1978
BALTIMORE * NINA SIMONE * CTI 14 * UK
And they hide their faces
And they hide their eyes
'Cause the city's dyin'
And they don't know why
In the early part of the 19th century Baltimore, in the State of Maryland, was the second largest city in the United States. Blacks have had a major presence in the city of Baltimore since its founding in the early 1700s. By 1958, the African Americans comprised over 50% of the population in the public schools. Black progress against red-lining and struggles against desegregation triggered middle-class flight to the suburbs, which undermined the tax base of the city. Baltimore's tax and population decreased like Detroit. Philadelphia, DC, and many other large cities. By the 1970s the city of Baltimore had a clear black voting majority and in the 1980s, Baltimore elected its first Black mayor. Written by Randy Newman Baltimore was the title track of an album Nina Simon released after a uncharacteristic four year absence from the recording industry. She was living in Paris France in 1978 a long way from Baltimore in Maryland USA yet she sings the song with so much conviction you could be excused for thinking she had spent her whole life there; but in reality she could be singing about any number of city's across the Western hemisphere as the mass of the population once again become alienated. Not physically this time but conceptually, from the narratives, the certainties, that underpin our understanding of our(?) world.
See also: