Mavis Staples and Levon Helm’s rendition of the 1967 Nina Simone song “I Wish I Knew How It Would Feel To Be Free” has been released, along with a video featuring previously unseen footage of the two artists rehearsing together in 2011.
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Their rendition of Simone’s Silk & Soul classic is featured on the upcoming Carry Me Home, out May 20, a collection of eclectic songs by Simone as well as The Rolling Stones, Bob Dylan, and The Impressions taken on by Staples and Helm and featuring a blend of members from both of their bands.
“I Wish I Knew How It Would Feel to Be Free” was originally written and released by Billy Taylor in 1963 before Simone covered the song and it became an anthem of the civil rights movement in the ’60s.
The album was recorded live during the summer of 2011 and is one of Helm’s last recordings before his death on April 19, 2012. In retrospect, the album served as a snapshot in time, since neither Staples nor Helm, longtime friends, knew it would be their last performance together. Tracks like the gospel song “Farther Along” and “This May Be The Last Time,” performed by The Staples Singers in 1961, give the album a bittersweet, near prophetic feel.
“It never crossed my mind that it might be the last time we’d see each other,” said Staples in a statement. “He was so full of life and so happy that week. He was the same old Levon I’d always known, just a beautiful spirit inside and out.”
Lifelong friends since they first met while filming The Band’s 1976 documentary The Last Waltz, Staples later cited The Staple Singers’ collaboration with The Band on “The Weight” as a highlight of the film. Though both remained friends, they hadn’t had a chance to perform together after Helm was diagnosed with throat cancer in 1998 until their union in 2011 for Carry Me Home.
“The place just went wild when Levon sang,” said Staples, who will perform with Helm’s daughter Amy at the album release on May 21 at Brooklyn Academy of Music and at the Dirt Farmer Festival on May 21 and additional dates.
“It was a real full-circle moment to be performing that song together again.”
Photo: Greg McKean
