Hear the stunning isolated vocals for Nina Simone song ‘Feeling Good’
When pressing play on a classic tune, it can sometimes be difficult to imagine the musicians sitting behind each of the notes as they drift out of the speakers. Songs are meant to be digested as singular pieces, a combination of musicians and performers working together to deliver one creation, complete in its entirety and meant to be enjoyed as such. However, in the case of Nina Simone, it can sometimes be beneficial to drive a scalpal into proceedings and dissect the brilliance in front of us.
‘Feeling Good’ has gone down as one of the truly great songs that Nina Simone ever delivered. While the track was originally written by Engish composers Anthony Newley and Leslie Bricusse for the musical The Roar of the Greasepaint – The Smell of the Crowd, Simone would include it a year later on her 1965 record I Put A Spell On You. Ever since that moment, it has been endlessly covered and eternally adored.
While the big orchestration of the song and the unique sentiment certainly have driven its place into the hearts and minds of audiences, it is the vocal line which provides much of the horsepower. John Coltrane, Sammy Davis Jr, George Michael and many more have all added their vocals to the song, but none compare to Simone.
The singer cutely collaborated with Hal Mooney on the track, who arranged the song strategically to expose Simone’s strong vocals. Her voice is almost naked in the intro section, backed up by a minimalistic arrangement, which slowly swells, building up tension until the brass band breaks in with a bombastic effect and delivers the gut punch of emotion only matched by the lyrical content.
Sang as a moment of success in the original musical, Simone likely connected with the song’s racial undertones. A strong proponent of the civil rights movement, something Simone would keep up throughout her life, the singer would have likely felt a kinship with Cy Grant’s “the negro” character in the original stage production and his victory over the story’s hero “Cocky” for which the track is used as a note of triumphant emancipation.
This is why this track is perhaps best enjoyed, with the rest of the instrumentation stripped away. Simone’s vocals are courageous and booming, providing a keen insight into her powerhouse stage presence. But, perhaps more importantly, they are imbued with a personality and authenticity that is hard to ignore. Simone proudly belts out her notes with a simple, devastating defiance.
The splendour of Simone’s vocals makes it all the more curious as to why the song was never selected for release as a single. Instead, it found fame off the back of a 1994 Volkswagen commercial for which it was used. It was ultimately released as a single in response to popular demand.
Very few tracks are able to be stripped back of the very components of what made it a song and somehow deliver more than before. But, with ‘Feeling Good’, Nina Simone’s isolated vocals are all you need.
