Minnesota Goddamn

California’s gotten me so upset

Chicago made me lose my rest

Everybody knows about Minnesota, goddam!

Chicago’s gotten me so upset

Kristi Noem has made me lose my rest

Everybody knows about Minnesota, goddam!

Can't you see it?

I know you can feel it

It's all in the air

I can't stand the pressure much longer

Somebody say a prayer

California has got me so upset

And Chicago has made me lose my rest

Everybody knows about Minnesota, goddam!

Masked goons on my trail

Those school children sitting in jail

Black cat cross my path

I think every day's gonna be my last

Lord, have mercy on this land of mine

We all gonna get it in due time

'Cause I don't belong here

I don't belong there

I've even stopped believing in prayer

Don't tell me, I'll tell you

Me and my people, just about due

I've been there, so I know

You keep on saying, "Go slow"

Well that's just the trouble (too slow)

Washing the windows (too slow)

Pickin' the cotton (too slow)

Nothin' but rotten (too slow)

Too damn lazy (too slow)

Thinking's crazy (too slow)

Where am I going?

What am I doing?

I don't know

I don't know

Just try to do my very best

Stand up be counted with all the rest

'Cause everybody knows about Minnesota, goddam!

Now, you heard him

He's one of you

If you have been moved at all

And you know my songs at all

For God's sakes, join me

Don't sit back there

The time is too late now, good God!

You know? The king is dead, the king of love is dead

I ain't 'bout to be nonviolent, honey!

Ahaha, woah no

Picket lines, school boy cots

They try to say it's a communist plot

But all I want is equality

For my sister, my brother, my people and me

And I loved him because he believed it

He lived by it

But you lied to me all these years

You told me to wash and clean my ears

And talk real fine just like a lady

And you'd stop calling my mama Aunt Sadie

Can you hand me another?

But my country is full of lies

We all gonna die, and die like flies

'Cause I don't trust nobody anymore

Keep on saying, "Go slow"

That's just the trouble (too slow)

Immigration (too slow)

Mass participation (too slow)

Unification (too slow)

Do things gradually (too slow)

But bring more tragedy (too slow)

Why don't you see it?

Why don't you feel it?

I don't know

I don't know

You don't have to live next to me

Just give me my equality

'Cause everybody knows about Minnesota

Everybody knows about Chicago

Everybody knows about Minnesota, goddam!

That's it!

Nina Simone performing “Mississippi Goddamn” at Carnegie Hall

Works Cited

Simone, Nina. “Mississippi Goddam.” Nina Simone in Concert, live performance at Carnegie Hall, New York City, Philips Records, 1964.

💖author note: Nina Simone wrote and performed this song, which I have updated for current times, changing only a few words of her original text. Please do not reward me for someone else’s work. All I did was update it to the current pressure cooker we’re in.