Wealth & Money Quote by Nina Simone

Nina Simone doesn’t dress this up as romance or artistic destiny; she makes it transactional, almost daring you to judge her for saying the quiet part out loud. The “rich man” and the sailboat aren’t cute accessories. They’re a demand for exit routes. In a world that extracted genius from Black women while paying them late, stealing rights, and insisting they perform gratitude, Simone fantasizes about the oldest luxury of all: not having to explain yourself to anyone.

The line “I want to own it and let him pay for it” is the key twist. It’s not gold-digger confession; it’s control. Ownership is the point. Payment is the leverage. She’s reversing the usual bargain where a woman is “kept” and therefore kept in place. Simone wants the asset and the autonomy - the ability to move, to disappear, to choose her horizon. A sailboat is freedom that can’t be managed by a club owner, a label, a critic, or even an audience’s expectations.

Then she undercuts the saintly narrative of the suffering artist: “My first love is the sea and water, not music.” That admission hits because it violates the mythology we impose on icons, especially ones we want to treat as pure vessels for “the cause.” Simone reminds you that music was work - sometimes sacred, sometimes punishing - and that her inner life wasn’t obligated to match the public’s needs. The subtext is blunt: I gave you brilliance; I’m still allowed to want an entirely different life.