Sinnerman written by Nina Simone

          Nina Simone, an iconic American singer/songwriter, is known for her angelic voice and change eliciting lyrics. In this selected piece Sinnerman, it is written about a hypothetical sinner who is experiencing judgement day. In many religious cultures, it is believed that Jesus’s second coming will bring forth a judgement day where the souls on Earth are judged whether they go to Heaven or Hell. Throughout the song, Simone describes a sinner who is experiencing this day as someone who does not expect to make the cut. Simone uses heavy allegories to convey her message. The message seemingly being of the traditional religious trope of repentance. By using religious allegories, Simone depicts a very intriguing story. Simone opens the song with asking the question of where the sinner is going to run to. Simone says “Where you gonna run to? All on that day. We got to run to the rock. Please hide me, I run to the rock” (Simone). The rock is actually an allegory for hiding from the judgement. The sinner man knows of his faults and tries to hide behind a massive rock talked about in the bible. For a nonreligious reader or even for the casual religious listener, these hidden allegories can go unnoticed. This is a powerful tool for the writer because it allows the song to reach a wider audience. A religious song about repentance so as to not go to Hell doesn’t seem like a song that would reach such a widespread audience, but with this nondescript sense of story telling, Nina Simone is able to do this.

            Nina Simone ends the song in an interesting fashion. She leaves the listener with no resolve for the sinner man. As follows “Lord? Don't you know that I need you? (X2). Oh, Lord. Wait. Oh, Lord. Oh, Lord, Lord (Simone). This blunt ending is a great way of enforcing her theme of repentance. By leaving the story unresolved, this allows the reader to make assumptions on what will happen if they do not repent like the sinner. By using this omission it adds perspective to the story of the sinner man. The sinner man then transcends into a person such as you or I. Nina Simone carries this subtle style to her writing that makes her music all the more appealing.