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Reblogged by cstanhope@social.coop ("Your friendly 'net denizen"):
ieure@retro.social ("cop ululation") wrote:
What I'm listening to today: "Nina Simone - Black is the Color of My True Love's Hair"
This is a version of a very old folk song — old enough that its origins are obscure, though it definitely came from Europe, and some believe originated in Scotland. Its modern popularity stems from a version recorded in the 1940s.
Nina's take on this song is sublime, stripping it down to some minimal piano accompaniment (which she plays), and her voice. This works beautifully, because she was an *incredible* vocalist, and her singing washes up and over and carries you clean away. She made this song hers.
She recorded multiple versions over the years; this is the first, from 1959, off her At Town Hall album. This concert, and this recording of it, are the inflection point at which her career took off and she rose to decades of recognition and fame. It was the third album she released in 1959. She was 26 years old.