The artist validated Bob Dylan as a songwriter: “The kind of artist I loved”
Every artist is driven by more than just the desire for fame. While many dream of seeing their name in lights, the best artists have a deeper need to express something through their music to find peace. Bob Dylan, for example, always spoke his truth through his guitar. He knew he was on the right path the moment he heard Nina Simone perform his songs.
When discussing Dylan’s work, it’s easy to focus less on the man himself and more on the era in which he created it. While his music consistently maintained a high standard, Dylan’s material was profoundly influenced by the world around him, from the civil rights movement in the early 1960s to the massive surge of rock bands in the latter half of the decade.
Regardless of when he was recording, his ditties were all about the root of being a decent human being. At its core, ‘Blowin’ In the Wind’ is a gentle plea for some peace in this world, and no matter how many times it can be seen as historical fiction, ‘The Lonesome Death of Hattie Carroll’ has only become more pertinent as the years have gone on.
Despite the emphasis on equality in music, Simone possessed a more natural talent for singing Dylan’s work. Rooted in the blues, she embodied the themes of hard labour and seeking divine help, infusing these elements into her music long before she ever sang a note.
So, to hear her sing something like ‘The Times They Are A-Changin’ is very different from what Dylan was doing. Sure, his heart was in the right place, but with Simone out front, it was about giving a face to the problem at hand, much like Aretha Franklin would do a few months later with her version of Otis Redding’s ‘Respect’.
Redding may have been a bit miffed that Franklin stole his track, but Dylan was more than happy to hand things over to Simone, saying, “She recorded some of my songs that she learned directly from me, sitting in a dressing room. She was an overwhelming artist, piano player and singer. Very strong woman, very outspoken and dynamite to see perform. That she was recording my songs validated everything that I was about. Nina was the kind of artist that I loved and admired.”
Because as much as acts like The Byrds or Barry McGuire tried to copy Dylan’s work, there were only so many places they could go with being just another rock artist that could sing a little more in tune than the composer. With Simone, every listener got a voice that told her lifestory in every single verse, and even if she didn’t write it herself, hearing her step into those tunes was the kind of powerful statement that artists needed to hear.
Much like Sam Cooke before her, Simone’s material moved soul music forward, whether Marvin Gaye made albums like What’s Going On or Stevie Wonder incorporated everything he knew into Songs in the Key of Life. The times were a-changin’, and it was about time that someone like Simone crossed genre barriers to bring people together.
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