All language subtitles for What.Happened.Miss.Simone.2015.WEBRip.iTunes

[Announcer] Tremendous pleasure

and honour to welcome the
incredible, unique and fantastic

one and only Nina Simone!

Hello.

[AUDIENCE MEMBER]
Hi. We're ready.

One, two, three.

I haven't seen you for
many years since 1968.

I've decided that I will do
no more jazz festivals.

That decision has not changed.

I will sing for you,

or we will do and share with you
a few moments,

after which I shall graduate
to a higher class, I hope,

and I hope you will come
with me.

We'll start from the beginning,

which was about a little girl,

and her name was Blue.

[PLAYING "GOOD KING WENCESLAS"]

[TAPE RECORDER]

[INTERVIEWER]
What's "free" to you?

- What's "free" to me?
- Yeah.

Same thing it is to you.
You tell me.

No, you tell me.

[LAUGHING]
I don't know.

It's just a feeling.

It's just a feeling.

It's like,
"How do you tell somebody

how it feels to be in love?"

How are you going to tell
anybody who has not been in love

how it feels to be in love?

You cannot do it
to save your life.

You can describe things
but you can't tell them.

But you know it when it happens.
That's what I mean by "free".

I've had a couple of times on
stage when I really felt free!

And that's something else.

That's really something else!

Like...I tell you
what freedom is to me: no fear!

I mean really, no fear.

If I could have that...

Half of my life...
No fear.

[♪ "I Wish I Knew How It Would
Feel To Be Free"]

♪ I wish I could share.

♪ All the love that' s
in my heart

♪ Remove all the bars

♪ That still keep us apart

♪ I wish you could know

♪ What it means to be me

♪ Then you'll see and agree

♪ That every man should be free

♪ I wish I could give

♪ All I'm longing to give

[LISA SIMONE KELLY]
My mother was one

of the greatest entertainers
of all time, hands down.

But she paid a huge price.

People seem to think when she
went out on stage,

that was when
she became Nina Simone.

My mother was Nina Simone 24/7

and that's where it became
a problem.

♪ One day I woke up
and I could fly

♪ (Yes, I know)

♪ I'd look down at the sea

♪ (Yes, I know)

♪ And I wouldn't know myself

♪ I'd have new hands

♪ I'd have new feet

♪ (Yes, I know)

♪ I'd have new vision

♪ (Yes, I know)

♪ My eyes would be open
a little better

♪ (Yes, I know)

[LISA] When she was performing
she was brilliant.

She was loved.

She was also a revolutionary.

She found a purpose
for the stage,

a place from which
she could use her voice

to speak out for her people.

♪ Don't get in my way

[AUDIENCE CHEERING]

♪ (Yes, I know)

But when the show ended,
everybody else went home.

She was alone
and she was still fighting.

But she was fighting
her own demons,

full of anger and rage.

She couldn't live with herself.

And everything fell apart.

♪ For one moment
of my whole life

♪ I would know how

♪ It would feel

♪ To be free

[INTERVIEWER] Good evening.
Our guest tonight is

Nina Simone.

Probably the foremost blues
singer, jazz singer,

singer of all songs in
the United States today.

Nina, are you happy with the
kind of work you're doing?

[NINA] What makes me
the happiest,

is when I'm performing and
there are people out there

who feel with me and
I know I touched them.

But to be completely honest,

the whole thing seems so much
like a dream.

I never thought I was gonna
stay in show business.

When I first got into
show business

I wasn't a blues singer and
I wasn't even a jazz singer.

I was a classical pianist.

I studied to become

the first black classical
pianist in America.

And that's all
that was on my mind.

That's what
I was prepared to be.

I was born Eunice Waymon,

which is my real name,
by the way,

in a town called Tryon ,
North Carolina.

I started to play the piano
when I was three or four.

My mother was a preacher

and she took me
with her on her revivals

and I started to play the piano
in church.

[♪ "Children Go Where
I Send You"]

♪ Children go where I send you

♪ How shall I send you?

♪ I'm gonna send you one by one

♪ One for the little biddy

♪ Baby was born, born, born
in Bethlehem

Revival meetings were

some of the most exciting
times that I've ever had.

The music was so intense you
sort of went out of yourself.

I felt it tremendously.
And I was leading it.

When I was seven, the choir of
our church gave a programme

at the local theatre.

And I was on that programme.

And I played some song,
I don't remember what it was,

and these two white women
in the audience heard me.

One of them was the woman
that my mother worked for,

and the other one was a music
teacher, Mrs Mazzanovich.

And they decided right then and
there to give me lessons.

And so, for five years
after that,

I studied classical piano
with this teacher.

I crossed the railroad tracks
every weekend

to get to Mrs Mazzanovich.

And railroad tracks
in the South

were supposed to be dividing
the blacks from the whites.

Well, it really did.

I was so scared.

Mrs Mazzanovich frightened me.

It was her being white in the
sense that I had never seen.

She was alien to me.

Her white hair, the combs in
it, her pleasantness...

I loved that.

She started me on...Bach.

And this Bach...I liked him.

Mrs Mazzanovich had it in her
mind that I was going to be

one of the world's greatest
concert pianists .

So it was all very disciplined
classical music.

Bach, Beethoven, Debussy,
Brahms, you name it.

Then Mrs Mazzanovich got
a fund together,

"Eunice Waymon fund".

And I gave lots of recitals.

They would take up collection
to further my education

after I'd have left her.

[LISA] Mommy took to all the
training like a fish to water,

but it was a double-edged sword.

She had a very lonely life

because she was practising
seven, eight hours a day.

[NINA] When I first started
to take lessons,

I became terribly aware
of how isolated I was

from the other children.

And how isolated I was

from the white community
and the negro community.

I felt it, all the time, even
when the kids played with me.

They always wanted me just
to play piano for them to dance

I wasn't asked too much to do
anything else.

That was very hard.

Part of that isolation,
was the thing about colour.

I was a black girl and I knew
about it, and I lived in it.

I lived in the South
for 17 years.

[LISA] My mom rarely referred
to Jim Crow and segregation

and a lot of the racial issues
that were going on

at that stage in her life.

She did tell me about times when
they told her nose was too big,

her lips were too full
and her skin was too dark.

And after she was told that,
they probably told her,

"There's only certain things
you'll be good for in life."

[NINA] What I knew, I knew.

We weren't allowed to mention
anything racial in our house.

I wasn't consciously dealing
with race.

That wasn't consciously on my
mind at all. Until years later.

After I graduated
from high school,

the money that had been saved
from the Eunice Waymon Fund

sent me to New York, to
Juilliard for a year and a half.

Then I applied for a scholarship

to Curtis Institute of Music
in Philadelphia.

I was playing Czerny and Liszt,
Rachmaninoff and Bach.

I knew I was good enough but
they turned me down.

It took me about six months

to realise it was
because I was black.

I never really got over that
jolt of racism at the time.

Then the money ran out

and the reality hit me
that I had to go to work.

My parents had moved the family
to Philadelphia to be near me.

And my family is very poor,
so I had to work.

What else was there for me
to do?

I got myself a job in Atlantic
City for a summer.

It was a very crummy bar.

I used to go in evening gowns.
I didn't know any better.

I played everything that
I could think of.

Pop songs, classical,
spirituals, all kinds of things.

It was very strange.

And I had never sung before.

