The town of Tryon, North Carolina were so impressed by Eunice Waymon's skill at the piano they chipped in to buy her lessons - taking her all the way to Juilliard.
She grew up into Nina Simone and recorded Love Me Or Leave Me on her 1966 album "Let It All Out."
It was money well spent, because I think Love Me Or Leave Me features the greatest piano solo ever recorded. Sorry, Thelonious.
Let It All Out is an incredible album. It has Mood Indigo, Little Girl Blue, the dirty dirty Chauffeur and the devastating Images
She does not know
Her beauty,
She thinks her brown body
Has no glory.
If she could dance
Naked,
Under palm trees
And see her image in the river
She would know.
But there are no palm trees
On the street,
And dishwater gives back no images.
For being like Bach but with Soul, Love Me Or Leave Me is my song of the week.
