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.
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