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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.

Nina Simone

I was always a politician from the day the civil rights people chose me as their protest singer.
NINA SIMONE

Day Myself People Politics Singer
Theory and harmony broadened my mind in music. I know what music is made of.
NINA SIMONE

Mindset Music Myself Theory
Jazz is not just music, it’s a way of life, it’s a way of being, a way of thinking the new inventive phrases we make up to describe things – all that to me is jazz just as much as the music we play.
NINA SIMONE

Description Invention Music Myself Play Thinking Way
I 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.
NINA SIMONE

Dedication Excellence Freedom Music Myself Pursue
I tell you what freedom is to me: no fear.
NINA SIMONE

Fear Freedom Myself
Jazz is not just music, it’s a way of life, it’s a way of being, a way of thinking.
NINA SIMONE

Life Music Thinking Way
I feel more alive now than I ever have in my life. I have a chance to live, as I’ve dreamed.
NINA SIMONE

Alive Chance Dreams Feeling Myself
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.
NINA SIMONE

Couple Excitement Intense Love Myself Reading
You have to learn to get up from the table when love is not being served.
NINA SIMONE

Learning Love Serve Table Yourself
My singing, if you want to call it that is merely another medium of expression. Just an instrument I play. That’s how I see my voice.
NINA SIMONE

Call Expression Instrument Myself See Singing Voice
I was not reluctant to become a singer. Singing has been an activity I’ve done my whole life, without thought.
NINA SIMONE

Activity Life Myself Singer
It’s a good time for black people to be alive.
NINA SIMONE

Alive Black People Time
It’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 SIMONE

Bad Communication Live Logic People Reflection Time Yourself
Desegregation is a joke.
NINA SIMONE

Joke Segregation
Music is a gift and a burden I’ve had since I can remember who I was.
NINA SIMONE

Burden Gift Music Myself Remember
I demand perfection in what I do, and I practice very hard before I give a concert-sometimes three to six hours a day.
NINA SIMONE

Day Demand Myself Perfection Practice

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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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.

Related Topics

Popular Authors

More Nina Simone Quotes