The owner came in the second
night and told me

if I wanted to keep the job,
I had to sing.

$90 was more money than
I had ever heard of in my life.

So I said: "Well, I'll sing."
Ever since I've been singing.

[ROGER NUPIE]
Eunice Waymon was playing

in bars to support her family

and to have money to continue
her classical piano training.

Since she didn't want
her mother to know

that she was playing the
"devil's music" in bars,

she changed her name.

Eunice Waymon became
Nina Simone.

She named herself "Niña",
meaning "little one" .

She had a boyfriend
who called her "Niña",

and "Simone" came from the
French actress Simone Signoret.

[NINA] I didn't want my mother
to find out.

I knew she would hate it.

I kept it from her
for a long, long time.

[INTERVIEWER] Was it lonely
for a young girl entertaining

in these strange bars?

[NINA] Extremely.
Extremely lonely.

[INTERVIEWER] Working peculiar
hours, I imagine.

[NINA] 12:00 midnight till 7:00
in the morning.

- It ruined your social life.
- Never had much of one.

- Why did you keep on with it?
- I couldn't help it.

[NINA] I have to play
and I needed money.

It was always
a matter of necessity

from day to day
what I am going to do...

I didn't even know I was going
to stay in show business.

I never thought about a choice.

♪ Nobody's fault but mine

[AL SCHACKMAN] From the
beginning, I felt

there was something
eating at her.

You know,
"What's eating at you, Nina?"

Gradually that got stronger.

[♪ "For All We Know"]

♪ For all we know

♪ We may never meet again

[AL] The first time I played
with Nina,

it was the summer of 1957

at a restaurant
in New Hope, Pennsylvania.

She didn't look at me,

said nothing
as if I wasn't even there,

and started in on a song.

She never told me what key she
was going to be in.

She started playing

and I knew exactly
where I was going to go with it.

It was like we had a
telepathic relationship.

Before you knew it,
we were just weaving in and out

And then she looked up.

♪ Until...

♪ the last minute

[NINA] Al Schackman is
a terribly sensitive,

creative man.

He has perfect pitch,

which means that
no matter what key I'm in,

he's able to adapt himself
immediately.

'Cause I do that all the time.

I change the key in the middle
of a tune.

Nina had a wonderful way of
taking a piece of music and...

not interpreting it
but metamorphosising it.

You know, morphing it
into her experience.

♪ This may only be a dream

[NINA] What I was interested in
was conveying

an emotional message,

which means using everything
you've got inside you

sometimes to barely make a note

or if you have to strain
to sing, you sing.

Sometimes I sound like gravel

and sometimes I sound like
coffee and cream.

♪ So baby, love me, love me
tonight

♪ Tomorrow was made for some

When I first saw Nina at my
club in 1959, I was impressed.

She was different.

She mixed in folk music
with jazz.

She played very fine piano.

Her voice was totally different
from anybody else.

It was a woman's voice but
it had the depth of a baritone.

That depth and that darkness
carried the insight

of what was in Nina's soul.

And it reached you very quickly.

♪ For all...

♪ ...we know

She was an artist.
She was an original artist.

So we paid attention
and in 1960,

I put her on
the Newport Jazz Festival.

And she was a hit there.

[♪ "Little Liza Jane"]

♪ I got a beau you ain't got
none Little Liza Jane

♪ I got a beau you ain't got
none Little Liza Jane

♪ I got a beau you ain't got
none Little Liza Jane

♪ I got a beau you ain't got
none Little Liza Jane

♪ Oh, little Liza,
little Liza Jane

♪ Oh, little Liza,
little Liza Jane

Her sound is so original

When she first appeared,

she was one
of those musicians...

Once...you don't have
to hear them much.

If you hear them once, the next
time you hear them you say:

"Oh, that's that same one
I heard last week.

Nobody sounds like that
except her."

♪ Come my love and live with me
(Liza Jane)

♪ I' will take good care of
thee, little Liza Jane

[AL] At Newport, she was sitting
on a high stool

with a tambourine.

I was in the back.

She wasn't sure she wanted
to go through with it.

If I remember right,
she was a little, you know...

"What am I doing here?"

I said: "You're here
because you belong here."

♪ He took me to this great
big town.

♪ Lot of people standing around
(Liza Jane)

♪ Little Liza Jane

She said:
"Ok, Al, but you'd better play."

I said:
"Don't worry, I'll play."

♪ Oh, little Liza,
little Liza Jane

♪ Oh, little Liza,
little Liza Jane

Then, if you watch during her
performance of "Little Liza",

she has that little smile
from time to time.

She let go
and it was really cute.

♪ Little Liza Jane, Jane
Little Liza

♪ Little Liza Jane, Jane
Little Liza

♪ Little Liza Jane, Jane
Little Liza

[NINA] Then I recorded
seven or eight tunes

I had been doing
all those years

and of course the public
picked out "I Loves You Porgy".

It was not pushed or promoted
to be a hit at all.

- Girls! Don! Hi.
- Hi, Hugh, nice to see you.

Real great.

Eleanor, you wanna take
Don's coat here?

Maybe you can show the girls
where the powder room is,

the bedroom.

Hello there.

Very nice to have you with us
this evening.

This is Playboy's Penthouse ,

and I'm Hugh Hefner, editor
publisher of Playboy Magazine.

I'd like you to meet someone
most of you know, Nina Simone.

She came out of nowhere in the
last year as a recording star.

She has a very big record,
"Porgy"

that is breaking all kinds of
sales records.

We're very happy
she could join us

- tonight on Playboy's Penthouse
-Thanks.

She's gonna play and sing
a little bit now with her group.

You want to hear "Porgy"?

- Very much.
- Right.

Good.
That's what we'll do.

[♪ "I Loves You Porgy"]

♪ I love you, Porgy

♪ Don't let him take me

♪ Don't let him handle me

♪ And drive me mad

♪ If you can keep me

♪ I'm gonna stay
with you forever

♪ And I'll be glad

♪ Yes, I loves you Porgy

♪ Don't let him take me

♪ Sweetie, don't let him
handle me

♪ With his hot hands

♪ If you can keep me

♪ I'm gonna stay
with you forever

♪ I've got my man

[INTERVIEWER] Nina, there's
a man named Andy Stroud.

He walked into your life and
he became a permanent part.

How did you meet your husband?

[NINA] He came to see me
at a nightclub

and a mutual friend
introduced us.

Nina came to the table and sat.
I was eating a Hamburger plate

and there were fries and
she dipped into them.

She wanted to know if it was OK.
I said: "All right."

We got cute and then she gave me
that card with a note on it.

Then I went to see her, at her
place in the next day or two.

♪ But when he comes I know

♪ I'll have to go

♪ I love you, Porgy

[INTERVIEWER] How did you know

Andy Stroud was to be
your husband

and not just another guy out
for a date or something else?

[NINA LAUGHS]
That's a hard question.

He told me that he'd wanted
to meet me for a long time.

And he had come for me.
I fell in love with him.

Then later, he scared me
to death, he was so...

You know, he knew what
he wanted and he just took over

♪ With you forever

He abandoned his own career

as a sergeant of the police
department to manage me.

For the first time,
I knew what it was

not to be just
floundering out there.

♪ ...got my man.

I just remember meeting Andy.

He was a tough New York
vice squad cop.

When he stepped out of his car
uptown, people ran.

He had a way
of just saying one word.

"Hey."

