Tuesday, July 14, 2020

More of one thing leading to another / Nina Simone "like a bird in the sky"



I WISH I KNEW HOW IT WOULD FEEL TO BE FREE

I wish I knew how It would feel to be free I wish I could break All the chains holding me I wish I could say All the things that I should say Say 'em loud, say 'em clear For the whole round world to hear I wish I could share All the love that's in my heart Remove all the bars That keep us apart I wish you could know What it means to be me Then you'd see and agree That every man should be free I wish I could give All I'm longin' to give I wish I could live Like I'm longin' to live I wish I could do All the things that I can do And though I'm way overdue I'd be starting anew Well I wish I could be Like a bird in the sky How sweet it would be If I found I could fly Oh I'd soar to the sun And look down at the sea Then I'd sing 'cause I know How it feels to be free


This morning I was listening to "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds" on YouTube. After that song ended, it was almost without interruption that YouTube brought me that song by Nina Simone.

It was my friend, Deven, who introduced me to the music of Nina Simone and Joni Mitchell when we were students attending the University of California at Irvine more than 50 years ago. It was Deven who asked me to come with her to hear Nina Simone in concert on the university campus in October 1969. I had not heard of Nina Simone but Deven assured me that her concert was not to be missed.

With a little googling I found this article about that concert:









Then I noticed that the article was written by someone with the name David Janda and did more googling.  There is a David Janda of about the right age connected with KBBF 89.1 FM in Northern California.  KBBF was the first bilingual public radio station, founded in 1973.  I wonder if this is the same David Janda:



With many thanks to Deven:





I'm hoping to be able to listen to KBBF 89.1 FM on my laptop as I continue learning to speak Spanish.

5 comments:

Sabine said...

This is such an interesting journey from one instance wider and wider into what I call the tunnel of internet discovery.
Have you seen the documentary "What happened Miss Simone"?

am said...

Sabine -- Thank you for the suggestion. I just checked with our public library and put a copy on hold. Our public library gives us the option of putting materials on hold and picking them up curbside (-:

Sackerson said...

I have to admit Nina Simone was no more than a familiar name to me until I listened to that and checked out her Wikipedia page! I now want to hear some more.

beth coyote said...

'I'm feelin' good' is a Nina Simone song in rotation with my dance group. Thank you for the trip down memory lane.

She also does Strange Fruit....

37paddington said...

In college I listened to Nina Simone’s album Here Comes The Sun on repeat. Such a voice, all the feelings ever felt in that voice.