Nina Simone’s “Mississippi Goddam” became a Civil Rights movement anthem after it was debuted in 1964. In the song, Simone highlights the violent racism of several states, Alabama, Tennessee, and Mississippi, as well as criticizes the government’s efforts to depict many civil rights activities as communist plots to discredit them.  In contrast from the song’s “show-tune” feel and melody, the lyrics are about the oppression of black people as they fight for equal rights in America. The song was inspired by multiple events, such as the Birmingham, Alabama church bombing, which killed four little girls, sit-in protests in Nashville, Tennessee businesses and restaurants, and the assassination of Medgar Evans in his own driveway.

 

The name of this tune is Mississippi Goddam

And I mean every word of it

 

Alabama’s gotten me so upset

Tennessee made me lose my rest

And everybody knows about Mississippi Goddam

 

Alabama’s gotten me so upset

Tennessee made me lose my rest

And everybody knows about Mississippi Goddam

 

Can’t you see it

Can’t you feel it

It’s all in the air

I can’t stand the pressure much longer

Somebody say a prayer

 

Alabama’s gotten me so upset

Tennessee made me lose my rest

And everybody knows about Mississippi Goddam

 

This is a show tune

But the show hasn’t been written for it, yet

 

Hound dogs on my trail

School children sitting in jail

Black cat cross my path

I think every day’s gonna be my last

 

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 tell you

Me and my people just about due

I’ve been there so I know

They keep on saying “Go slow!”

 

But that’s just the trouble

“do it slow”

Washing the windows

“do it slow”

Picking the cotton

“do it slow”

You’re just plain rotten

“do it slow”

You’re too damn lazy

“do it slow”

The thinking’s crazy

“do it slow”

Where am I going

What am I doing

I don’t know

I don’t know

 

Just try to do your very best

Stand up be counted with all the rest

For everybody knows about Mississippi Goddam

 

I made you thought I was kiddin’

 

Picket lines

School boy cots

They try to say it’s a communist plot

All I want is equality

for my sister my brother my people and me

 

Yes you lied to me all these years

You told me to wash and clean my ears

And talk real fine just like a lady

And you’d stop calling me Sister Sadie

 

Oh but this whole country is full of lies

You’re all gonna die and die like flies

I don’t trust you any more

You keep on saying “Go slow!”

“Go slow!”

 

But that’s just the trouble

“do it slow”

Desegregation

“do it slow”

Mass participation

“do it slow”

Reunification

“do it slow”

Do things gradually

“do it slow”

But bring more tragedy

“do it slow”

Why don’t you see it

Why don’t you feel it

I don’t know

I don’t know

 

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!