And that could put a lot of fear
in people.

But Andy and Nina married
in 1961.

He retired from the police force
and became her manager.

And he did well for her.

They bought a beautiful house in
Mount Vernon, New York.

[NINA] We had a 13-room house,

four acres of land,
a lot of trees.

♪ My baby don't care for shows

♪ My baby don't care for clothes

♪ My baby just cares for me

♪ My baby don't care for

♪ Cars and races

♪ My baby don't care for

♪ High tone places

[NINA] Lisa was born nine months
later.

The first three hours
after Lisa was born

were the most peaceful
in my life.

And I was in love
with the world.

Andrew was there.

He was sitting right there
and he said:

I said, "How is the baby ?"
He says: "How is the mother?"

I loved him for that.

I loved being a mother.
I was a good mother.

I was a goddamn good mother.

[LISA] I remember our house
in Mount Vernon

like the back of my hand.

It was like a fairy tale.

I remember seeing the paisley
on the walls.

The walls were kind of like a..

They were hued in gold
but it really wasn't gold.

It was more like a muted gold

But it felt like it was velvet.

I'd always run my hands over the
walls because it was textured.

And my mom had a cold storage

where she kept her fur coats
and her costumes.

So I was always in there.

[ANDY] These were the good,
sweet days.

We were building and growing
together.

[PIANO MUSIC]

I had an overall plan to develop
and create her as an artist.

I had set up an office at 5th
Avenue and 42nd Street.

I had a publicist.

I had a guy who was
a record promotion man

from Atlantic Records.

I had another fellow who did the
college radio station promotion

and a photographer.

Dad was the original Puff Daddy.

He really had a vision and he
was a very astute businessman.

[ANDY] And of course,
she was burning

to get on to the
Carnegie Hall.

She had trained
as a classical pianist

with the one thought in mind
of being the first black female

classical pianist to appear
on Carnegie Hall.

That was her prime objective.

However, none of
the New York city promoters

would undertake this project.

So, I took my own money
to promote the appearance.

She was ecstatic. I mean, she
was out of her mind with joy.

[INTERVIEWER] You apparently
wrote a letter to your parents

saying: "This is where you
wanted me to play

but I should have been
playing Bach."

This was your glory occasion
but you were still disappointed?

[NINA] Well, I loved
the audience,

but I wasn't playing classical
music and I wanted to be.

So I wrote: "Yes, I'm in
Carnegie Hall, finally,

but I'm not playing Bach."

[♪ "If You Knew"]

♪ I can't go on without you

♪ Your love is all
I'm living for

♪ I love all things about you

♪ You heart, your soul, my love

[APPLAUSE]

[♪ "Love Me Or Leave Me"]

♪ Say love me, leave me,
let me be lonely

♪ You won't believe me but
I love you only

[ANDY] After Carnegie Hall,

she was getting airplay
all over the country,

magazine, pictures
and stories.

♪ Night-time is my time for just
reminiscing

♪ Regretting instead of
forgetting with somebody else

She became highly successful
and recognised.

- Oh! thank you very much!
- [MAN] Meeting in Japan.

A young woman who's made a very
emphatic name for herself...

[ANNOUNCER] An accomplished
pianist and distinctive...

...who's now become a rather
famous artist.

...a remarkable
blues-soul sound.

For the first time
on British television,

the High Priestess of soul.

An exceptional singer.

- Nina Simone.
- Nina Simone.

Nina Simone.

Miss Simone brings to her music

a kind of technique
and discipline

we generally associate
with classical music.

She's introduced fugue and
counterpoint

into the freewheeling
spontaneity of the jazz world.

[INTERVIEWER] Nina, do you think
that now that you are successful

as a popular artist that
you'd like to do any classical?

[NINA] Yes, but I don't have
time to think about it too much.

But you have to realise

that when I'm most satisfied
with my music,

I call upon all the things that
I've learned in classical music.

[ANDY] She wanted everything
money and success could buy.

So I promised her that she was
going to be a rich black bitch.

[NINA] We had a blackboard and
he used to put on there

"I'll be a rich black bitch" by
this such and such date."

He said, "Then you could quit."
I always believed him.

But I never could quit because
he worked me too hard.

[♪ "Work Song"]

♪ Breaking up big rocks on
the chain gang

♪ Breaking rocks
and serving my time

♪ Breaking up big rocks
on the chain gang

♪ 'Cause they done convicted me
of crime

♪ Hold it right there
while I hit it

♪ Well, I reckon that ought to
get it been working

♪ And working

♪ But I still got so terribly
far to go

♪ I committed crime Lord,
I needed

♪ Crime of being hungry and poor

[AL] Andy said:
"Nina, it's hard work.

"You want to make the money?
You have to work."

And she resented that.

Then, Lisa was born and
she resented being torn away,

having to go on the road.

♪ That ought get it

♪ Been working, working

[LISA] I didn't realise what
my mom did for a living.

I just know that Mom
was always travelling.

My mother often told me that
I had 13 nannies in seven years.

While she was trying to maintain
some sense of schedule for me

and normalcy for me, she was out
there doing what she was doing.

Can I have five more minutes?
It's very frustrating...

[AL] When we were on the road,

there were times
we had to be careful.

She could get angry and start
arguments with people.

You're all pushing,
You're pushing.

Don't put nothin' in it.
Let's do it again.

If anyone were talking in the
audience, she would just sit.

First she would say:
"Please..."

She said: "I'm not continuing."

She'd get up, walk out
and the gig was over.

[NINA] I just want them
to listen to the music

like they did in
the classical world.

I thought they needed teaching.

If they couldn't listen,
fuck it!

[ANDY] She got into
Carnegie Hall,

and she got the big house
in the country,

but she began questioning
herself.

She'd get into moods
of depression

about the whole business,
the personal relationship,

cursing, smashing things, and
it worsened as the time went by.

♪ Gonna see my sweetheart, baby

♪ Gonna break this chain off
and run

♪ I'm gonna lay down
somewhere shady

[NINA] All I did was work,
work, work.

I was always tired.

I was always tired.

I could never sleep.

You see, music always goes
through my head,

which means the more I played
the less I could relax.

I kept thinking
Andy should let me rest.

He never did.

♪ I still...

♪ ...got so terribly far to go

♪ Got my liver

She felt she was handled
like a racehorse

and she was always fighting...

fighting, fighting it.

Andy would say:
"Nina, we've got a career here.

That's not gonna continue
if you don't nurture it.

So, she came to resent Andy.

But she was afraid of Andy.

[NINA] Andrew protected me
against everybody but himself.

He wrapped himself around me
like a snake.

I worked like a dog
and I was scared of him.

And Andrew beat me up...

I've never talked to you
about this,

but he beat me up.
I was deathly scared of Andrew.

[♪ "I Put A Spell On You"]

♪ I put a spell on you

♪ 'Cause you're mine

One time, early in the morning,
like 4:00 or 5:00 o'clock,

the phone rings, it's Nina,
and she needed to hide out.

♪ I ain't lying

[NINA] I had gone to
a discotheque with Andrew.

A fan came up to me
and gave me a note.

Andy saw me take this note
and put it in my pocket.

♪ You're runnin' around
You know better, Daddy

[AL] She thought nothing of it.
She related this to me.

Andy came back
and grabbed her arm

and took her out from
the place and beat her up.

[NINA] When I got out
on the street,

he started raining blows on me,
bloody blows.

