Sinnerman

Clocking in at over 10 minutes, Nina Simone's version of this African-American traditional spiritual song is an outpouring of intense emotion, possibly tied to her own religious beliefs or her political fervor in the battle for civil rights (condemning her own sins or condemning society's). It is featured on her 1965 album Pastel Blues.

This song was inspired by the Book of Exodus, where Moses leads a group of people out of Egypt only to be punished by a series of plagues when they are not truly repentant for their sins. The story is also told in Psalm 78.

Simone learned this song way back when she was known as Eunice Waymon, a young girl known for her piano skills at her mother's church. This song was often used at revivals and prayer meetings to bring sinners to the altar. "Some of my most fantastic experiences - experiences that really shake me, now that I think of them - happened in the church when we'd have these revival meetings. I'd be playiNnNnNnNnNng, boy! I'd really be playing. I loved it! Folks would be shoutin' all over the place. Now that's my background!" she told Ebony in 1969.