
Yeah yeah yeah yeah
Alright ye

See-line woman
She drink coffee
She drink tea
And then go home
See-line woman

See-line woman
Dressed in green
Wears silk stockings
With golden seams
See-line woman

See-line woman
Dressed in red
Make a man lose his head
See-line woman

See-line woman
Black dress on
For a thousand dollars
She wail and she moan
See-line woman

Wiggle wiggle
Turn like a cat
Wink at a man
And he wink back
Now child
See-line woman

Empty his pockets
And wreck his days
Make him love her
And she'll fly away

See-line woman
Take it on out now
Empty his pockets
And she wreck his days
And she make him love her
Then she sure fly away
She got a black dress on
For a thousand dollars
She wail and she moan...

I loves you Porgy
Don't let him take me
Don't let him handle me
And drive me mad
If you can keep me, I wants to stay here
With you forever and I'd be glad
I loves you Porgy
Don't let him take me
Don't let him handle me
With his hot hand
If you can keep me, I wants to stay here
With you forever
I got my man

Someday, I know he's comin' back
To call me...
He's gonna handle me and hold me so
It's gonna be like dyin', Porgy,
Deep inside me,
But when he calls I know I have to go

Porgy, I's your woman now
I is, I is...
And I ain't never goin' nowhere
'Less you shares the fun
Want no wrinkle on your brow,
No how
Because the sorrow of the past is all
Done, done
My Porgy,
Now the real happiness is just begun
There's no wrinkle on my brow
No how
And I ain't goin'
You hear me saying, if you ain't goin',
With you I'm stayin'

Porgy, I's yo' woman now
I's yours forever
Mornin' time and evenin' time
And summer time and winter time
Mmm
Oh my Porgy
My man Porgy
From this minute I'm tellin' you
I keep this vow
Porgy, I's yo' woman now

Langston Hughes, Nina Simone

Mr. Backlash, Mr. Backlash
Just who do think I am
You raise my taxes, freeze my wages
And send my son to Vietnam

You give me second class houses
And second class schools
Do you think that alla colored folks
Are just second class fools
Mr. Backlash, I'm gonna leave you
With the backlash blues

When I try to find a job
To earn a little cash
All you got to offer
Is your mean old white backlash
But the world is big
Big and bright and round
And it's full of folks like me
Who are black, yellow, beige and brown
Mr. Backlash, I'm gonna leave you
With the backlash blues

Mr. Backlash, Mr. Backlash
Just what do you think I got to lose
I'm gonna leave you
With the backlash blues
You're the one will have the blues
Not me, just wait and see

Now listen honey while i say
How can you fix your mind to say you're going away

Don't say that we must part
Don't break my aching heart
You know you love me
True for many years
Love me night and day
Can't you see my tears
How can you leave me
Listen while i say

After you've gone and left me crying,
After you've gone there's no denying,
You'll feel blue, you'll feel sad,
You'll miss the greatest mama that you ever ever ever had.
There'll come a time, don't you forget it,
There'll come a time when you'll regret it.

Some day when you grow lonely,
Your heart will break like mine and you'll want me only,
After you've gone, after you've gone away

After you've gone and left me crying,
After you've gone there's no denying,
You'll feel blue, you'll feel sad,
You'll miss the greatest pal you ever had.
There'll come a time, don't you forget it,
There'll come a time when you'll regret it.

Some day when you grow lonely,
Your heart will break like mine and you'll want me only,
After you've gone, after you've gone away
Oh yeah
After you've gone, after you've gone away

I want a little sugar
In my bowl
I want a little sweetness
Down in my soul
I could stand some lovin'
Oh so bad
I feel so funny and I feel so sad

I want a little steam
On my clothes
Maybe I can fix things up
So they'll go
Whatsa matter Daddy
Come on, save my soul
I need some sugar in my bowl
I ain't foolin'
I want some sugar in my bowl

You been acting different
I've been told
Soothe me
I want some sugar in my bowl
I want some steam
On my clothes
Maybe I can fix things up so they'll go
Whatsa matter Daddy
Come on, save my soul
I want some sugar in my bowl
I ain't foolin'
I want some sugar hmmm
In my bowl.