He'd beat me all the way home,

up the stairs, in the elevator,

in my room,
put a gun to my head.

Then he tied me up
and raped me.

She came to my place
and she was beat up.

And I put her to bed

and she rested for
a couple of days.

[NINA] He didn't find me
for two weeks

My eyes... I couldn't see.

He said:
"Who beat you up like that?"

I said: "You did."
He said: "No, I didn't.

"I've been looking for you
for two weeks."

I said: "You're insane."

He was brutal.
But I loved him.

I guess, I just believed
he wouldn't do it any more.

♪ You're mine

[LISA] My mother always said
till the day she died,

Dad was the best manager that
she ever had.

But on top of being charismatic
he could be a bully,

and he could be very mean.

And she was on the receiving
end of that,

more times than you know...

she should have been,
which should have been never.

Mom would allude to:

"He's rammed my head
into a concrete wall."

She said that he punched her
in the stomach

when she was pregnant with me.

As a child I remember sitting in
the car between them.

They were arguing about
something

and I remember my
father reaching across me...

So I was like this...

...and backhanding her.

[ANDY] We're going home
in the car,

I'm driving and I slapped her.

Blood spurted right over
this eyebrow.

She had, like, a one-inch cut
from my ring.

We got her home and I clipped
the skin together and taped it.

And a week later,
there wasn't even a scar.

[LISA] I think they were
both nuts.

She stayed with him, she
had this love affair with fire.

That's like inviting the bull
with the red cape,

"Just come on into my kitchen
and let's see what we can do."

That's what she did.

- What I want for her?
- Yes.

- Myself, what else?
- I mean career-wise.

[LISA] My father had
a strategic plan

in terms of how Mom's career
was gonna go.

He wanted her to be able to win
all the awards

and to become the huge star
he knew that she could be.

But she wanted something more.

There was something missing,
in her...

Some meaning.

[EXPLOSION AND GLASS SHATTERING]

[NEWSCASTER]
They died in Birmingham,

the nation's most
segregated city.

Dynamite exploded
on Sunday morning.

Killed four little girls,
injured 20 other Negroes.

It was one of more
than 40 bombings

in that Birmingham area.

[JAMES BALDWIN] Kids were
murdered in Birmingham!

On a Sunday and in Sunday
schools, in a Christian nation!

And nobody cares!

[NINA] When the kids got killed
in that church...

That did it.

First you get depressed
and after that, you get mad.

When these kids got bombed,

I just sat down
and wrote this song.

And it's a very moving,
violent song.

'Cause that's how I feel
about the whole thing.

♪ Alabama's gotten me so upset

♪ Tennessee made me lose my rest

♪ Everybody knows about
Mississippi Goddam

♪ Can't you see it
I know you can feel it

♪ It's all in the air

♪ I can't stand this pressure
much longer

♪ Somebody say a prayer

♪ Alabama's gotten me so upset

♪ And Tennessee's made me lose
my rest

♪ Everybody knows about
Mississippi Goddam

"Mississippi Goddam."

Phew! Hmm?
Got my attention.

What she was doing
was different.

There's something about a
woman...

If you look at all the suffering
that black folks went through...

Not one black man would dare
say "Mississippi Goddam."

To have someone with her stature
talking about your problem...

You know how happy
they had to be?

We all wanted to say it.

She said it.

"Mississippi Goddam!"

♪ Hound dogs on my trail

♪ School children sitting
in jail

♪ Black cat cross my path

♪ I think every day's gonna be
my last

♪ Oh, but my country
is full of lies

♪ We're all gonna die
and die like flies

♪ I don't trust nobody any more

♪ They keep on saying, "Go slow"

[LISA] For Mommy to write a song
called "Mississippi Goddam"

was revolutionary.

They didn't have cursing on
the radio or on television.

DJs refused to play it
and boxes of the 45s

used to be sent back from the
radio stations cracked in two.

♪ Well, that's just the trouble
(Do it slow)

♪ Washing the windows
(Do it slow)

♪ Picking the cotton
(Do it slow)

♪ We're nothing but rotten
(Do it slow)

♪ We're too damn lazy
(Do it slow)

♪ Our thinking's crazy
(Do it slow)

♪ Where am I going?
What am I doing?

♪ I don't know, I don't know

[AL] As the civil rights
movement swung into high gear,

she swung into high gear
with it.

In '65, we played at the Selma
March in Montgomery, Alabama.

[MARTIN LUTHER KING JR]
We have a legal and

constitutional right to march
from Selma to Montgomery.

[AL] It was extremely dangerous.

The federal Marshals
were called in.

They were standing on the top
of all the buildings downtown,

with guns.

[ANDY] Seated in front of
the stage facing the audience

was Martin Luther King,
Ralph Bunche from the UN

and a lot of other
worldwide dignitaries.

[AL] You had Langston Hughes,
James Baldwin, Sidney Poitier,

Bill Cosby, Leonard Bernstein,
Harry Belafonte.

And we did "Mississippi Goddam".

♪ Can't you see it

♪ Can't you feel it

♪ All in the air

♪ I can't stand the pressure
much longer

♪ Somebody say a prayer

♪ Alabama's gotten me so upset

♪ Selma made me lose my rest

♪ Everybody knows about
Mississippi Goddam

[LISA] My mother said that after
she sang that song

she got so angry
that her voice broke.

And from
"Mississippi Goddam" on,

it never, ever returned
to its former octave.

But I think that Mom's anger is
what sustained her.

The energy, the creativity
and the passion of those days

is really what kept her going.

[ANDY] When she wrote
"Mississippi Goddam",

I thought it was something else.
You know, I liked it.

They put a 45 out on it.
I knew it had a lot of impact.

But my complaint was that,
while I was always pushing for

the commercial side
of the picture,

she got sidetracked with all of
these civil rights activities

[NINA] When the civil rights
thing came, all of a sudden,

I could let myself be heard

about what I'd been feeling
all the time.

When I was young,
I knew to stay alive.

As a black family,
we had to work at it.

We had to keep secrets.

We never complained
about being poor,

or being taken advantage of
or not getting our share.

We had to keep our mouths shut.

As I walked across that
railroad track every Saturday,

I knew to break the silence
meant a confrontation

with the white people
of that town.

[♪ "Strange Fruit"]

♪ Southern trees

Although I didn't know
I knew it,

if the black man rises up
and says:

"I am not gonna do that
any more..."

♪ Bearin' strange fruit

...he stands to get murdered.

♪ Blood on the leaves

But no one mentioned that,
which is indeed quite strange.

♪ And blood at the roots

♪ Black bodies swinging
in the southern breeze

[NINA ] It touched me
the first time,

when I gave the recital
at this library.

Everybody was seated

and they told me my parents
had to sit in the back.

I said: "If they have to sit
in the back, I won't perform."

They fixed it that time.

They brought them to the front
and they let them sit down.

It was my first feeling of being
discriminated against.

I recoil in horror
at such a thing.

[♪ "Backlash Blues"]

♪ Mr Backlash,
who do you think I am

♪ You raise my taxes and
freeze my wages

♪ Send my only son to Vietnam

♪ You give me
second class houses

♪ You give me
second class schools

♪ You think all coloured people
are just second class fools

♪ Mr Backlash

♪ I'm gonna leave you
with the blues, yes I am

I choose to reflect the times
and the situations

in which I find myself.

