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I believe in racial memory too. I'm sure I've got ancient African blood in me that has something to do with what I am.

Nina Simone

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Nina Simone
Age: 75 †
Born: 1933
Born: February 21
Died: 2008
Died: April 21
Composer
Jazz Pianist
Recording Artist
Singer
Singer-Songwriter
Tryon
North Carolina
Eunice Kathleen Waymon
High Priestess of Soul
Memory
Memories
Blood
Sure
Something
Believe
Racial
African
Ancient

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When I choose material for an album all these songs I grew up with pour into my head.
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There are all kinds of things that can be done. You can change rhythms, you can change chords, you can change whole concepts. But it will only work, on a record or in a performance, if you can make the people buy it.
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I'm sorry that I did not become the world's first black classic pianist. I think I would have been happier.
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You have to learn to get up from the table when love is not being served.
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I only knew classical music, which to me was the only true music. The only way I could survive at the bar was to mix the classical music with popular songs, and that meant I had to sing. What happened was that I discovered I had a voice plus the talent to mix classical music together with more popular songs, which at the time I detested.
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There's no excuse for the young people not knowing who the heroes and heroines are or were.
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I think the rich are too rich and the poor are too poor. I don't think the black people are going to rise at all I think most of them are going to die.
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You can't be different if you look at it. Being gifted is different. I had that in my piano playing. I'm very thankful for that. I'm very aware of that. The style and what I fed is just me. I never worked at it. It just happened.
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I love the classics but there are many new ideas to be made into reality. I'd rather be concerned with my own thing. There are many masters of classical piano so I'll leave it to them.
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This may be a dream, but I'll say it anyway: I was supposed to be married last year, and I bought a gown. When I meet Nelson Mandela, I shall put on this gown and have the train of it removed and put aside, and kiss the ground that he walks on and then kiss his feet.
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I would like a man now who is rich, and who can give me a boat - a sailboat. I want to own it and let him pay for it. My first love is the sea and water, not music. Music is second.
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I do love to sing Jacques Brel songs, intensely. I get terribly excited, just by reading a couple of lines in any one of his songs.
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Music has been a burden and a joy for as long as I can remember.
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I don't like to go to strange places.
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Jazz is not just music, it's a way of life, it's a way of being, a way of thinking.
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Since I was three I've been playing the piano. I've been onstage.
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The Beatles are lucky, very lucky. But what has happened to them has nothing to do with them, in a sense. They came along at the right time. Attention was focused on them. They've had the chance to grow in almost any direction they wanted. Very lucky. They are not exceptionally talented.
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It's a good time for black people to be alive.
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I don't like rap music at all. I don't think it's music. It's just a beat and rapping.
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To be young, gifted and black!
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