THE 1000 BEST SONGS IN THE WORLD EVER.

277-Nina Simone-My Baby Just Cares for Me.

1958-It did not chart in the UK until 1987 when it reached Number 5.

Best Bit-At 1.13. It is said that Sybil Burton (1929-2013) the ex wife of the actor Richard Burton (1925-1948) became incensed when she heard this song, having heard the lyric ‘Liz Taylor is not his style.’ Sybil and Richard had recently divorced, after Richard had left her for Liz Taylor.

‘My Baby Just Cares for Me’ is considered a Jazz Standard. A Jazz Standard is a song that is widely known, and performed often by many Jazz musicians. The song was written for the 1928 American Musical Comedy ‘Whoopee!’ which starred the American actor/dancer/singer/songwriter Eddie Cantor (1892-1964) who first introduced the song in the film, and went onto become one of his signature tunes. ‘My Baby Just Cares for Me’ was co-written by Walter Donaldson (1893-1947) who provided the lyrics, and Gus Khan (1886-1941) who wrote the melody, both had been commissioned to write the soundtrack for ‘Whoopee!’ which also included the other notable song ‘Makin’ Whoopee,’ also introduced by Cantor.

In 1957 Nina Simone recorded ‘My Baby Just Cares for Me’ for her debut studio Album ‘Little Girl Blue,’ (also known as ‘Jazz As Played in an Exclusive Side Street Club’) it was released on the ‘Bethlehem Records’ label in February 1959. Simone only recorded the Album as a way to financing her true love which was to become a Classical concert pianist, so she immediately sold the rights for the Album to ‘Bethleham Records’ for $3,000 (around 28,000 in 2020.)

‘My Baby Just Cares for Me’ remained relatively obscure until it was used in a 1987 television commercial for ‘Chanel No. 5’ perfume. To follow up the exposure the song was receiving, record companies fought over the rights to release the song as a single with ‘Charly Records’ winning the battle. Simone who had sold her rights to the song many years earlier, and had always had a tenuous relationship with record labels was outraged, claiming she didn’t receive any royalties.’They went behind my back and stole from each other like I was a slave. They took me and sold me, from one record company to another, because they couldn’t deal with me openly.’ It is probably the case that Nina Simone selling the rights to the song cost her well over one million Dollars.

Nina Simone was born Eunice Kathleen Waymon on February 21st, 1933, in Tryon, North Carolina, United States, she had suffered from breast cancer for several years, before she died in her sleep on April 21st, 2003, at the age of 70. In 1954 in order to make a living she played piano in a nightclub in Atlantic City, New Jersey, and because her parents didn’t approve of her playing the ‘devils music’ she changed her name to ‘Nina Simone,’ ‘nina’ was a nickname given to her by a boyfriend, and ‘Simone’ was taken from the French actress ‘Simone Signoret,’ (1921-1985) whom she had seen in the 1952 movie ‘Casque d’Or.’

Nina Simone was diagnosed with bipolar disorder in the late 1980’s. She was known for her temper, and outbursts of aggression, and after an incident in 1995 she was sentenced to eight month in prison, which was suspended pending a psychiatric evaluation, and treatment. In the 1960’s Simone was a prominent public figure as a civil rights activist for ‘The American Civil Rights Movement,’ with her own composition ‘Mississippi Goddam’ from 1964 becoming a well known song during the civil rights years. Another of Nina Simone’s best known songs is ‘To Be Young, Gifted and Black,’ which has famously been recorded by Aretha Franklin in 1972, and was a 1970 UK Number 5 hit for the Reggae duo of Bob and Marcia. In total Nina Simone released 19 studio Albums between 1959-1993, and 14 live Albums. Her only Billboard Hot 100 top 40 single was ‘I Love You, Porgy,’ which made Number 18 in 1959, while in the UK five of her singles have reached the top 40, with ‘Ain’t Got No, I Got Life,’ making Number 2 in 1968.
‘My baby don’t care for shows,my baby don’t care for clothes, my baby just cares for me. My baby don’t care for cars and races, my baby don’t care for high-tone places.’