That, to me, is my duty...

And at this crucial time
in our lives,

when everything is so desperate,

when every day is
a matter of survival,

I don't think you can help
but be involved.

Young people, black and white
know this.

That's why they are
so involved in politics.

We will shape and mould
this country,

or it will not be moulded
and shaped at all any more.

I don't think you have
a choice...

How can you be an artist
and not reflect the times?

♪ When I try to find a job

♪ To earn a little cash

♪ All you got to offer
is your mean old white backlash

♪ But the world is big

♪ Big and bright and round

♪ And it's full of other folks
like me

♪ Who are black, yellow,
beige and brown

♪ You'd better believe me

♪ Mr Backlash, I'm gonna leave
you with the blues

Yeah!

I've always thought that
I was shaking people up,

but now I want to go at it more,

I want to go at it more
deliberately.

and I want to go at it coldly.

I want to shake people up
so bad that when they leave

a nightclub
where I've performed...

I just want them
to be to pieces.

All right!

♪

♪ I said when he died

♪ He told me

♪ He told me all my life

♪ He said:
"Keep on working, girl"

♪ They open up the door

♪ One of these days

♪ You won't have
to wait much longer

♪ Just tell them exactly
how you feel

♪ So I'm gonna leave you
with the blues

♪ That's me, yeah

I wanna go in that den
of those elegant people

with their old ideas, smugness
and just drive them insane.

Rise up!

[CHEERING]

It's all right
if you dance slow!

[NINA] It was exhilarating

to be part of that movement
at the time,

because I was needed.
I could sing to help my people.

And that became the mainstay
of my life.

Not classical piano,
not classical music,

not even popular music,
but civil rights music.

I got to know
Martin Luther King, Malcom X,

Andrew Young and artists,

actors, actresses,
poets, writers,

people like myself
who felt compelled

to make the stand that I have.

[ROGER] It was important for
her to connect with the writers

and playwrights of that moment

because those people had
the intellectual background

of the movement.

She didn't have that.
She had the musical background.

For instance, Langston Hughes
wrote the lyrics

for "Backlash Blues" for her.

Lorraine Hansberry...

Nina took her play,
"Young, Gifted and Black"

and made a song out of it.

It's regarded as one of the most
important songs

in the civil rights movement.

I know there are only
300 black students here

in this college of 18,000.

So, this song is dedicated
only to you.

♪ To be young, gifted and black

♪ Oh, what a lovely,
precious dream

♪ To be young, gifted and black

[NINA] Lorraine Hansberry was
my best friend.

She wrote plays,
"Raisin in The Sun"

and
"Young, Gifted and Black".

She taught me a lot about
Karl Marx, Lenin and philosophy.

[LORRAINE HANSBERRY]
The basic fabric of our society

that has Negroes
in the situation they are in

is the thing,
which must be changed.

♪ Who are young, gifted
and black

[LISA] Those times were
pretty amazing.

I look back now and I'm like:

"Wow! Who's Who
of Black America."

Lorraine Hansberry was
my godmother,

Malcom X's wife, Betty Shabazz,
was my auntie.

They lived right next door
in Mount Vernon.

There are six daughters and
I was like the seventh.

I was always riding my bike
over there.

Lisa and I were the same age

I think we may have called
one another twins.

It was just a great time.

There was music,
there were discussions.

Whether it was at our house

or Lisa's house,
Nina Simone's home,

it was definitely party
with a purpose.

[AMBASSADOR SHABAZZ] We happened
to be a fly on the wall

with some of the genius poets
and poetesses

of the time, the era.

To sit in that room
and listen...

These were brilliant well-read,
well-travelled,

charming, alluring, charismatic

people who were moved to make
a difference in the world.

I am born of the Young, Gifted
and Black affirmation.

For me, and those of us
in that environment,

it was daring to proclaim it.

And then share it joyously.

When she sang it...

♪ To be young, gifted and black

People would stand up

and engage in their
African-ness without apology.

It's like a contemporary,
hip song of the era.

It means you get to hum it
in public.

♪ Is where it's at

[ANDY] She became a legend
in the activists' movement.

And through meetings and
discussions I overheard,

she was convinced that certain
things must be done in order to

push the revolution.

I told her that's not
the answer.

And it began to manifest in her
attitude towards me

and the business.
She'd fly off.

I remember a few nights,
you'd go to bed

happy and holding one another
and wake up...

She'd be sitting up in bed with
her arms folded looking at me,

thinking about killing me.

And this is how it went.

The political work became
very heavy.

[NINA] To me we are the most
beautiful creatures

in the whole world,
black people.

So, my job is to make them
more curious

about where they came from.

And their own identity and pride
in that identity.

That's why I try to make my
songs as powerful as possible,

mostly to make them curious
about themselves.

We don't know anything
about ourselves.

We don't even have the pride and
dignity of African people.

We can't even talk about
where we came from.

We don't know.
It's like a lost race.

[♪ "Ain't Got No, I Got Life]

♪ Ain't got no home

♪ Ain't got no shoes

♪ Ain't got no money

♪ Ain't got no class

♪ Ain't got no skirts

♪ Ain't got no sweaters

♪ Ain't got no perfume

♪ Ain't got no love

♪ Ain't got no faith

♪ I ain't got no culture

♪ Ain't got no mother

♪ Ain't got no father

♪ Ain't got no brother

♪ Ain't got no children

♪ Ain't got no aunts

♪ Ain't got no uncles

♪ Ain't got no love

♪ Ain't got no mind

♪ I ain't got no country

♪ Ain't got no schooling

♪ Ain't got no friends

♪ Ain't got no nothing

♪ Ain't got no wine

♪ Ain't got no money

♪ Ain't got no faith

♪ Ain't got no God

♪ Ain't got no love

♪ Then what have I got?

I really mean to provoke

this feeling of "Who am I?"
"Where do I come from?"

You know, "Do I really like me?
and "Why do I like me?"

Like, you know,
"If I'm black and beautiful,

I really am and I know it,

I don't care who cares
or says what."

♪ I got my hair, got my head
got my brains, got my ears

♪ Got my eyes, got my nose
got my mouth

♪ I got my sex

♪ I got my arms, got my hands,
got my fingers, got my legs

♪ Got my feet, got my toes
got my liver,

♪ Got my blood

♪ I've got life

♪ I've got life

♪ I got headaches and toothache
and bad times, too, like you

♪ I got my hair, got my head
got my brains, got my ears

♪ Got my eyes, got my nose

[NINA] This is what compels me
to push black people

to identify with black culture.

Giving out to them that
blackness, that black power.

♪ Got my heart, got my soul
got my back

♪ I got my sex

[STANLEY CROUCH]
Nina was a real rebel.

She didn't really fit in the
revolutionary black female role

that was offered her.

She could avoid
pretentious phoniness

and get more depth
out of her song

than people are used to hearing
out of those songs.

♪ I got my freedom
Oh-oh-oh

She was that kind of
patron saint of the rebellion.

♪ Ooooh!

[AL] Nina started to get
more aggressive.

I remember one time as she
walked to Dr King and said:

"I'm not non-violent."

He said: "That's OK, sister.
You don't have to be."

[NINA] I was never non-violent.
Never.

I thought we should get our
rights by any means necessary.

[AL] And then she met
Stokely Carmichael.

Miss Simone says something
very significant

in her song
"Mississippi Goddam".

