“Feeling Good” by Nina Simone
It has been postulated that this song is about the narrator “feeling good”, as in enjoying peace and happiness, after overcoming adversity. And while it is easy to conclude that the she is indeed exuding a very-high level of optimism, she does not necessarily state that her previous disposition was one of gloom. Rather the idea the track is putting forth is that this is “a new day”, indeed “a new life” for the singer.
In fact yesterday is never even mentioned. So regardless of what may have occurred then, today is something new. And the experience is accentuated by her deriving pleasure from everyday occurrences in nature. In addition to that, she is enjoying an overall sense of contentment, bravery and freedom.
In all, today marks the beginning of an era where the singer is deriving more pleasure and contentment from everyday life. That’s basically what Nina Simone’s “Feeling Good” is all about.
Trivia/Facts about “Feeling Good”
- “Feeling Good” was originally written by Anthony Newley, Leslie Bricusse and its first performer, Cy Grant. The song was written for a 1964 musical. That musical was entitled The Roar of the Greasepaint – The Smell of the Crowd.
- Nina Simone released her version in June of 1965. It appeared on her album I Put a Spell on You.
- Although various artists have also covered this song throughout the decades, Simone’s rendition by and large has remained the most-popular.
- Simone’s version of this song was produced by Hal Mooney.
I really like this song, this song has a bigger meaning behind the words. I looked up this song and read different things about it, and one was saying this song was originated from a play, that this song was meaning to give hope withing a troubled society. It’s like this song can have different meanings depending on the setting and theme
Yeah I agree. you can take what you need from this song. As a recovering addict I take everyday as a new start.
I looked at this song in detail while trying to learn it . On the surface it seems like the singer is talking about their environment ‘birds flying high’ ‘sun in the sky ‘ etc, and they are feeling good with all this going on. But in the Simone version she puts the stress on YOU know how i feel , rather than You KNOW how i feel . Which indicates that its the birds , the sun etc, that know how the singer feels due to the strength of their feelings , they are not saying this to the listener . The key line is not the fact that she’ s feeling good, its because of the new dawn and new day that makes her feel good. The song is has the theme of freedom and emancipation , which probably made it attractive to Simone , with its relevance to the civil rights struggle in America at the time . It amazing that this great song came from an (initially) unsuccessful English musical which didn’t even get to the west end of London (the UK equivalent of broadway).