Weekend Diva Blogging: Laura Nyro

By Kathy G.

Laura Nyro is a part of the template from which my own musical and feminine consciousness  was printed. In the back of my mind, I knew Laura had done it, even before I knew what "it" was. It turns out that "it" meant making no apologies, not being a victim, celebrating the voice and exploring how the voice connected to being a woman in the real world. She has done a lot of work for us, as a matriarch, as a singer and songwriter, to make sure we are more comfortable in our own authority, to encourage and defend, to give us permission. Thank you, Laura. It would have been a lot harder without you.

-- Rosanne Cash

With her characteristic eloquence and wisdom, Rosanne Cash puts her finger on one of the things that is so special about Laura Nyro: her songs broke new ground in telling the truth about women's lives. Laura wrote about a female sexuality and women's experiences with a rawness and emotional honesty that, among her contemporaries, only Joni Mitchell would equal. To me, the work of those later female singer/songwriters who also were intimate chroniclers of women's emotional and erotic lives -- artists like Rickie Lee Jones, P.J. Harvey, and Liz Phair, for example -- are simply unimaginable without her.

Laura Nyro was born in the Bronx in 1947, to a Jewish mother and an Italian Catholic father (her birth name was Laura Nigro). She was a remarkable prodigy, writing such classic songs as "And When I Die" and "Wedding Bell Blues" before she was 18. Other artists, such as Peter, Paul, and Mary, the Fifth Dimension, Blood Sweat and Tears, and Barbra Streisand had top 40 hits with the tunes she wrote. (Personally, I think Babs' cover of the torchy "I Never Met to Hurt You" is the best of these).

But what is most remarkable about Laura Nyro are those albums she made in which she sings and plays her own songs. These records -- More than a New Discovery (1967), Eli and the 13th Confession (1968), New York Tendaberry (1969), and Christmas and the Beads of Sweat (1970) -- were like nothing anyone else was doing at the time. Musically, they were complex and formally inventive, an improbable melange of folk music, jazz, gospel, show tunes, and 60s girl-group rock and roll. Lyrically they were wildly, kaleidoscopically poetic and deeply, intensely personal. At the time there were only a handful of others playing the singer/songwriter game at this level. Besides Joni, there was Dylan of course, and Leonard Cohen, and Neil Young. But that was about it, so far as I can see.

Those first four albums were thrilling, and then? Well, after that furious burst of productivity, Laura's creative spigot slowed to a trickle. In 1971, working with the singing group LaBelle, she released an album of cover tunes of 50s and 60s doo wop and girl group hits. That album, Gonna Take a Miracle, is a favorite of mine, and of other fans as well. After that, though, there was nothing I got very excited about. She released four more albums of original material, but I never much cared for her later stuff. She made her most lasting and important contributions with those first four brilliant albums.

What caused Laura to slow down? Well, for one thing, she was a shy and sensitive person who was deeply uncomfortable living her life in the public eye. Her second major stage appearance, at the Monterey Pop festival in 1967, was a legendary disaster -- she got booed off the stage, it was said, and she was so crushed she never quite got over it. Only, years later, evidence came to light which indicated that wasn't exactly the case; D.A. Pennebaker, the director of the documentary about Monterey, dug up footage of Laura's performance there which he described as "mesmerizing," with nary a boo to be heard. I've linked to a video of one of her songs from that concert below; you can judge for yourself.

Laura's desire for privacy in her intimate life may also have had something to do with why, periodically and for years at a time, she turned her back on her career. Laura was bisexual; though she married and had a child, and had important relationships with men, her most lasting partnership was with a woman, an artist named Maria Desiderio. Maria was with Laura when she died in 1997, at age 49, of ovarian cancer. The same diseased had also killed Laura's beloved mother, who was the same age as Laura when she died.

Searching for Laura Nyro videos on Youtube was a frustrating experience. In contrast to other divas I've blogged about (such as Dolly Parton, Etta James, etc.), I could find very few clips of Laura performing. Since thsoe were so scarce, I'll also link to some Youtubes that are audio only. And even there, I couldn't find audio of some of her greatest songs, including "The Confession" ("Only now am I a virgin/ I confess"), "Woman's Blues" ("My lover's mouth/Been so good to me"), "New York Tendaberry" ("Sidewalk and pigeon/You look like a city/But you feel like a religion/To me") and others.

We'll start with one of those rare videos of Laura in her prime performing one of her classic songs."Save the Country." Sure, the lyrics are full of pie-in-the-sky 60s utopianism, but they also touch ground upon occasion ("I've got fury in my soul"). And I'll confess, I've always found the song's direct invocation of King and the Kennedys to be quite moving. Plus, Rosanne Cash covered this song and Kanye sampled it, so it's gotta be cool, right?

Here's Laura from the same program as above, doing "He's a Runner." Not one of her best songs, I think, but I find her fascinating to watch, even though she's not exactly at ease here. And I love her ethnic hippie chick look from this period.

