Nina Simone, Wild Is the Wind (Philips, 1966), album cover. Album cover: Philips (1966). Image source: Nina Simone official website.
A familiar singer can make a song seem to have begun with them. Their name sits beside the title often enough and the earlier history quietly slips away. Wild Is the Wind is a particularly good song to follow backwards.
Before David Bowie recorded it for Station to Station in 1976, there was Nina Simone. And before Simone, there was Johnny Mathis singing it for the 1957 film of the same name. The music was written by Dimitri Tiomkin, with words by Ned Washington. Quite a journey for something that fits into a single line on a playlist.
Simone’s 1966 album Wild Is the Wind is one place to pause along that route. Bowie’s official website describes how Simone’s interpretation of the song inspired his recording. That detail makes the listening more interesting. You can hear Bowie as a listener himself, responding to somebody else’s work, before becoming the voice through which somebody else discovers the song.
The temptation with covers is to turn them into a small competition. Best version, definitive version, the one that makes the others unnecessary. It is an efficient way to organise a pub argument. It is rather less useful for hearing what each singer changes.
Even without studying the music, there is plenty to notice. Where does a phrase seem to end? How long does a word hold your attention? Does a pause feel comfortable, or does it make you wait? The lyric gives the singers common material; it doesn’t settle every question of emphasis.
Following that chain also changes the direction of discovery. Instead of searching for something newer, you find an older recording sitting behind the one you already know. The surprise is in the relationship between them.
Mathis, Simone, Bowie. Three versions are a manageable listening detour. And if the familiar one is still your favourite afterwards, that is perfectly fine. You will have a better idea of the company it keeps.
