“Mississippi Goddam” by Andra Day

Past GRAMMY nominee Andra Day performs “Mississippi Goddam” in a tribute to Lifetime Achievement Award honoree Nina Simone at the GRAMMY Salute To Music Legends 2017™ and discusses Simone’s impact.

In collaboration with the Recording Academy™, GREAT PERFORMANCES presents Grammy Salute To Music Legends 2017™, the second annual all-star concert offering a spotlight for the Academy’s 2017 Special Merit Awards recipients. The celebration, led by Paul Shaffer as musical director, was recorded at New York’s Beacon Theatre. Stream it here.

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TRANSCRIPT

TRANSCRIPT

ANDRA DAY: I am performing 'Mississippi Goddam' and I'm paying tribute to Nina Simone.

'Nina Simone is the reason I do what I do today.

Beyond being a great artist, which is an understatement -and she clearly was, Nina stands as a shining example of how to be brave and use the plarform of art to speak your truth-' 'Mississippi Goddam' was a fight song for Nina and it ended up being an incredible anthem, and she really rebelled against people who advised her against doing music like that.

So she was willing to say what was important at the time - to the detriment of her own career and I think to me that's the definition of an artist.

- we're supposed to be self-sacrificing for the environment around us and she was.

She was an activist and she understood that her platform was for activism and not just to bring attention to herself and thats really how she inspires me and thats why I do music the way that I do now.

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