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Chris Guiton<\/strong> discusses Nina Simone’s <\/em>Mississippi Goddam<\/p>\n Every now and then a song comes along that defines an epoch. \u201cMississippi Goddam\u201d by jazz and blues singer-songwriter Nina Simone was one such song. The song was Simone\u2019s impassioned response to the racist murder of civil rights activist Medgar Evers in Jackson, Mississippi in 1963. And the subsequent bombing by a Ku Klux Klan member of a Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama, which killed four young African-American girls who had just finished Bible class.<\/p>\n She wrote the song in an hour, saying later, \u201cFirst you get depressed, and after that, you get mad. And when these kids got bombed, I just sat and wrote this song.\u201d<\/p>\n Simone first performed \u201cMississippi Goddam\u201d at a Greenwich Village nightclub. But it got its major outing shortly afterwards at Carnegie Hall, New York, in March 1964. Performed to a largely white audience, this was a turbulent year in the Civil Rights struggle and the political context can\u2019t have been lost on them.<\/p>\n An authentic voice<\/strong><\/p>\n Simone introduced the song by saying, \u201cThe name of this tune is Mississippi Goddam. And I mean every word of it.\u201d The place-names of racial injustice are skilfully woven into the lyrics:<\/p>\n Alabama’s gotten me so upset<\/em> Simone referred scornfully to the gratuitous insults that characterised racist language: \u201cYou’re just plain rotten\u2026 You’re too damn lazy\u201d. But she reserved her real anger for the caution of public leaders:<\/p>\n You keep on saying “Go slow!”<\/em> Her lyrics reflected a movement whose patience was running out:<\/p>\n I can’t stand the pressure much longer<\/em> The song finishes on a sombre note, which reflected the deep divisions that scarred American society:<\/p>\n You don’t have to live next to me<\/em> The Carnegie Hall recording was subsequently released as a single. The reaction was swift. Radio stations in the South refused to play the song. Boxes of promotional singles were returned with each single broken in half. And several Southern states banned it, ostensibly because of the word “goddam\u201d. Simone also found herself blacklisted by music venues.<\/p>\n But \u201cMississippi Goddam\u201d struck an immediate chord with people in the Civil Rights struggle. It was a bold political statement, driven by an urgency uncommon in a jazz song. The song\u2019s upbeat melody made an ironic contrast with the words. This was deliberate. As she sang, \u201cThis is a show tune, but the show hasn’t been written for it, yet\u201d.<\/p>\n Simone had embarked on a career in music at a young age. She hoped to become a classical pianist and attended the prestigious Julliard Academy at the age of 18. She applied for a scholarship to the equally prestigious Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia. But was unsuccessful. As she said later, \u201cI knew I was good enough, but they turned me down. And it took me about six months to realize it was because I was black. I never really got over that jolt of racism at the time.\u201d<\/p>\n The power of song<\/strong><\/p>\n The Establishment often sneers at \u2018protest\u2019 singers. You might argue this is a mark of their success. Artists as diverse as Billie Holiday, Pete Seeger and Bob Marley have used music to make pointed condemnations of racism, war and social injustice. And you know they\u2019re on to something when the mainstream media do their best to ignore or deride an artist\u2019s work.<\/p>\n Protest songs can be didactic, poorly written or simply dull. But the great ones stand out as subversive, powerful agents of change. As music critic Dorian Lynskey put is, \u201cThe political content is not an obstacle to greatness, but the source of it. They open a door and the world outside rushes in.\u201d The song\u2019s message, slipped in under the radar of commercial imperatives, is \u201cthe grit that makes the pearl\u201d.<\/p>\n Some claim that protest songs have lost their power to connect with people as changing social habits \u2013 particularly the growth of social media \u2013 have eroded music\u2019s political significance. Even veteran folk singer Billy Bragg, who himself wrote effective Thatcher-era protest songs, said, \u201cOnly the audience can change the world \u2013 not performers.\u201d<\/p>\n But music has been an intrinsic part of the struggle for political and social change since the dawn of modern history. Protest songs might not themselves move the world on its axis. But they have the power to say something important about the times in which we live, generate a shift in people\u2019s opinions and galvanise an audience in a way that cinema or painting can\u2019t.<\/p>\n As fellow jazz singer Dianne Reeves said, \u201cWhen I first heard Nina Simone, her naked truth shocked me. Whenever she sang, it felt like lightning bolts in my soul\u201d.<\/p>\n Enduring legacy<\/strong><\/p>\n \u201cMississippi Goddam\u201d marked a turning point in Nina Simone\u2019s career. She had made a conscious decision to use her music to tackle racism and participated actively in the civil rights movement. Speaking about this, she said, \u201cI had spent many years pursuing excellence, because that is what classical music is all about… Now it was dedicated to freedom, and that was far more important.\u201d<\/p>\n Her professional career undoubtedly suffered as a result. But the timeless power of the message in \u201cMississippi Goddam\u201d \u2013 along with other civil rights classics such as \u201cBacklash Blues\u201d and \u201cTo Be Young, Gifted and Black\u201d \u2013 still resonates with us today.<\/p>\n Nina Simone\u2019s music continues to inspire listeners today. I\u2019ll leave the final words to Simone, \u201cYou can’t help it. An artist’s duty, as far as I’m concerned, is to reflect the times.\u201d<\/p>\n
Tennessee made me lose my rest<\/em>
And everybody knows about Mississippi Goddam.<\/em><\/p>\n
“Go slow!”<\/em>
But that’s just the trouble<\/em>
“do it slow”<\/em>
Desegregation<\/em>
“do it slow”<\/em>
Mass participation<\/em>
“do it slow”<\/em>
Reunification<\/em>
“do it slow”<\/em>
Do things gradually<\/em>
“do it slow”<\/em><\/p>\n
Somebody say a prayer.<\/em><\/p>\n
Just give me my equality<\/em>
Everybody knows about Mississippi<\/em>
Everybody knows about Alabama<\/em>
Everybody knows about Mississippi Goddam.<\/em><\/p>\n![\"mississippi](\"images\/culture\/mark_perryman\/mississippi_goddam.jpeg\")
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