Quote

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
Believe
Racial
African
Ancient
Memory
Memories
Blood
Sure
Something

More quotes by Nina Simone

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I had heard blues and jazz all my life but I was never aware that it was associated with nightclubs and drinking.
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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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Jazz is a white term to define black people. My music is black classical music.
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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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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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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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When I choose material for an album all these songs I grew up with pour into my head.
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My job is not done. I address my songs now to the third world. I am popular all over Asia and Africa and the Middle East, not to speak of South Africa, where I'm trying to go to see Nelson Mandela.
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Many times I feel different like a different person.
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It is difficult to retain your standards with the pressure of trying to make money, which always has its rules...It's hard to walk the tightrope of doing what you think is your best and making money at it.
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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 look forward to doing my own show, not someone else's. That's always been my dream.
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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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To most white people, jazz means black and jazz means dirt, and that's not what I play. I play black classical music.
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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.
Nina Simone
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I was not reluctant to become a singer. Singing has been an activity I've done my whole life, without thought.
Nina Simone
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Music is one of the ways by which you can know everything which is going on in the world. You can feel... through music... Whew... you can feel the vibrations of everybody in the world at any given moment.
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How do you explain what it feels like to get on the stage and make poetry that you know sinks into the hearts and souls of people who are unable to express it
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I think if I were over there in America, protest music would be more important. But I'm not going.
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It's a good time for black people to be alive.
Nina Simone