If I get an idea I put it on tape and somebody else writes it out.
NINA SIMONEIf I get an idea I put it on tape and somebody else writes it out.
NINA SIMONEYou have to learn to get up from the table when love is not being served.
NINA SIMONEI don’t like rap music at all. I don’t think it’s music. It’s just a beat and rapping.
NINA SIMONEI try to swim every damn day I can, and I’ve learned to scuba dive and snorkel.
NINA SIMONEFunk, gospel, blues is all out of slavery times, out of depression, out of sorrow.
NINA SIMONETo most white people, jazz means black and jazz means dirt, and that’s not what I play. I play black classical music.
NINA SIMONEIt’s logical that people from bad times will reflect their feelings in their communication. Music is part of the communication. If you lived it, you can do it.
NINA SIMONEDon’t Let Me Be Misunderstood,” a song that was written for Simone, she confronted the band’s lead singer, Eric Burdon. “So you’re the honky,” she said, “who stole my song and got a hit out of it?
NINA SIMONEI think the rich will eventually have to cave in too, because the economic situation around the world is not gonna tolerate the United States being on top forever.
NINA SIMONEThat’s a very high goal to have, study eight hours a day to be a concert pianist.
NINA SIMONEI 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.
NINA SIMONEMany times I feel different like a different person.
NINA SIMONEIf I want to take a particular form of blues somewhere else I have the equipment to do it but I never even thought of it.
NINA SIMONEI feel what they feel. And people who listen to me know that, and it makes them feel like they’re not alone.
NINA SIMONEI made wine from the lilac tree/Put my heart in its recipe/It makes me see what I want to see/And be what I want to be.
NINA SIMONEI was not reluctant to become a singer. Singing has been an activity I’ve done my whole life, without thought.
NINA SIMONE