NINA SIMONE – Stars / Feelings | Live @ Montreux Festival (1976)

Nina Simone was an American singer, songwriter, pianist, composer, arranger and civil rights activist. Her music spanned styles including classical, folk, gospel, blues, jazz, R&B, and pop. The sixth of eight children born into a poor family in North Carolina, Simone initially aspired to be a concert pianist.

Watch Nina Simone perform a medley of “Stars” and “Feelings” live at the Montreux Jazz Festival, 1976

STARS

I was never one for singing what I really feel Except tonight I’m bringing everything I know that’s real

Stars, they come and go, they come fast or slow They go like the last light of the sun, all in a blaze And all you see is glory Hey but it gets lonely there when there’s no one here to share We can shake it away, if you’ll hear a story

People lust for fame like athletes in a game, we break our collarbones and come up swinging, some of us are downed some of us are crowned, and some are lost and never found But most have seen it all, they live their lives in sad cafes and music halls They always come up singing

Some make it when they’re young, before the world has done its dirty job and later on someone will say “You’ve had your day, now you must make way” But they’ll never know the pain of living with a name you never owned or the many years forgetting what you know too well That the ones who gave the crown have been let down You try to make amends without defending Perhaps pretending you never saw the eyes of grown men of twenty-five that follow as you walk and ask for autographs Or kiss you on the cheek and you never can believe they really loved you Some make it when they’re old (Perhaps they have a soul they’re not afraid to bare or perhaps there’s nothing there)

Stars, they come and go, they come fast they come slow They go like the last light of the sun, all in a blaze And all you see is glory But most have seen it all, they live their lives in sad cafes and music halls They always have a story

Some women have a body men will want to see and so they put it on display Some people play a fine guitar, I could listen to them play all day Some ladies really move across the stage and gee, they sure can dance I guess I could learn how, if I gave it half a chance

But I always feel so funny when my body tries to soar And I seem to always worry about missing the next chord I guess there isn’t anything to put up on display Except the tunes, and whatever else I say But anyway, that isn’t really what I meant to say I meant to tell a story, I live from day to day

Stars, they come and go, they’re coming fast they come slow They go like the last light of the sun, all in a blaze And all you see is glory But most have seen it all, who live their lives in sad cafes and music halls And we always have a story

So if you don’t lose patience with my fumbling around I’ll come up singing for you, even when I’m down

FEELINGS

Feelings, nothing more than feelings Feelings, nothing more than feelings Feelings of love Teardrops falling down on my face Trying to forget all my feelings of love

Feelings, for all my life I’ll feel it I wish I’d never seen it And can’t possible come again

Feelings, wo-o-o feelings, Wo-o-o, again in my heart

Feelings, feelings And I never meet you And I never even saw you And in my heart And you forgot my feeling of love

Feelings, I swear I’ve my life in feelings I wish, I never lived this long I hope this feelings never comes again

Feelings, feelings Like I never lost you And feelings like I never really had you Here in my arms

Feelings, wo-o-o feelings, Wo-o-o, feelings, again in my arms

Feelings, love feelings Feelings, wo-o-o feelings Wo-o-o, feelings, again in my arms

Here in my heart You always stay here in my heart No matter what a words men say You will stay here in my heart No matter what day You will stay here in my heart No matter what they say No matter what they compose

Oh dude, no matter what they drugs me, dude, I saw me dude

People made a machines will do to you