Knowing she had to capture the full attention of her audience, Nina Simone elevated the meanings of her lyrics, painting the picture of how to be trapped while still envisioning what true freedom might be like. Her picture begins when she states "I wish I knew how it would feel to be free, I wish I could break all the chains holdin' me." She wants to start the song of bleak in that way she transitions the picture into, but with her in captivity can already make the audience feel for her because she can't not possibly be happy with her situation. Pulling their heart strings even more, she goes on "I wish I could share all the love that's in my heart, remove all the bars that keep us apart." She now took her despair and turned it into hope, which lightens the rather dim picture slightly. Her audience, if still compelled to read more, they will read " I wish I could live like I'm longing to live, I wish I could do all the things that I can do." This couple of lines build for the highlight of her image she is creating because now she connects her "chains" as a hindrance or blockage placed on her by another force. This gives the audience even more reason to continue to listen to her song because the suspense for shinning moment. And then she sings " I'd know how it feels, I'd know how it feels to be free." SO the image explains that if only this force that put a hold on Nina was ridden of, she would then know what it was like to be free. And the motion of the her lyrics as a forward progress of what was and what she hopes becomes resembles a similar movement of message during her day: The Civil Rights Movement. For this reason, Nina Simone exemplified great authorial style to enhance her claim for just and equality for all minorities.
Nice job discussing NS's compositional style here! I think a lot of this also has to do with pathos, which makes sense. I wonder what else there is to say about NS's "style" of music itself.
ReplyDelete