Just In Time – Before Sunset

Probably where Nina Simone’s Just In Time made a rather recent reappearance. And quite a good setting, too.

Celine: I saw her twice in concert. She was so great…That’s one of my favorite songs of hers. (sings along the song for a while and laughs)

Celine: She was so great. She was so funny in concert, too. She would, uh, she would be right in the middle of a song and then, you know, stop, and, uh, and walk from the piano all the way to the edge of the stage, like really slowly….And she’d start talking to someone in the audience. “Oh yeah, baby. Oh, yeah….Uh-huh. Hmm, I love you too.” (laugh)

Celine: And then she’d walk back. Take her time, no hurry, You know? She had that big, cute ass. (laugh) She would move, “Woo.” (laugh) And then she would, uh, go back to the piano and play some more…and then she would, uh, I don’t know, just start another song in the middle of another, you know, like, stop again, and like, “Oh, you over there. Can you move that fan? Uh-huh. Oh, you’re cute! Hmm.” (laugh)

Celine: …Oh. Oh, yeah…Baby, you are gonna miss that plane.

Jesse: (smiles) I know.

***

Just In Time (1968)

A perfect song to listen to when the lights are low, the moon is up, the bed is warm, the arms of the one you love around you.

Or just when you’re starting the day, cooking breakfast, swaying your hips, the sounds of the shower running while you putt around the kitchen.

A smile on the corner of your lips. That’s what this song is about.

***

Just in time you found me just in time
Before you came my time was running low
I was lost them losing dice were tossed
My bridges all were crossed nowhere to go
Now you’re here now I know just where I’m going
No more doubt or fear I’ve found my way
Your love came just in time you found me just in time
And changed my lonely nights that lucky day

That’s All I Want From You

A song from my childhood, it’s one I always sing when I’m both happy and sad. During those two instances of joy and pain, I had this song for comfort. It would be years later before I come to know the woman who sang it, the woman who owned the words, the woman who gave my young heart something to hold on to.

***

Don’t let me down,
oh show me that you care
Remember when you give,
you also get your share
Don’t let me down,
I have no time to wait

Tomorrow might not come,
when dreamers dream too late

Everytime we say goodbye –

written 16 February 2007, 3:02 AM

1.
Don’t leave me: a lie. I only want you to go now, to go away from me, forever. I used to say it with such certainty, ne me quitte pas, darling, knowing that this is what I want. But what you want: something else, someone else.

2.
Nina Simone is on repeat again. She’s singing my life, oh she’s singing, and my life presents itself through a list of songs that breaks this heart. The other woman, she sings, enchants her clothes with French perfume. The other woman keeps fresh cut flowers in each room. The other woman in your arms. By your side, in bed with you.

Oh, but this woman. This woman, now:

But the other woman will always cry herself to sleep
The other woman will never have his love to keep
And as the years go by the other woman
Will spend her life alone

3.
The birthday greeting is now pointless. I am officially part of the past. What of smoking outside, and then: your car rounding the corner. That old Toyota. What of not knowing what to do, what of hesitating.

You sit beside me. Unlike before there is nothing between us now. The house at the end of the street is not playing some Haydn to make us smile, and my dog is dead. What of it, I tried to brush this off, this danger.

I say: Happy birthday.
You say: I’ve gotten married.

I didn’t talk. You left. I smoked. More.
When I got up to leave, an envelope by my side: wedding souvenirs.

In my room, her voice scars -

Why the Gods above me, who must be in the know.
Think so little of me, they allow you to go.

The Other Woman

Never, never, never had my pain been sung so well.

***

Lonesome Cities

Maybe it’s because everyone has gone to sleep, and I’m up awake listening to Nina. Maybe it’s because I’m alone tonight, here in the city, with the rain outside.

And maybe it’s because there really is no reason, no reason at all, to be this lonely.

***

Just as long as trains keep running
Restless woman I’ll be
And there’s a few more lonesome cities that I’d like to see

I Want A Little Sugar in My Bowl

I want a little sugar
in my bowl
I want a little sweetness
down in my soul
I could stand some lovin’
Oh so bad
I feel so funny and I feel so sad

***

Mr. Bojangles (Nina Simone)

I knew a man Bojangles
And he danced for you
In worn out shoes
With silver hair, a ragged shirt
And baggy pants, the old soft shoe
He jumped so high, he jumped so high
Then he lightly touched down

***

Angel of the Morning

There is no need to take me home
I’m old enough to face the dawn
Just call me angel of the morning
Just touch my cheek before you leave me baby

***

Don’t Let Me Be Misunderstood (1964)

Sometimes I find myself alone regretting
some little foolish thing
some simple thing that I’ve done

I’m just a soul whose intentions are good
Oh Lord, please don’t let me be misunderstood

***