Now, this final video of Laura performing is one I can't find on Youtube and can't figure out how to embed, so you'll have to watch it here. The clip is from that infamous Monterey Pop show, and it includes the tail end of Laura singing "Wedding Bell Blues" and a complete version of her great song "Poverty Train." I think she's absolutely amazing in this one.

Okay, another performance video, but this time it's not of Laura. It's of musical theater diva Audra McDonald doing Laura's song "Tom Cat Goodbye." I know that Audra is beloved by theater queens everywhere but this version seems a bit stagy for my taste. It's a wild and quite extraordinary song about a woman who murders her cheating lover. I'll admit that Audra's singing here is pretty amazing, but to appreciate it you have to accustom yourself to her theatrical singing style.

Now we're down to the audio-only videos. Here's one of "Timer," one of my favorite Laura songs, and one of her most joyous. It's probably best if you just ignore the cutesy video.

This one, "Emmy," is, to me, her most gorgeous song. It's also a groundbreaking song in that it's a pop song in which a female sings openly about her love for a woman. Again, just listen, and try to ignore the cheesy video.

Another of my favorite Laura songs, "Time and Love." Babs and Diana Ross also covered this one, but Laura's version is the best (it almost always was).

This next audio clip includes two songs from her first album, "Wedding Bell Blues" and "Stoney End." I've picked it much more for the latter song than for the former. "Wedding Bell Blues" was a great pop song for its time but it's sadly dated today. "Stoney End," on the other hand, stands as a classic song about the pain, fear, confusion, and exhilaration experienced by a young woman just beginning to come of age sexually. "I was raised on the good book Jesus/Till I read between the lines" -- it's the story of every good Catholic girl's life, isn't it? Truly amazing stuff, still.

Finally, here's an audio of her powerful song, "Gibsom Street." The lyrics are dark and mysterious; some say the song is about a back alley abortion, which makes a certain amount of sense.

Comments

[Donald A. Coffin]

Someone I think you're missing in all this is Janis Ian Her first album, released when she was 14 (?) ("Janis Ian"), showed a lot of promise, but was programmatic and preachy. Beginning in 1974, however, she released a string of 6 albums ("Stars, ""Aftertones," "Between the Lines," "Miracle Row, "Janis Ian," and "Night Rains") that I'd stack up against almost anything anyone has done. Her more recent work, including "Breaking Slience" and "God and the FBI" (whichincluded the wonderfui "Boots Like Emmy Lou's), has also been strong. She's also somewhat out of the mainstream these days, but produced an amazing body of work, well worth celebrating.

[Donald A. Coffin]

A large number of videos of Janis Ian here:

http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=janis+ian&search_type=

(Maybe too many of "At Seventeen," but also "Tea and Sympathy," "In the Winter," "Jesse," "Light a Light," and many others.)

[Nat]

I was fortunate to catch a live performance of Laura's at Hobart College, spring break of 1970. It was a very unsettled time, just a week or two after the infamous Tommy the Traveler situation.

My recollection is that she was not a particularly comfortable performer on this day. And there was some sort of mix up and she left the venue after one set when she was supposed to perform two. There was a very long delay and on her return she seemed a bit addled. In the day we just chalked it up to a bit too much weed, but perhaps there was a bit more to it than that.

Despite all this I enjoyed her performance. New York Tendaberry was quite popular at the time and I have always had a very soft spot for female vocalists.

I have always wondered if Laura was some sort of inspiration to Carol King's emergence as a solo artist the next year. Or whether King's song writing had inspired her. Wedding Bell Blues or It's Too Late could have come from either of their finger tips.

[Josh in Philly]

Thanks for these, Kathy! Nyro's work first came to my attention when I read that she was one of the few contemporary songwriters praised by Stephen Sondheim. Makes sense, given that some of her songs have the kind of dramatic arc one more often sees in musicals.

I too thought of Janis Ian as a comparably great acoustic singer-songwriter of that era. Also Sandy Denny, Randy Newman, Phil Ochs; but only Janis and Randy are still with us.

[Kathy G.]

Donald and Josh, I'm not that familiar with Janis Ian's work (other than "At Seventeen"), but you've persuaded me that I should check it out.

Interesting story, Nat -- and yes, I agree that there is a connection between Nyro's early work and Carole King. But I think Nyro's work after that first album became more experimental and further afield from mainstream pop than King ever got.

And Josh, I didn't know that Sondheim was a Laura Nyro fan, but it's great to know that someone who's so highly regarded appreciated her work. Any praise coming from him is high praise indeed.

And yes, of course I should have mentioned Randy Newman as being among those great singer/songwriters. His work throughout the 60s and 70s was amazing.

[DB]

Thanks for performance links. A great cover of a Laura Nyro that's contemporary to her work is 3 Dog Night's recording of "Eli's Coming" -- a well done rendition, I think -- "better better hide your heart" and all that.

[Wrongshore]

Thanks for this. My band used to cover "Save The Country". Our first time playing it, I said, "Here's one by Laura Nyro" and everybody thought I said "Here's one Laura and I wrote," because the singer's name was Laura.

You've inspired me to expand my knowledge with Eli & the 13th Confession plus the greatest hits. Thanks!