"Ain't Got No, I Got Life" is a 1968 single by American singer-songwriter

Nina Simone Nina Simone ( ; born Eunice Kathleen Waymon; February 21, 1933 – April 21, 2003) was an American singer, pianist, songwriter, and civil rights activist. Her music spanned styles including classical, folk, gospel, blues, jazz, R&B, and po ...

, from her album '' 'Nuff Said''. It is a medley of two songs, "Ain't Got No" and "I Got Life", from the musical ''

Hair Hair is a protein filament that grows from follicles found in the dermis. Hair is one of the defining characteristics of mammals. The human body, apart from areas of glabrous skin, is covered in follicles which produce thick terminal and ...

'', with lyrics by

James Rado James Alexander Radomski (January 23, 1932 – June 21, 2022), known professionally as James Rado, was an American actor, playwright, director, and composer, best known as the co-author, along with Gerome Ragni, of the 1967 musical ''Hair''. He ...

and

Gerome Ragni Gerome Ragni (born Jerome Bernard Ragni; September 11, 1935 – July 10, 1991) was an American actor, singer, and songwriter, best known as one of the stars and co-writers of the 1967 musical ''Hair''. On June 18, 2009, he was inducted into the So ...

and music by

Galt MacDermot Arthur Terence Galt MacDermot (December 18, 1928 – December 17, 2018) was a Canadian-American composer, pianist and writer of musical theater. He won a Grammy Award for the song "African Waltz" in 1960. His most successful musicals were ''Hair ...

. The combination of the two songs was rewritten by Simone to suit her purpose. The song peaked at number 2 in the UK and at number 1 in the Netherlands. It also charted on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100, where it reached number 94. The song helped Simone gain popularity under a new, younger audience, and became a standard in her repertoire.

Assessment and performance

Yale musicologist Daphne Brooks described the song as "a new black anthem" – a "wholly original" reimagining of the material to create a "trademark" racial protest song as powerful as Simone's earlier "

Mississippi Goddam "Mississippi Goddam" is a song written and performed by American singer and pianist Nina Simone, who later announced the anthem to be her "first civil rights song". Composed in less than an hour, the song emerged in a “rush of fury, hatred, a ...

" and " Four Women". A live performance of the song by Simone serves as an emotional peak in the 2015 documentary film ''

What Happened, Miss Simone? ''What Happened, Miss Simone?'' is a 2015 American biographical documentary film about Nina Simone directed by Liz Garbus. The film opened the 2015 Sundance Film Festival. The screening was followed by a tribute performance by John Legend. The ...

'' by

Liz Garbus Elizabeth Freya Garbus (born April 11, 1970) is an American documentary film director and producer. Notable documentaries Garbus has made are '' The Farm: Angola, USA,'' '' Ghosts of Abu Ghraib,'' '' Bobby Fischer Against the World,'' '' Love, Ma ...

. In the film, Simone performs at the piano, wearing a strapless black crocheted outfit, her long earrings swinging, and her hair styled in a short

afro The afro is a hair style created by combing out natural growth of afro-textured hair, or specifically styled with chemical curling products by individuals with naturally curly or straight hair.Garland, Phyl"Is The Afro On Its Way Out?" '' Ebo ...

. She begins with the "desolation, alienation and disenfranchisement" of "Ain't Got No", then transitions to the "jubilant affirmation" of "I Got Life." Images of the Black Power movement recall the feeling of soul-searching African Americans asking the question "Who am I?" Vanderbilt Professor Emily J. Lordi agreed that the song was an anthem, bonding the two ''Hair'' songs "in accordance with soul logic" such that Simone puts the lie to the first lyric about having nothing. Simone proves with her energy and expression that she has "multiple homes, including a home in her own body." She asserts her racial and musical "high priestess" power to transform deprivation into abundance. In the 1969 New York City performance included on Simone's live album '' Black Gold'', she brings the song to a

false ending A false ending is a device in film and music that can be used to trick the audience into thinking that the work has ended, before it continues. The presence of a false ending can be anticipated through a number of ways. The medium itself might bet ...

, inviting applause, then continues for additional minutes. Lordi said, "This is a technique from the

gospel Gospel originally meant the Christianity, Christian message ("the gospel"), but in the second century Anno domino, AD the term (, from which the English word originated as a calque) came to be used also for the books in which the message w ...

playbook, and its effect is to indicate that the rest of the performance is running on reserves of spirit—an effect she will also produce when she sings the last word." Simone invites a

call-and-response Call and response is a form of interaction between a speaker and an audience in which the speaker's statements ("calls") are punctuated by responses from the listeners. This form is also used in music, where it falls under the general category of ...

connection with the audience, then leads them to a sense of shared community, a rediscovery of their collective soul.

Differences between masters; alternate mixes

"Ain't Got No, I Got Life" was recorded in two versions: *Version 1 starts with a repeated piano hook, and is a smoothly played jazz number. *Version 2 starts with a guitar and horn section riff, and has a strong rock beat. Both versions made their way into modern-day ad campaigns, the former a few years after the latter. Unlike the single, the album version has applause from Simone's Westbury Music Fair concert crossfaded over the beginning and end, and additional overdubbed drums; and towards the end of the song, the vocal is double-tracked. A "Groovefinder remix" of the song appeared on the 2006 album '' Remixed and Reimagined'', an album of remixes of Simone's songs. The remix reached number 30 in the UK and remained on the charts for 16 weeks. In Ireland it peaked at number 9 and remained on the charts for 15 weeks. In 2010, research conducted by

PRS for Music PRS for Music Limited (formerly The MCPS-PRS Alliance Limited) is a British music copyright collective, made up of two collection societies: the Mechanical-Copyright Protection Society (MCPS) and the Performing Right Society (PRS). It undertake ...

revealed that the song was the second most performed in UK

television advertising A television advertisement (also called a commercial, spot, break, advert, or ad) is a span of television programming produced and paid for by an organization. It conveys a message promoting, and aiming to market, a product, service or idea. ...

due to its use in Müller yoghurt adverts between 2004 and 2011. Most-recently in 2020, the song was featured in a US commercial for One-A-Day vitamins. "Ain't Got No, I Got Life" was included in the book ''1001 Songs You Must Hear Before you Die''.

Charts

Sales

Legacy

"Ain't Got No, I Got Life" has been interpolated multiple times. These include: * Body/Head's "Ain't" (2013) * Lauryn Hill's "I've Got Life" (2015) * Luedji Luna's "Ain't Got No (feat. Conceição Evaristo)" (2020)

References

{{authority control Nina Simone songs 1968 singles 2006 singles Songs from Hair (musical) 1967 songs Protest songs Songs about racism and xenophobia RCA Records singles Songs about black people