Sinnerman

Oh Sinnerman, where you gonna run to?

An old spiritual is updated again and again, each time with fabulous results. "Sinner Man" or "Sinnerman" is an American traditional spiritual song. The song dates to the turn of the 20th century but most modern recorded versions derive from the 1956 recording by Les Baxter.

Sinnermann

Les Baxter (1922 – 1996) studied piano at the Detroit Conservatory before moving to Los Angeles for further studies at Pepperdine College. Abandoning a concert career as a pianist, he turned to popular music as a singer. With his own orchestra, he released a number of hits including "Ruby" (1953), "Unchained Melody" (1955) and "The Poor People Of Paris" (1956).

Les Baxter

Changes and additions Baxter’s version were codified in 1959 by the folk music group The Weavers. The Weavers were an American folk music quartet based in the Greenwich Village area of New York City. They sang traditional folk songs from around the world. Their hard-driving string-band style inspired the commercial "folk boom" that followed them in the 1950s and 1960s.

The Weavers

Pastel Blues is a studio album by Nina Simone. It was recorded in 1964 and 1965 in New York City and released in 1965 by Philips Records. The name Pastel Blues is somewhat deceiving because the songs on the album incorporate different musical styles besides the blues, such as jazz, soul and folk music.

The last song on the album is "Sinnerman". Her definitive 10-minute-plus version is one of Nina Simone's most famous songs.

Nina Simone - Pastel Blues

Nina Simone (1933 – 2003) was an American singer, songwriter, pianist, arranger, and civil rights activist. Of all the major singers of the late 20th century, Nina Simone was one of the hardest to classify. She recorded extensively in the soul, jazz, and pop idioms, often over the course of the same album; she was also comfortable with blues, gospel, and Broadway.

Simone's best recorded work was issued on Philips during the mid-'60s. Here, she was arguably over-exposed, issuing seven albums within a three-year period. Simone's moody-yet-elegant vocals were like no one else's, presenting a fiercely independent soul who harbored enormous tenderness.

Nina Simone

Well known songs from her Philips albums have great popularity today in terms of cover versions and its use on soundtracks for various movies, TV-series, and video games. "Sinnerman", in particular, has been featured in the TV series Scrubs and Person of Interest, on movies such as The Thomas Crown Affair, Miami Vic, and Inland Empire, and sampled by artists such as Talib Kweli and Timbaland.

Sinnerman

The Wailers initially cut this song for Coxsone Dodd in 1965 while Bob Marley was working in the U.S. The remaining duo of Peter Tosh and Bunny Livingston offer up a powerful performance, and the arrangement is equally noteworthy.

Ska still ruled, although the tempo here is slowed down from the genre's norm, with the emphasis on the heaving bass line. "Sinner Man" is as close to ominous as ska could physically get. Tosh subtlety changed some of the lyrics to give this remodeled version a more Rastafarian grounding.

The Tosh solo version was covered by Irish singer Sinéad O'Connor on her 2005 album Throw Down Your Arms, and by the ska-punk band Goldfinger.

Peter Tosh

Sinnerman - Nina Simone Lyrics

Oh Sinnerman, where you gonna run to?
Sinnerman, 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 guy
All on that day
I said, Rock, what's a 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 hide 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 waitin'
I ran to the devil, he was waitin'
Ran to the devil, he was waitin'
All on that day
I cried -
POWER!!!!!!!
(Power to da Lord)
[8x]
Bring down,
(Power to da lord),
[4x]
POWER!!!
(power to da lord)
[12x]

(Instrumental)

Oh yeah, Woh yeah, Woh yeah
Well 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
He said, child, where were you
when you oughta been prayin'?
I said,Lord, Lord, hear me prayin'
Lord, Lord, hear me prayin'
Lord, Lord, hear me prayin'
All on that day
Sinnerman you oughta be prayin'
Oughta be prayin', Sinnerman
Oughta be prayin',
All on that day
I cried -
POWER!!!!!!!
(Power to da Lord)
[12x]
Go down
(Power to da Lord)
[3x]
POWER!!!!!!!
(Power to da Lord)
[3x]
Power, Power, Lord
Don't you know I need you Lord
Don't you know that I need you
Don't you know that I need you
Power, Lord!

Sinnerman