One of Nina Simone's best known songs, Mississippi Goddamn
is also one of her most overtly political. The song was written in
response to the bombing of a church in Birmingham, Alabama in which 4 children were killed and
seems to voice Nina's discontent and the slow pace of progress in
the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960's.
It remains an in-concert favourite to this day but Nina's
performances of it has changed from one filled with anger and
frustration to one of victorious righteousness.
Alabama's gotten me so upset
Tennessee made me lose my
rest
And everybody knows about Mississippi Goddam
Alabama's gotten me so upset
Tennessee made me lose my rest
And
everybody knows about Mississippi Goddam
Can't you see it
Can't you feel it
It's all in the air
I
can't stand the pressure much longer
Somebody say a prayer
Alabama's gotten me so upset
Tennessee made me lose my rest
And
everybody knows about 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
Lord have mercy on this land of mine
We all gonna get it in
due time
I don't belong here
I don't belong there
I've even
stopped believing in prayer
Don't tell me
I tell you
Me and my people just about
due
I've been there so I know
They keep on saying "Go
slow!"
But that's just the trouble
"do it slow"
Washing
the windows
"do it slow"
Picking the cotton
"do
it slow"
You're just plain rotten
"do it slow"
You're
too damn lazy
"do it slow"
The thinking's crazy
"do
it slow"
Where am I going
What am I doing
I don't
know
I don't know
Just try to do your very best
Stand up be counted with all the
rest
For everybody knows about Mississippi Goddam
Picket lines, school boy cots
They try to say it's a
communist plot
All I want is equality
for my sister my
brother my people and me
Yes you lied to me all these years
You told me to wash and
clean my ears
And talk real fine just like a lady
And you'd
stop calling me Sister Sadie
Oh but this whole country is full of lies
You're all gonna die
and die like flies
I don't trust you any more
You keep on
saying "Go slow!"
"Go slow!"
But that's just the trouble
"do it
slow"
Desegregation
"do it slow"
Mass
participation
"do it slow"
Reunification
"do
it slow"
Do things gradually
"do it slow"
But
bring more tragedy
"do it slow"
Why don't you see
it
Why don't you feel it
I don't know
I don't know
You don't have to live next to me
Just give me my
equality
Everybody knows about Mississippi
Everybody knows
about Alabama
Everybody knows about Mississippi Goddam
lyrics courtesy of http://www.sing365.com/music/lyric.nsf/SongUnid/C111B80F40F12A19482569A10024B55E
Siobhan said re Mississippi Goddamn : ah - i see now: "Mississippi Goddam, a dark and angry song that was a reaction to the murder of civil rights activist Medgar Evers in Mississippi and the killing of four black schoolchildren in a church bombing in Alabama