NINA SIMONE - HOW IT FEELS TO BE FREE

HOW IT FEELS TO BE FREE

NINA SIMONE

SONGWRITERS: BILLY TAYLOR & DICK DALLAS(RICHARD CARROLL LAMB)

WHERE: AT JAZZ FESTIVAL IN MONTREAUX

COUNTRY: U. S. A.

ALBUM: SILK AND SOUL

LABEL: RCA RECORDS

GENRE: JAZZ

YEAR: 1967

"I Wish I Knew How It Would Feel to Be Free" is a jazz song written by Billy Taylor and Dick Dallas. Taylor's original version (as "I Wish I Knew") was recorded on November 12, 1963, and released on his Right Here, Right Now! album (Capitol ST-2039) the following year. His 1967 instrumental take was later used as the theme music for the Film... review programme series on BBC Television.

Taylor said: "I wrote this song, perhaps my best-known composition, for my daughter Kim. This is one of the best renditions I’ve done because it is very spiritual."

The song served as an anthem for the Civil Rights Movement in America in the 1960s. A widely played version was recorded by Nina Simone in 1967 on her Silk & Soul album.

Lighthouse Family covered it as (I Wish I Knew How It Would Feel to Be) Free/One.

Other artists who have covered the song include Illinois Jacquet(1968), Solomon Burke(1968), Cold Blood (1969), John Denver (1969), Mary Travers(1971), Jools Holland(1997), Levon Helm(2009), Tedeschi Trucks Band, and Emeli Sandé(2012). The song was also covered by Andra Day or the 2017 Film Acrimony.

Nina Simone(/ˈniːnəsɪˈmoʊn/; born Eunice Kathleen Waymon; February 21, 1933 – April 21, 2003) was an American singer, songwriter, pianist, arranger, and activist in the Civil Rights Movement. Her music spanned a broad range of musical styles including classical, jazz, blues, folk, R&B, gospel, and pop.

Born in North Carolina, the sixth child of a preacher, Waymon initially aspired to be a concert pianist. With the help of a few supporters in her hometown of Tryon, she enrolled in the Juilliard School of Music in New York.

Waymon then applied for a scholarship to study at the prestigious Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia, where she was denied admission despite a well-received audition. Waymon became fully convinced this rejection had been entirely due to racial discrimination. In 2003, just days before her death, the Curtis Institute of Music bestowed on her an honorary degree.

To make a living, Eunice Waymon changed her name to "Nina Simone". The change related to her need to disguise herself from family members, having chosen to play "the devil's music" or "cocktail piano" at a nightclub in Atlantic City. She was told in the nightclub that she would have to sing to her own accompaniment, which effectively launched her career as a jazz vocalist.

Simone recorded more than 40 albums between 1958 and 1974. She made her debut with the álbum Little Girl Blue. She had a hit in the United States in 1958 with "I Loves You, Porgy".

Simone's musical style fused gospel and pop with classical music, in particular Johann Sebastian Bach, and accompanied expressive, jazz-like singing in her contralto voice. 

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'm way over due

I'd'd be starting a new

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'd soar to the sun

And look down at the sea

Than I'd sing cos I know - yea

Then I'd sing cos I know - yea

Then I'd sing cos I know

I'd'd know how it feels

Oh I'd know how it feels to be free

Yea Yea! Oh, I'd know how it feels

Yes I'd know

Oh, I'd know

How it feels

How it feels

To be free.