Nina Simone was a force of nature. She had a voice that could fill you with joy, ("I'm Going Back Home"), back you into an uncomfortable corner ("Four Women"), and, with a song like Wild Is The Wind, send passion surging through your heart.
Her delicate piano greets us like leaves falling from a tree. However, in the punctuated low notes that follow, I get the feeling that they are not separating from their branches naturally; rather, they are being yanked away, as though nature is playing a sad game of he loves me he loves me not.
Nina comes in at 0:30:
Love me, love me, love me, say you do
Let me fly away with you
For my love is like the wind
And wild is the wind
The wind blows: leaves, dust, dead voices, love. Even the notes of the piano are tossed about. Nina sings with a magical steadiness that keeps it all together even as chaos surrounds us. Listen to her at 4:15, she sends her voice skyward and then comes back down to earth, and we are at her mercy. Incredible.
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