When last night's Celebrating America concert ended on MSNBC, Rachel Maddow quipped at the anchor desk how courageous John Legend was to cover Nina Simone, when he sang "Feeling Good," that she had a hit with. She was under the impression, as I suspect are many people, that Nina Simone was the first to record "Feeling Good." In fact, I suspect that most people are under the impression that the song is an old spiritual. It's used regularly in commercials -- one is currently running -- for its deep soulfulness. In fact, Nina Simone was covering Gilbert Price. I'm sure that most people are scratching their heads at the name. As it happens, "Feeling Good" is not only not an old soulful spiritual, it's about as far from that as you can get. In fact, it's from a Broadway musical, the 1965 show The Roar of the Greasepaint, the Smell of the Crowd. And it was written by two British songwriters -- Anthony Newley and Leslie Bricusse. Yes, that Anthony Newley. (For the record, Newley wrote the music, Bricusse the lyrics.) In fairness, the song does have a deeply spiritual foundation to it in the show. The musical is about two men, the upperclass Sir and lowerclass Cocky playing the Game of Life, for which Sir makes all the rules and always win. At one point in the show, while Sir and Cocky are arguing, the character name "the Negro" wanders into the game and makes to the center and to his stunned surprise -- and their shock, especially Sir -- wins. That's when he sings this song. Gilbert Price played the role in the show. And it's an impressive rendition. As strong as most any you've heard. Indeed, you'd likely be hard-pressed to know that this was from a Broadway musical if you heard his recording out of context. But still, "Feeling Good" is from a Broadway musical.
2 Comments
Douglass Abramson
1/21/2021 06:24:18 pm
I really don't know much about this show beyond it being part of the Newley/Bricusse team's body of work. For instance, I didn't know that Ritchard starred in the show with Newley...did the sets have to be totally rebuilt after every show, or did the two of them leave enough uneaten so that only repairs were required?
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Robert Elisberg
1/23/2021 01:30:00 pm
The set is actually very minimalistic. Pretty much just the "game board" that the two characters wander over. No dining repairs needed.
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AuthorRobert J. Elisberg is a political commentator, screenwriter, novelist, tech writer and also some other things that I just tend to keep forgetting. Feedspot Badge of Honor
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