Sinnerman
So I was watching my favorite (read: nearly only) TV show that I still keep up with through the magic of the internet (read: piracy) and I heard this song that I thought was awesome. The only unique part of the song that I could hear was a woman saying "sinner man", but my google-fu is strong and I "Felt Lucky" which is great because I got the song instantly.
DJ Felix da Housecat - Sinnerman
"Seven deadly sins... and the original old catholic one, not the newer PC ones. Good idea other than the words 'sinnerman' what's the connection?" I wondered to myself. The two things I loved about the Felix da Housecat remix was the distinctive voice and the piano riff that plays throughout the song... The voice was really really familiar too. Which made sense because after I checked wikipedia I found that the original un-remixed version was by Nina Simone.
Nina Simone - Sinnerman
Her version of "I Love you Porgy" is on a compilation CD that I have stashed away somewhere back home... What I didn't know about Nina Simone was that she was such an accomplished pianist, what sounds like a drum machine was actually the work of human hands that had been practicing from childhood. Her delivery of the words depict the desperation of the songs subject perfectly; the way she screams "I said, rock!..." paints a picture of a man driven by fear scrambling to find some sort of safety. The lyric "All on that day?" is clearly an eschatological reference, but it wasn't until I read the full words that I saw that the song was a simple moral tale of a sinner at the end of his luck:
| Nina Simone - Sinnerman 1965 | From English Folk Songs from the Southern Appalachians, Sharp Collected from Florence Semples, KY, 1917 |
|---|---|
| Oh sinner man, where you gonna run to? Sinner man where you gonna run to? Where you gonna run to All on that day? Well I run to the rock Please hide me, I run to the rock Please hide me, I run to the rock Please hide me lord All on that day But the rock cried out I can't hide you, the rock cried out I can't hide you, the rock cried out I ain't gonna hide you God All on that day I said rock, what's the matter with you, rock Don't you see I need you, rock Lord Lord Lord All on that day So I run to the river It was bleedin', I run to the sea It was bleedin', I run to the sea It was bleedin' All on that day So I run to the river, it was boilin' I run to the sea, it was boilin' I run to the sea, it was boilin' All on that day So I run to the Lord Please help me Lord Don't you see me prayin'? Don't you see me down here prayin'? But the lord said Go to the devil, the Lord said Go to the devil He said go to the devil All on that day So I ran to the devil He was waiting, I ran to the devil He was waiting, I ran to the devil He was waiting All on that day I cried, power Ring down Oh I run to the river It was boilin' I run to the sea It was boilin' I run to the sea It was boilin' all on that day So I ran to the lord I said lord hide me Please hide me Please help me All on that day Said God where were you When you are old and prayin' Lord lord hear me prayin' Lord lord hear me prayin' Lord lord hear me prayin' All on that day Sinner man you oughta be prayin' Oughta be prayin' sinner man Oughta be prayin' All on that day | (refrain) O sinner-man , where are you going to run to ? O sinner-man, where are you going to run to ? O sinner-man, where are you going to run to All on that day? Run to the moon: O moon, won't you hide me? Run to the moon: O moon, won't you hide me? Run to the moon: O moon won't you hide me All on that day? The Lord said : O sinner-man, the moon'll be a-bleeding, The Lord said : O sinner-man, the moon'll be a bleeding, The Lord said : O sinner-man, the moon'll be a-bleeding All on that day. (Refrain:O sinner-man, etc.) Run to the stars: O stars, won't you hide me? etc. The Lord said : O sinner-man, the stars'll be a-falling, etc. (Refrain: O sinner-man, etc.) Run to the sea: O sea, won't you hide me? etc. The Lord said : O sinner-man, the sea'll be a-sinking, etc. (Refrain: O sinner-man, etc.) Run to the rocks: O rocks, won't you hide me? etc. The Lord said : O sinner-man, the rocks'll be a-rolling, etc. (Refrain: O sinner-man, etc.) Run to the Lord: O Lord, won't you hide me? etc. The Lord said : O sinner-man, you ought to been a-praying, etc. (Refrain: O sinner-man, etc.) Sinner-man says : Lord, l've been a-praying, etc. The Lord said : O sinner-man, you prayed too late, etc. (Refrain: O sinner-man, etc.) Run to Satan: O Satan, won't you hide me? etc. Satan said : O sinner-man, step right in, etc. (Refrain: O sinner-man, etc.) |
Erik Darling, Ronnie Gilbert, Lee Hays, and Fred Hellerman. Copyright 1959 | |
| Sinner Man Oh, sinner man, where you gonna run to? Oh, sinner man, where you gonna run to? Oh, sinner man, where you gonna run to? Oh, sinner man, where you gonna run to all on that day? Run to the moon, "Moon won't you hide me?" Run to the sea, "Sea won't you hide me?" Run to the sun, "Sun won't you hide me all on that day?" Lord says, "Sinner man, the moon'll be a bleeding." Lord says, "Sinner man, the sea'll be a sinking." Lord says, "Sinner man, the sun'll be a freezin' all on that day!" Run to the Lord, "Lord won't you hide me?" Run to the Lord, "Lord won't you hide me?" Run, run, "Lord won't you hide me all on that day?" Lord says "Sinner man, you should've been a praying." Lord says "Sinner man, you should've been a praying." Lord says "Sinner man, you should've been a praying all on that day." | |
Nina Simone was definitely not the first person to record it, the earliest version that I could find is from 1917. It's identified as an "American" traditional spiritual but the strict repetition of the versus sounds like a work song or at the very least stems from a "call and response" pattern introduced to the western world by black slaves. The version that Nina Simone "jazzed up" was made popular by The Weavers, a group that are folk music's Elvis. They extracted songs from their contexts in little known cultures across the world and homogenized them for western tastes. The best example of this is Pete Seeger's transformation of the rough South African township's "Mbube" into "Wimoweh" or "The Lion Sleeps Tonight". In any case Sinnerman is a simple tale of a man who finally has to pay the piper, it's interesting that some versions have the man being completely rejected by Gd while others have him forgiven in the end. The idea of a "devil" with power and a realm independent of Gd is antithetical to Judaism, but I think the overall idea of the work is something that we do believe in:
Do not rely on nobles, nor on a human being for he holds no salvation. When his spirit departs he returns to earth, on that day his plans all perish. Praiseworthy is one whose help is Jacob's Gd, whose hope is H', his Gd.
I'll leave with with a reggae variant: Pete Tosh's "Downpressor Man"
Labels: music, Nina Simone
