Black Gold (Nina Simone album)

Black Gold
Live album by Nina Simone
Released 1970
Recorded live at Philharmonic Hall, New York October 26, 1969
Genre Vocal, jazz, pop, folk
Label RCA Victor
Producer Stroud Productions
Nina Simone chronology

To Love Somebody
(1969)
Black Gold
(1970)
Here Comes the Sun
(1971)
Professional ratings
Review scores
Source Rating
Allmusic ?[1]

Black Gold is a live album by Jazz singer/pianist/songwriter Nina Simone recorded in 1969 at the Philharmonic Hall, New York. She got a 1971 nomination for a Grammy Award for Best Female R&B Vocal Performance, but lost to Aretha Franklin.

The album is especially notable because it features the civil rights anthem song "To Be Young, Gifted and Black". The performance that night also included a calypso version of Leonard Cohen's "Suzanne" (which Simone had recorded on To Love Somebody), but there was no room for it on the album.

With the release of the album also came an LP called An Evening with Nina Simone. It was a recorded interview about the album. The questions were provided in written form, so that radio DJ's could ask the questions and play Simone's recorded answers, as if she were in the studio.[2]

Information about songs on this album

Simone introduces the song by saying:

"It is not addressed to white people primarily. Though it doesn't put you down in any way...it simply ignores you. For my people need all the inspiration and love that they can get."

Track listing

No. TitleWriter(s) Length
1. "Black Is the Color of My True Love's Hair"  Traditional 5:58
2. "Black Is the Color of My True Love's Hair" (Vocal by Emile Latimer)Traditional 4:00
3. "Ain't Got No, I Got Life"  Galt MacDermot, James Rado, Gerome Ragni 5:28
4. "Westwind"  Caiphus Semenya 9:30
5. "Who Knows Where the Time Goes?"  Sandy Denny 8:09
6. "The Assignment Sequence"  Jan Hendin 6:57
7. "To Be Young, Gifted and Black"  Weldon Irvine, Nina Simone 9:34

References

  1. Allmusic Review
  2. David Brun Lambert: Nina Simone: het tragische lot van een uitzonderlijke zangeres (dutch translation from french biography, Sirene, 2006)
  3. Lyrics and more information about "To Be Young Gifted and Black" on Boscarol.com