Lyrics to
Baltimore

This version of Baltimore was released by Nina Simone in 1978.

Our About Nina Simone page at Decade Lyrics includes the lyrics for Baltimore from 1978 as well as all of the other lyrics from Nina Simone that we have in our lyrics database.

Here's more interesting things in songs and lyrics tied to Nina Simone or about the 1970s in general.

Beat-up little seagull
On a marble stair
Tryin’ to find the ocean
Lookin’ everywhere

Hard times in the city
In a hard town by the sea
Ain’t nowhere to run to
There ain’t nothin’ here for free

Hooker on the corner
Waiting for a train
Drunk lying on the sidewalk
Sleeping in the rain

And the people hide their faces
And they hide their eyes
‘Cause the city’s dyin’
And they don’t know why

Oh, Baltimore
Ain’t it hard just to live?
Oh, Baltimore
Ain’t it hard just to live?
Just to live

Get my sister Sandy
And my little brother Ray
Buy a big old wagon
To haul us all away

Live out in the country
Where the mountain’s high
Never gonna come back here
Till the day I die

Oh, Baltimore
Ain’t it hard just to live?
Oh, Baltimore
Ain’t it hard just to live?
Just to live

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Nina Simone has released many songs over the years besides Baltimore. Nina Simone released songs from 1958 to 1987 spanning across albums like Little Girl Blue, At Town Hall, The Amazing Nina Simone, At Newport, Forbidden Fruit, At The Village Gate, Nina Simone Sings Ellington, At Carnegie Hall, Broadway Blues Ballads, Folksy Nina, Nina Simone In Concert, Pastel Blues, I Put A Spell On You, Nina Simone With Strings, Wild Is The Wind, Let It All Out, Nina Simone Sings The Blues, High Priestess Of Soul, Silk And Soul, Nuff Said!, Nina Simone And Piano!, To Love Somebody, Black Gold, Here Comes The Sun, Emergency Ward, It Is Finished, Baltimore, Fodder On My Wings, Nina's Back, Let It Be Me, and Live At Ronnie Scott's. Decade Lyrics has over lyrics & songs by Nina Simone.

If you're a fan of popular 1970s songs looking for more songs from 1978 or the 1970s overall, you've come to the right place!

About Lyrics and Baltimore by Nina Simone

The lyrics to Baltimore are the words, verses and chorus for the song released by Nina Simone in 1978. Elements of the lyrics to Baltimore are both direct in meaning and also metaphorical with the real meanings of the song only known by Nina Simone and any collaborating writers working on the lyrics for Baltimore back when it was created.

Some people have an interest in the etymology behind words and phrases. You can take apart the lyrics to Baltimore by Nina Simone in a number of ways. The word "lyric" itself derives from the Latin word lyricus, with the actual English word lyrics applied to the definition "words set to music" listed in Stainer and Barrett's 1876 Dictionary of Musical Terms. Continuing the chain, the Latin word lyricus derives from the Greek word λυρικός or lyrikós. This somewhat means "poetry accompanied by the lyre" or "words set to music." You can easily see that by looking at the background of the word lyric, that the "lyrics to Baltimore" means the words set to the music of Baltimore, or poetry accompanied by the lyre played by Nina Simone. The singular form "lyric" is still used to mean the complete words to a song. However, the singular form lyric is also commonly used to refer to a specific line (or phrase) within a song's lyrics. Hence, by this analysis of word structure, you could say that the lyric to Baltimore and the lyrics to Baltimore are both one and the same thing. None of this talk about the word Lyrics is really relevant to fans of Nina Simone who came here looking just for the lyrics to Baltimore, but we feel it is still fun to learn what's behind commonly used words and lyrics in songs.

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