She says,
"This country is built on lies."

You're gonna sit in front of
your television set

and listen to LBJ tell you that

"Violence never accomplishes
anything, my fellow Americans."

And the honky drafting
you out of school

to go fight in Vietnam.

If you don't want any trouble,
keep your filthy white hands

off our beautiful black skin.

Keep them off!

[NINA] I am just one
of the people

who's sick of
the social order,

sick of the establishment,
sick to my soul of it all.

To me, America's society is
nothing but a cancer,

and it must be exposed
before it can be cured.

I am not the doctor to cure it.

All I can do is expose
the sickness.

Are you ready, black people?

Yeah!

Are you ready, black people?

Yeah!

Are you really ready?

Yeah!

[ANDY] She wanted to align
herself

with the extreme
terrorist militants

who were influencing her.

And after all of these meetings
with all these people,

she would come to me and,

"Let's get the guns.
Let's poison the reservoir."

All sorts of violent
terrorist acts.

Are you ready to call the wrath
of black gods, black magic,

to do your bidding?

[NINA] Black people are never
gonna get their rights

unless they have
their own separate state.

And if we'd have armed
revolution,

there'd be a lot of blood.

I think we'd have
that separate state.

Are you ready
to smash white things?

Yeah!

To burn buildings,
are you ready?

Yeah!

[ROGER] At a certain point,
Nina started to play

only political songs
and nothing else.

That started to hurt her career.

That became a problem
to book her,

because promoters were
a bit afraid

it might only be the political
message that you were getting.

Are you ready to kill
if necessary?

Yeah!

- Is your mind ready?
- Yeah!

Is your body ready?

Yeah!

[NINA] If I'd had my way,
I'd have been a killer.

I would have had guns and
I would have gone to the South

and gave them violence for
violence, shotgun for shotgun,

but my husband told me...

I didn't know anything about
guns and he refused to teach me.

The only thing I had was music,
so I obeyed him.

If I'd had my way, I wouldn't be
sitting here today.

I'd be probably dead.

Are you really, really,
really ready?

Yeah!

[ANDY] She's putting down the
white people...

You know,
like a barking dog.

But she still wanted
all the good things.

Whenever she'd see
Aretha Franklin, Gladys Knight

and all of these people
on the prime television shows,

she, of course,
was very upset because

she wasn't able
to get on to these shows

because of her reputation.

It got so that there wasn't
that much work

and the expenses were high.

It was cutting the legs out from
all the work that I had done.

See you later.

I'll see you later.

[LISA] I remember my dad
complaining about the fact

she never stopped speaking out.

But that's who she was.

It was OK when you were
on stage.

It's OK 'cause you let it all
hang out and then

when the show ends
and the lights go out,

"OK, let's put the monkey back
in the cage and eat your banana,

you know, just behave yourself."

It was like she was penalised
and punished for being herself.

That's a very painful,
lonely place to be.

[INTERVIEWER] Good evening.

Tonight my guest in the studio
with me

needs almost no introduction.

She is Miss Nina Simone.

Nina, when it comes
to the artists today,

we find that more of the artists

are attempting to alert America
to the need for change.

Is this really
the artist's role?

[NINA] Well, I think it's
something that I've chosen to do

and I've felt compelled
to do it.

So it is my role...

but sometimes,
I wish it wasn't.

I think that the artists who
don't get involved

in preaching
messages probably are happier.

But you see, I have to live with
Nina and that is very difficult.

[♪ "Don't Let Me Be
Misunderstood"]

♪ Baby, do you understand me now

[APPLAUSE]

♪ If sometimes you see
that I'm mad

♪ No one can always be an angel

♪ When everything goes wrong
you see some bad

♪ But I'm just a soul whose
intentions are good

♪ Oh, Lord, please don't let me
be misunderstood

I think 19 people depend on me
for their livelihood.

That's a hell of
a lot of people.

I know that if I say, "Look, I'm
too tired to work tonight,

I'm gonna get it from both ends.

Nobody's gonna understand
or care that I'm too tired.

I'm very aware of that.

Now, I would like some freedom,
somewhere...

Where I didn't feel those
pressures.

♪ Don't let me
be...misunderstood

♪ Cos if I'm misunderstood

♪ All my life
would have been in vain

♪ And Lord knows I don't want to
come here again

By the late '60s, I realised
that Nina was fighting

demons that could appear at any
moment and you wouldn't know it.

She could get violent,
she could get really physical,

and the change in her
would be dramatic...

Boom, like a switch.

After a while, I realised
I wasn't with my sister...

I was with "that one".

And that one was menacing.

♪ Don't let me be misunderstood

[ANDY] She was very concerned,
in her sane moments,

about these fits of depression
and anger.

We even went to
Columbia-Presbyterian Hospital,

I think we signed her in
for four or five days.

They conducted every test known
to medicine at the time.

They were unable to find
anything.

♪ Give me a clear mind

♪ Give me the words to say
what I mean

♪ No, no, no, no

♪ Don't let me be misunderstood

[ANDY] And her downward spiral,
it just got worse and worse.

We did a tour with Bill Cosby,

and the last night,
she became erratic.

She had a can of shoe polish.

She was putting it in her hair.

She began talking gibberish...

She was totally out of it,
incoherent.

It appeared she was having
a nervous breakdown.

When it came time to go on,
I had to escort her

by holding her arm
onto the stage

and sat her down at the piano.

I immediately stood in the wings
on the opposite side

where we could see one another.

She's watching me pantomime
and she performed.

Basically, she had no control
over her emotions,

and underneath it all,
sex dominated her.

There were times,
once or twice a week,

when there was a sex attack when
she goes into a maniacal rage.

There had to be sex.
I mean, this is driving her.

[NINA] My attitude towards sex
was that

we should have it
all the time.

[INTERVIEWER]
How did Andy act towards you?

[NINA] I just wanted him
to move me sexually,

and he never was able to.

Right.

He didn't know how to touch me
and he never had enough time.

He'd come to see me late at
night

and be there two hours and
leave.

[ANDY] I knew that she was
dating other people.

We agreed we could both have our
own outside partners.

But we would work together

for the sake of the business
and the child.

[AMBASSADOR SHABBAZ]
I can't sit here and speak about

Aunt Nina and Uncle Andy's
marriage.

What I can say is that

participation and activism
during the '60s

rendered chaos in
any individual's lives.

People sacrificed sanity,
well-being, life.

Nina Simone was a free spirit

in an era that didn't really
appreciate a woman's genius.

So what does that do
to a household and a family?

Not because of income,

but because of your soul
not being able to do

what you need to do.

[GUN COCKS]

[GUNSHOT]

[PEOPLE SCREAMING]

[ANNOUNCER] Direct from our
newsroom in Washington,

this is the CBS Evening News
with Walter Cronkite.

Good evening.
Dr Martin Luther King,

the apostle of non-violence
in the civil rights movement,

has been shot to death
in Memphis, Tennessee.

Jesus!

[W. CRONKITE] There was shock in
the nation's negro communities.

Men, women and children poured
into the streets.

They appeared dazed.
Many were crying.

[S. CARMICHAEL] I think White
America made its biggest mistake

when she killed Dr King
last night.

He was the one man in our race

who was trying to teach
our people

to have love, compassion
and mercy

for what white people
had done.

When White America killed
Dr King last night,

she killed all reasonable hope.