Jimmy Webb

Do what you gotta do
Come on back see me when you can
Man I can understand how it might be
Kinda hard to love a girl like me
I don't blame you much for wanting to be free
I just wanted you to know
I've loved you better that your own kin did
From the very start it's my own fault
What happens to my heart
You see I've always known you'd go

So you just do what you gotta do
My wild sweet love
Though it may mean that I'll never kiss
Those sweet lips again
Pay that no mind
Find that dappled dream of yours
Come on back and see me when you can

Now I know it'll make you feel sad
And make you feel so bad
They say you don't treat me me like you should
They got ways to make you feels no good
I guess they got no way to know
I've had my eyes wide open from the start
And man you never lied to me
The part of you that they'll never see
Is the part you've shown to me

So you just do what you gotta do
My wild sweet love
Though it may mean that I'll never kiss
Those sweet lips again
Pay that no mind
Find that dappled dream of yours
Come on back and see me when you can

I sing just to know that I'm alive
I play just to feel that I'll survive
And if there's a second place
Where ?????????? just the case
I sing just to know that I'm alive

Sugoose, Yeah Sugoose, Sugoose, Yeah Sugoose, Sugoose, Yeah Sugoose

Well the mountains they won't move no they don't
And the people they won't dance and they won't
I sing, I sing, I sing, I sing,
I sing just to know that I'm alive.

The other woman finds time to manicure her nails,
The other woman is perfect where her rival fails.
And she's never seen with pin curls in her hair - anywhere.

The other woman enchants her clothes with French perfume.
The other woman keeps fresh cut flowers in each room.
There are never toys scattered anywhere...

And when her old man comes to call,
He'll find her waiting like a lonesome queen.
'cause when she's by his side
it's such a change from her old routine.

But...

The other woman will always cry herself to sleep.
The other woman will never have his love to keep.
And, as years go by...
The other woman will spend her real life alone.

Lost in day to day,
Turned another way
With a laugh, a kind hello
And some small talk with friends I know
I forget that I'm not over you for a while.

A wave, an easy grin,
A smile to put them in,
Got other lives to listen to
And some music that I have to do
I forget that I'm not over you for a while.

Days go by with no empty feeling,
Until I touch my hair and touch my skin
And remember you're gone.

People say to me, "hey Nina do you need some company?
When you have some time to spend,
Drop around-you need your friends."
They forget that I'm not over you for a while,
They forget that I'm not over you for a while.

My skin is black
My arms are long
My hair is woolly
My back is strong
Strong enough to take the pain
inflicted again and again
What do they call me
My name is AUNT SARAH
My name is Aunt Sarah

My skin is yellow
My hair is long
Between two worlds
I do belong
My father was rich and white
He forced my mother late one night
What do they call me
My name is SAFFRONIA
My name is Saffronia

My skin is tan
My hair is fine
My hips invite you
my mouth like wine
Whose little girl am I?
Anyone who has money to buy
What do they call me
My name is SWEET THING
My name is Sweet Thing

My skin is brown
my manner is tough
I'll kill the first mother I see
my life has been too rough
I'm awfully bitter these days
because my parents were slaves
What do they call me
My name is PEACHES

[No lyrics]

(1928) Gus Kahn, Walter Donaldson

My baby don't care for shows
My baby don't care for clothes
My baby just cares for me
My baby don't care for cars and races
My baby don't care for high-tone places

Liz Taylor is not his style
And even Lana Turner's smile
Is somethin' he can't see
My baby don't care who knows
My baby just cares for me

Baby, my baby don't care for shows
And he don't even care for clothes
He cares for me
My baby don't care
For cars and races
My baby don't care for
He don't care for high-tone places

Liz Taylor is not his style
And even Liberace's smile
Is something he can't see
Is something he can't see
I wonder what's wrong with baby
My baby just cares for
My baby just cares for
My baby just cares for me

Original lyrics

My baby don't care for shows
My baby don't care for clothes
My baby just cares for me
My baby don't care for cars and races
My baby don't care for high-tone places

Liz Taylor is not his style
And even Lana Turner's smile
is somethin' he can't see

My baby don't care who knows it
My baby just cares for me

My baby don't care for shows
And he don't even care for clothes
My baby just cares for me

My baby don't care for cars and races
My baby don't care for
he don't care for high-tone places

I wonder what's wrong with baby
My baby just cares for
Just says his prayers for
My baby just cares for me