The “direct” 1966 song Nina Simone thought everyone would hate: “Written overnight”

Nina Simone nearly kept "Four Women" to herself, revealing that although she wrote the song in a single night in 1966, she was too afraid of rejection to play it to anyone for four months. The track, released on her album Wild Is the Wind, went on to become one of her most acclaimed and influential compositions, expanding her civil rights-era protest music to tackle race, class and gender through the stories of four different women.

Simone told the New Musical Express in 1984 that she first played the song for her husband on a plane, fearing he would dislike its bluntness. Her worry wasn't unfounded: the song's frank engagement with stereotypes attached to Black women saw it banned by some radio stations and criticised by conservative listeners. Despite this backlash, "Four Women" is now regarded as a landmark of 1960s protest music and among Simone's greatest songwriting achievements.