[NINA] We wanted to do a tune
written for today,

for this hour,
for Dr Martin Luther King.

We had yesterday to learn it
and...

So we'll see.

[♪ "Why?
(The King Of Love Is Dead)"]

♪ Once upon this planet Earth

♪ Lived a man of humble birth

♪ Preaching love and freedom

♪ For his fellow man

♪ He was dreaming of the day

♪ Peace would come
to Earth to stay

[NINA] Last year,
Lorraine Hansberry left us.

She was a dear friend.

Then Langston Hughes left us.

Who can go on?

Do you realise
how many we have lost?

Then it really gets down
to reality, doesn't it?

Not a performance.

Not microphones
and all that crap,

but really something else.

We can't afford any more losses

Oh, no. Oh, my God.

They're shooting us down,
one by one.

Don't forget that...

'Cause they are.

Killing us one by one.

♪ If you have to die,
it's all right

♪ 'Cause you know what life is

♪ You know what freedom is

♪ For one moment of your life

♪ What's gonna happen

♪ Now that the king of love
is dead?

[SIRENS BLARING]

[NINA] I knew that we were lost.

I felt chased all the time,

no matter what I did
or how sad I got.

I felt that there was just no
life for me in the country.

I knew I had to quit
or I had to leave Andy

or do something.

So I took my ring off,
put it on the table

and I left the country.

[♪ "Don't Smoke In Bed"]

♪ I left a note on his dresser

♪ And my old wedding ring

♪ With these few goodbye words

[LISA] According to my godsister
Attallah Shabazz...

I was staying with them,
and Mom had gone away,

and the phone would ring and
whenever it would ring,

I would go running, saying,
"Is that my mommy on the phone?"

Then I remember going back
to the house in Mount Vernon

and Dad just wasn't there.

He wasn't there.

And nobody told me anything,
you know?

And...

So...

One day you're at home and the
staff is there, your dad's there

the dog's there and everything
that's familiar to you is there.

And then you come back,
I don't know, weeks later and...

Nothing's there, nobody's there.

♪ Don't look for me

[NINA] I decided that I wanted
to go to Africa to live

and never come back to America.

I got divorced from Andy and
I went to Liberia

and I moved there to stay.

When I got to Africa,
I am happy, I'm beyond happy.

Liberia is a place that was
founded by the American slaves,

and it only makes sense that
I should feel at home there.

Bikinis and boots is
all I wore.

Yeah.

There was no loneliness.
There was no boredom.

The days flew into nights,

and you just couldn't keep up
with the times

'cause there was so much to do.
It was always fun.

I also am keenly aware

that I've entered a world that
I dreamed of all my life

and that it is a perfect world.

I remember thinking of
the United States

as something that I had had
in a dream

sometime in my life

but is now gone,
like it never existed!

It was a dream that I had had

and I had worked myself
out of it

because I had toiled so long
in that place, in that prison...

And now I'm home, now I'm free,

and there is no going back.

There, it was vast and open,

and everything was natural.

Everything.

I have seen lightning in Africa
not flash, but hover,

and what it does is
it electrifies you

into complete speechlessness.

I have seen it!
I have seen God.

[LISA] In my seventh grade year,
Mom moved me to Liberia,

but she was always travelling
and I never knew half the time

if I wasn't going,

that she was leaving
or when she was coming back.

So, I lived with a family for a
year and I went to school there.

And I lived with them,

until Mom came and decided
to buy a house on the beach.

I went from living with them to
living with her.

And she just...

I could never do anything right.

She went from being my comfort
to the monster in my life.

Now she was the person that was
doing the beating,

and she was beating me.

One time, we were in public
somewhere,

I did something and she went off
on me in front of everybody

I didn't show any emotion

because when Mom
would see you cry

she knew she could push your
buttons. That's what she wanted.

And I would not give her
that satisfaction.

When she would hit me, I would
look her dead in her face.

She'd be like, "You better cry.
You better cry."

I wouldn't do it.

Times got really bad,

to the point where I thought
about committing suicide.

So, when I was 14,
I flew to New York.

I wound up living with my dad
and I never went back.

[ANDY] After we broke up,
a lot of things happened.

She didn't file taxes.

She didn't take care of
business.

She lost the house
in Mount Vernon.

Everything went crazy.

[ROGER]
She lived a nomadic life,

having no manager,
having no husband

but she always said living
in Africa

was the happiest time
in her life.

She could just be there,
enjoy herself.

She didn't have to sing at all.

[LISA] She wasn't playing piano
and she wasn't performing.

She said she hated the piano.
She hated it.

Think about it. She's playing
since she was four years old.

[ROGER] On the other hand,
she was well aware

in Africa, no money came in.

So she had to pick up
her career again.

She didn't want to return to
what she called,

"The United Snakes of America."

So, she moved to Switzerland,

which was the complete opposite
of Africa.

The first thing she did was
the Montreux concert.

You on, yeah?

Do you hear all those noises?

You didn't forget me, huh?

That's what's so wild,
you didn't forget me.

I didn't expect you to.

But I'm tired.

You don't know what I mean.

And they are many people
in show business who said:

"You know,
she used to be a star.

She's gone all the way to
the bottom"

and all kinds of crap, which
means nothing to me at all.

I hope that you will see me or
see the spirit

in another sphere,
on another plane very soon now.

And again, I don't wanna let you
down and I get this feeling.

So I think the only way to tell
you who I am these days,

is to sing a song by Janis Ian.

[♪ "Stars"]

♪ Stars, they come and go

♪ They come fast, they come slow

♪ They go like the last light of
the sun, all in a blaze

Hey, girl, sit down.

Sit down!

Sit down!

♪ Stars, they come and go

♪ They come fast, they come slow

♪ They go like the last light of
the sun, all in a blaze

♪ All you see is glory

♪ But it gets lonely there when
there's no one there to share

♪ You can shake it away

♪ If you'll hear a story

♪ People lust for fame

♪ Like athletes in a game

♪ They break their collarbones
and come up swinging

♪ Some of them are crowned

♪ Some of them are downed

♪ Some are lost and never found

♪ But most have seen it all

♪ They live their lives in sad
cafés and music halls

♪ And they always have a story

♪ Some make it
when they're young

♪ Before the world has done its
dirty job

♪ Later on someone will say,
"You've had your day"

♪ "Now you must make way"

♪ Don't they always

♪ But you'll never know the pain

♪ Of using a name
you never owned

♪ The years of forgetting
what you know too well

♪ That you who gave the crown
have been let down

♪ You try to make amends

♪ Without defending

♪ Perhaps

♪ Pretending you never saw
the eyes

[NINA] In Switzerland,
I had no money.

I never got anything from Andy.

He just cut himself off from me
and I was left high and dry.

So, I left Switzerland and
I went to Paris,

thinking I could resume
my career.

I did it alone.
And I landed in the wrong place

I was working every night
in a small café,

for about $300 a night.

- Do you speak English?
- Yes.

The show is over.

No, we just do
" Vous Etes Seuls. "

It goes like this.

♪ You are alone but I'd like
to be alone with you.

[NINA] I was desperate and
no one believed I was there.

I was too big to be there.
No one came to see me.

I had fallen from grace.

I'm sorry that I didn't become

the world's first black classic
pianist.

I think I would have been
happier.

I'm not very happy now.

I wouldn't change being part of
the civil rights movement.

I wouldn't change that.

