Nina Simone
Mississippi Goddam (Live at Newport)
[Verse 1]
Alabama's gotten me so upset
Tennessee made me lose my rest
And everybody knows about Mississippi goddam
Alabama's got me so upset
And Watts has made me lose my rest
Everybody knows about Mississippi goddam
[Bridge]
Can't you see it
I know you can feel it
It's all in the air
I can't stand the pressure much longer
Somebody say a prayer
[Verse 2]
Alabama's got me so upset
California's made me lose my rest
Everybody knows about Mississippi goddam
[Instrumental Break]
[Verse 3]
Hound dogs on my trail
Little school children sitting in jail
Black cat cross my path
I think every day's gonna be my last, yeah
Lord have mercy on this land of mine
We all gonna get it in due time
I don't belong here, I don't belong there
I've even stopped believing in prayer
Don't tell me, I'll tell you
Me and my people just about due
I've been there so I know
You keep on saying "Go slow!"
That's what you said now
[Refrain]
That's just the trouble (Too slow)
Washing the windows (Too slow)
Picking the cotton (Too slow)
Come on, come on
We're nothing but rotten (Too slow)
We're too damn lazy (Too slow)
I think it's crazy (Too slow)
Where am I going? What am I doing?
I don't know
I don't know
I just try to do my very best
Stand up, be counted with all the rest
Everybody knows about Mississippi goddam
[Instrumental Break]
[Interlude]
This is our last tune
On drums is Robert Hamilton
On guitar is Rudy Stevenson
On bass Lisle Atkinson
Thank you
[Instrumental Break]
[Verse 4]
Yeah
You get in them picket lines
School boycotts
They try to tell me it's a communist plot
But all I want is equality
For my sister, my brother, my mama, my people and me
Well, you lied to me all these years
You told me to wash and clean my ears
Talk real fine just like a Southern lady
You'd stop calling me Aunt Sadie
But my country America is full of lies
We're all gonna die, die like flies
'Cause I don't trust nobody anymore
They keep on saying "Go slow!"
[Instrumental Break]
[Refrain]
That's just the trouble (Too slow)
Desegregation (Too slow)
Mass participation (Too slow)
Unification (Too slow)
Do things gradually (Too slow)
Will bring more tragedy (Too slow)
Why don't you see it? Why don't you feel it?
I don't know
I don't know
[Outro]
You don't have to live next to me
Just give me my equality
Everybody knows about Mississippi
Everybody knows about Alabama
Everybody knows about Mississippi goddam
That's it!