This song by
Nina Simone is a beautiful and artful combination of
gospel and
jazz. Nina sings this one as deep and bassy as she can, and, hearing parts of it without knowing the
artist, you wouldn't be able to tell whether the singer was
male or female. The lyrics are as profound as the music:
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."
It has a very Old Testament feel to it, and, for some reason, makes me recollect the Book of Job ("where were you when I created the Leviathan?"). Anyway, I highly recommend downloading it from Audiogalaxy or LimeWire or whatever your Napster replacement is nowadays. It should be noted that the song was featured in the recent remake of The Thomas Crown Affair, a very excellent remake indeed. Bill Conti, who scored the film, themed much of his original music for the film after Sinnerman as well. So as long as I'm preaching, go rent this too.