Friday music: Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood by Nina Simone

Link to a YouTube video here. The images in the video present a montage of photos about the American Civil Rights movement, set to Nina Simone's 1964 recording of "Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood."

Lyrics to the song:

Baby, you understand me now
Yet sometimes you see that I'm mad
But don't you know that no one alive
Can always be an angel
When everything goes wrong you see some bad

But I'm just a soul whose intentions are good
Oh Lord, please don't let me be misunderstood

You know sometimes, Baby, I'm so carefree
With a joy that's hard to hide
And then sometimes again it seems that all I have is worry
And then you're bound to see my other side

But I'm just a soul whose intentions are good
Oh Lord, please don't let me be misunderstood

If I seem edgy I want you to know
That I never mean to take it out on you
Life has it's problems and I get more than my share
But that's one thing I never mean to do
Because I love you
Oh, Oh baby, I'm just human
Don't you know I have thoughts like anyone
Sometimes I find myself long regretting
Some little foolish thing some simple thing that I've done

Because I'm just a soul whose intentions are good
Oh Lord, please don't let me be misunderstood

Don't let me be misunderstood
I try so hard to, please
Don't let me be

While the seeds of the lyrics came from a songwriter's spat with a girlfriend, the song and Simone's recording are associated with the Civil Rights Movement. But a more personal view of her performance of the song might be seen with the knowledge that she was apparently bipolar:

Simone had a reputation in the music industry for being volatile and sometimes difficult to deal with, a characterization with which she strenuously took issue. In 1995, she shot and wounded her neighbour’s son with a pneumatic pistol after his laughing disturbed her concentration. She also fired a gun at a record company executive whom she accused of stealing royalties. It is now recognised that this ‘difficulty’ was not just the result of an overly-perfectionist rigor, but her raging outbursts and diva-like extremes were actually the result of a psycho-medical condition, most probably a bipolar disorder or borderline personality disorder. Simone reluctantly took medication for her condition from the mid sixties on. All this was only known to a small group of intimates, and kept out of public view for many years, until the biography Break Down And Let It All Out written by Sylvia Hampton and David Nathan revealed this secret in 2004.