Recording of Mississippi Goddamm

Recording of Mississippi Goddamm

This youtube video is a live recording of Nina Simone's performance of Mississippi Goddamm. This recording was from her concert on April 6, 1968, two days after the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. Her informal call and response in this video alluded to her anger at the event.

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Nina Simone

Simone, Nina. Mississippi Goddamm (Live). From Forever Young, Gifted and Black: Songs of Freedom and Spirit. Legacy Recordings. 2006, mp3.

1968-04-06

Cheryl Dong

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 sittin 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 believin in prayer

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

But that's just the trouble
"go slow"
Washing the windows
"go slow"
Pickin the cotton
"go slow"
You're just plain rotten
"go slow"
You're too damn lazy
"go 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, cops
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 all gonna die and die like flies
I don't trust you any more
You keep on sayin "Go slow!"
Go slow!

But that's just the trouble
[go slow]
Desegregation
[go slow]
Mass participation
[go slow]
Reunification
[go slow]
Do things gradually
[go slow]
But bring more tragedy
[go 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!

film

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