We love, love Nina Simone. Always have. Even the slightly crazy-lady version of her we saw performing several times in the Bay Area prior to her death in 2003, swatting around a big African ceremonial feather thing and sounding only barely like herself. It's comforting to see that even in 1969 she was an eccentric performer, playing with scarves, making odd hand gestures, yelling at the crew about the microphone, and generally grooving out like there was no one watching her. Please observe this rare video, just released by Simone's estate, of her performing at the Teatro Sistina on November 3, 1969. The song is Leonard Cohen's "Suzanne," one of our favorites of her catalog of covers, and it's an awesome live version.

If you want to hear the album version, which we dare say is far superior to Cohen's own, listen to it below.