But some of the songs that
I sang have hurt my career.

All of the controversial songs

the industry decided
to punish me for.

They put a boycott
on all of my records,

and it's...

hard for me to incorporate
those songs any more

because they
are not relevant to the times.

In terms of the civil rights
movement, how far have we come?

There aren't any civil rights.

What do you mean?

There is no reason to sing
those songs.

Nothing is happening.

There's no civil rights
movement.

Everybody's gone.

[GERRIT DE BRUIN]
I met Nina in 1967

and I've been her friend
all her life.

She called me in 1982 and
she was here in Paris,

living in a very small
apartment,

hardly with any money.

She did concerts of four hours
long at Trois Mailletz,

that nightclub, and she got
a few hundred dollars a night.

That was the worst period.

I visited her in that little
apartment and it was so dirty.

I cleaned it all up and...

"Nina, you can't live
like this."

At that moment, she was still
uncontrollable.

This thing in the Grand Hotel
in Paris happened.

Somebody looked her in the eyes
a bit too long,

She was already a bit nervous
and she kind of...

...made a movement,

and I thought,
"She's gonna hit him."

Immediately, my arms around her
and I dragged her out in a taxi.

I said to the taxi driver,
"Drive."

[AL] When I saw her in Paris,

she was like a street urchin,
dressed in rags.

I couldn't believe what was
happening and I was really sad.

Gerrit and I knew something
was very wrong.

We were trying to figure out,

"What is it?
What is it, really?"

So Gerrit found her a condo
in Nijmegen in Holland

Gerrit had a friend, a doctor,
that he brought to Nina's place

The doctor examined her and
asked her questions,

and he prescribed a medication,
new spectrum, called Trilafon .

[LISA] It wasn't until I was
in my 20s

that I went to visit her
in Nijmegen.

That's when I learned the term
"manic-depressive" and "bipolar"

and I remember asking,
"What is that?

What do you mean by that?"

And her mood swings

and a lot of the things
I dealt with earlier in life

when one minute she'd be happy,
the next minute...

I'd be dealing with someone that
wasn't in the room

five minutes ago.

It started to make sense.

[GERRIT] She got so deep
in the shit in the end

that she realised
it's either dying or give in.

And she gave in
because we said, "Nina...

we'll get you a house,
we'll get you your musicians,

we'll make the things all right
around you,

we'll book your concerts,

but you have to do what we say.

You have to take your medicine.
You have to work.

God has given you
the possibility

to be able
to do what you do, so do it.

The only thing we want to hear
is either 'yes' or 'no' ."

She said,
with tears in her eyes, "Yes."

[LISA] When I saw her,

I was very concerned
because she had a nervous tic.

She'd be talking or sitting
and this...

Her mouth would always be
twitching.

When she would walk, it was more
of a shuffle.

And I'm like,
"What's going on here?"

You know, "Why...
What's going on?

What am I missing?"

And they had her on medication.

[AL] She started taking the
Trilafon and the doctor said,

"Through the years,
it's going to have an effect

on her motor skills.

Her voice is going to start
to slur

and her piano abilities
will decline.

You can deal with that

or you can deal with her
probably damaging herself

or someone else."

But the Trilafon really helped.

There were times in Holland,
sitting on her terrace

in these lounge chairs
and just holding hands...

She was like...
She was my sister

...and not talking at all for
hours, just enjoying the day.

[LISA] I suppose that medication
enabled her to perform

and fulfil the business
dealings that were taking place

so that her career could get
back on track.

But there were times
when I questioned that.

"But what about her heart?"

Because at the end of the day,

you guys got wives and husbands,
and lives.

But she's alone.

[NINA]
My personal life is a shambles.

I've had a few love affairs and
I would love to be married,

but everything has had to be
sacrificed for the music.

[CHEERING AND APPLAUSE]

[GERRIT] We had to do, first
in Holland, eight concerts,

and the word spread
that Nina's doing the job well.

Then she was on the road again
and it was...poof.

The business was going.

[ROGER] She came onstage

and you had this overwhelming
emotional feeling

coming from the audience,
just because she was there.

Now listen to me.

I love you very much.
I think you know that.

And I know that you love me.

I know that.

[CHEERING]

We never knew too well

what was going to happen and
how the mood would be.

So this place is very hot,

it's very crowded
and it's very ugly.

[AUDIENCE LAUGHING]

[APPLAUSE]

[ROGER] But she opened her heart
and soul at that moment.

This is a special kind
of connection

she had with an audience.

This song is popular
all over France.

It's from our first album,

the very first album
we made in this world,

which is at least 25 years old.

I only wish I was as wise...

I could have been as wise
then as I have become now.

I have suffered.

But there's a Bösendorfer here,
so we'll see what happened.

"My Baby Just Cares For Me."

[♪ "My Baby Just Cares For Me"]

She was helped by
"My Baby Just Cares For Me",

that song that became a hit
because of the Chanel ad.

[NINA] When "My Baby Just Cares
For Me" came along,

I said, "I have to take this
opportunity now

to go all over the world,
because it's my last chance."

So, I worked very hard to take
advantage of my second coming

because it was my last time
as far as I was concerned.

♪ My baby don't care for clothes

♪ My baby don't care for shows

♪ My baby just cares for me

♪ My baby don't care for...

♪ Cars and races

♪ My baby don't care for...

♪ High-tone places

♪ Liz Taylor is not his style

♪ Even Sally Burton's smile

[LISA]
She was happiest doing music.

I think that was her salvation.

That's the one thing
she didn't have to think about.

When she sat at the piano,
her fingers could fly.

♪ ...who knows it

[LISA] She was an anomaly, she
was a genius, she was brilliant.

That brilliance shone through,

no matter what
she was going through.

Even into her old age,
she was brilliant.

♪ My baby don't care for clothes

♪ My baby don't care for shows

[GERRIT] She was genius.
She could do whatever she liked.

And when she didn't have
her medicine,

she, musically,
could get even further out.

♪ My baby don't care for...

♪ ...high-tone places

In one of those little concerts,
and it's recorded,

she starts playing one song and
she sings another.

At this recording,
I made Miles Davis...

While we were on tour,

we were on the same jazz tour
as Miles Davis...

And I made him listen to it and
he said,

"Let me listen to it again.
How is she doing this?"

He couldn't understand.

♪ My baby just cares for me

[SHABAZZ] As I got older,
I started to look at her

and I thought to myself,
"Wow, she's from another time."

But she was not at odds
with the time.

Time was at odds with her.

I think when a person moves

to their own kind of clock,
spirit, flow.

If we were living
in an environment

that allowed us
to be exactly who we are,

you're always in congress
with yourself.

The challenge is,

"How do we fit in in the world
that we're around?"

"Are we allowed to be exactly
who we are?"

"Was Nina Simone allowed to be
exactly who she was?"

As fragile as she was strong,

as vulnerable
as she was dynamic,

she was African royalty.

How does royalty stomp around
in the mud

and still walk with grace?

Most people are afraid to be
as honest as she lived.

♪ My baby just cares for...

♪ He just says he cares for...

♪ My baby just cares for me

Good night!

[CHEERING]

[CHEERING AND APPLAUSE]

[♪ "I Wish I Knew
How It Would Feel To Be Free"]

[CHEERING]

♪

♪

All right!

Whoo!

♪

It's so hard!

[♪ "Sinnerman"]