Recorded in 1982, not long after she moved to Paris,
Fodder On My Wings was one of Nina Simone’s favorite albums yet has remained
one of her most obscure. Originally recorded for a small French label and only
sporadically available since its initial release, Fodder On My Wings will be
reissued in a variety of formats including CD and LP, as well as widely
available digitally for the first time, in both standard and hi-res audio, on
April 3 via Verve/UMe. The original album will be expanded with three bonus
tracks from the recording sessions from a rare French reissue released in 1988.
The effervescent opening track “I Sing Just To Know That I’m Alive,” a song
that Simone often performed live in her later years, is available now to stream
and as an instant grat download with digital preorder. A lyric video is also
available now: https://verve.lnk.to/ISJTKTIA
A
lesser-known but important part of Simone’s musical history, Fodder On My Wings
contains deeply personal songs, including the aforementioned, “I Sing Just To
Know That I'm Alive” and “I Was Just A Stupid Dog To Them,” as well a searing
lyrical improvisation about the death of her father on “Alone Again
(Naturally).” At the time she recorded the album, Simone was living in France
and extremely lonely; her mental illness was worsening and her family life was
fractured. It’s out of this despair that one of the many album standouts, the
near title track “Fodder In Her Wings,” was birthed. As Pitchfork wrote in
their list of 33 of Simone’s most iconic songs, the composition “captured with
startling intimacy the pain of this period, and she returned to it frequently
through the next decade, cutting another studio version three years later (the
synth-heavy take on Nina’s Back!) and including it on several live albums,
including an awe-inspiring performance on 1987’s Let It Be Me,” continuing,
“Simone’s vocal makes a song of weariness and defeat carry an air of defiance,
a wise word from someone who survived to tell the tale.”
Over the
years, the album has been reevaluated and has received its due as a significant
work in Simone’s prolific catalog. In a 2005 review of the album, Jazz Times
hailed the record and especially her emotional performance on “Alone Again
(Naturally),” writing: “At the core of the album is a rare, powerful example of
Simone with all masks stripped away: Her personal pain explodes to the surface
as she reworks Gilbert O’Sullivan’s “Alone Again (Naturally)” into a diatribe
about her dying father that bravely progresses from venomously embittered to
cautiously conciliatory.”
Recorded at
a time when Simone was feeling rejuvenated by her surroundings and by the
African musicians she met in her newly adopted France, Fodder On My Wings is an
essential Simone album that is making a long-overdue reappearance and can now
be heard however you prefer to listen to music.
FODDER ON MY
WINGS TRACK LISTINGS
VINYL
SIDE A
1. I Sing
Just To Know That I'm Alive
2. Fodder In
Her Wings
3. Vous êtes
seuls, mais je désire être avec vous
4. Il y a un
baume à Gilhead
5. Liberian
Calypso
6. Alone
Again (Naturally)
SIDE B
1. I Was
Just A Stupid Dog To Them
2. Color Is
A Beautiful Thing
3. Le peuple
en Suisse
4. Heaven
Belongs To You
5. Thandewye
6. Stop
7. They Took
My Hand
CD/DIGITAL
1. I Sing
Just To Know That I'm Alive
2. Fodder In
Her Wings
3. Vous êtes
seuls, mais je désire être avec vous
4 Il y a un
baume à Gilhead
5. Liberian
Calypso
6. Alone
Again (Naturally)
7. I Was
Just A Stupid Dog To Them
8. Color Is
A Beautiful Thing
9. Le Peuple
en Suisse
10. Heaven
Belongs To You
11.
Thandewye
12. Stop
13. They
Took My Hand
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