Laura Nyro, photographed by Joel Bernstein, 1969
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@lauranyro
Laura Nyro, photographed by Joel Bernstein, 1969

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Hi there! I recently started listening more to Laura (I totally love her), and I was wondering if you had any ideas what "American Dreamer" off of Nested was about? Although it seems to me like it might be about a few different scenarios, but considering this is a fan blog I figured you'd have some theories. :) Thanks!
Hey there! I’m always happy to welcome another lover of Laura. :)
I must confess, “American Dreamer” is a song that I never really had much thought or idea about, meaning-wise. But I did do some research to see what other people thought. Consensus seemed to be that it was about one of her managers early on who had got most of her publishing royalties.
I also looked up the song in Michelle Kort’s book Soul Picnic: The Music and Passion of Laura Nyro and this is what it said:
In the closing cut on Side One, “American Dreamer,” Nyro is an ingenuous believer disappointed by the realities of greed and incompetence. Like “Money” on Smile, she complains about those who have taken advantage of her (or others), whether in marriage, management, or health. “Autumn’s child is catching hell,” sings the October-born Nyro, “for having been too naive to tell / property rights from chapel bells.” The second verse complains about a smiling manager who made the singer sign a contract with “transparent lines.” In the last verse doctors tells patient that she’s imagining things. Could that be about Laura’s mother not being diagnosed until her cancer was too advanced to treat? Through all the disappointments expressed in the song, Nyro keeps a sense of black humor, knowing that she’s destined to keep dreaming despite it all.
I hope this of interest to you!
Laura Nyro (Oct. 18, 1947-April 8, 1997), December 1967, ph: Bob Cato/Sony Music Archives.
Laura Nyro performing her song “Poverty Train” at the Monterey Pop Festival in 1967 (x)
Interesting fact about her performances at Monterey Pop: it was a longstanding myth (that even Nyro, herself, believed) that, this being her second major live performance at the time, she was booed off the stage. That myth led to this footage, that was of course filmed along with the rest of the performances for the documentary Monterey Pop (1968), being unavailable until The Criterion Collection of the documentary was released (in which case it became available as part of two hours worth of outtakes). Of course, then, the myth was debunked, because if you listen to this and her other performances, the audience clearly enjoyed it - some even might’ve called out “beautiful!”
Laura Nyro, Monterey Pop, 1967.
© Guy Webster

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Laura Nyro and her partner Maria Desiderio in Long Beach, Long Island, with Maria’s dog Scootie, c. 1989. (Photo by Janice Nigro.)
Laura Nyro with Alice Coltrane during the ‘Christmas and the Beads of Sweat’ sessions, 1970
ain’t no mountain high enough - laura nyro (live in tokyo)
On this day in music history: November 25, 1970 - “Christmas And The Beads Of Sweat”, the fourth album by Laura Nyro is released. Produced by Felix Cavaliere and Arif Mardin, it is recorded at Columbia Recording Studios in New York City in May 1970. Following her highly acclaimed third release “New York Tendaberry”, singer, songwriter and musician Laura Nyro will return to the studio in the Spring of 1970 to work on her next release with Rascals keyboardist and vocalist Felix Cavaliere and arranger and producer Arif Mardin (Aretha Franklin, Bette Midler, Chaka Khan) handling the production duties. It is the final part of the musical trilogy begun with Nyro’s second and third albums “Eli And The Thirteenth Confession” and New York Tendaberry". In spite of its title, it is not a traditional holiday album, containing no covers of actual Christmas songs. The material however captures the joyful spirit present during that time of year. It also features guest appearances by Duane Allman (on the title track) and Alice Coltrane. The album yields Nyro’s only chart single, a cover of The Drifters hit “Up On The Roof” (#92 Pop). “Christmas And The Beads Of Sweat” will peak at number fifty one on the Billboard Top 200.
Bethany’s favourites
My favourite album of Laura’s is undoubtedly New York Tendaberry. It was the first album of hers I ever got, and the album that made me love her. Somehow it still continues to grow in my estimation.
Though it was difficult not to just list every song on NYT (or to just list every song by her ever), I narrowed my current favourite songs down to a nebulous top five:
- Sweet Lovin’ Baby (<3)
- Tom Cat Goodby (this song has actually given me chills before?)
- Poverty Train (used to stand on a chair in the kitchen and sing this when alone)
- Emmie (dreamy sigh)
- When I Was a Freeport and You Were the Main Drag (someday I WILL master playing this on the piano)

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Julia’s favorites
This is a total cop-out, but these three albums are my favorites from Laura.
Spread Your Wings and Fly: Live at the Fillmore East - This album is my favorite because it is the album where I really fell for Laura. My favorite song from this album is the medley Timer/O-O-H Child/Up on the Roof. In second place are the Lu/Flim Flam Man medley, Emmie, and Map to the Treasure.
Eli and the Thirteenth Confession - This album is my favorite because it was the first one I ever listened to. I love every song on this album so much, but Emmie comes out slightly ahead, just because of its personal meaning to me. Women’s Blues, Poverty Train, and Eli’s Comin come in second place.
New York Tendaberry - This album is my favorite because of its immense creativity. It took me longer to get into this album but now I’ve grown to just adore how unexpected and intelligent Laura’s compositions are. My favorite song from this album is by far Tom Cat Goodby. In second place are Gibsom Street, Captain Saint Lucifer, and Sweet Lovin Baby.
favorite song & album from laura?
muralofsolitude & I (meinrose) both co-run this blog, so maybe we can each make a post about our favorites!
laura nyro is 👌👌👌👌
Laura Nyro and Labelle - “You Really Gotta Hold On Me”
Do yourself a favor and listen ‘til the very end. Oh my Goddess!!!!
I liked [Laura Nyro’s] name, and that she came from New York City, that strange other world, where West Side Story came from. Living on a farm in Elma, Washington, a small town where I was outcast absolute, it helped me to survive just knowing that somewhere in the universe there was someone with that beautiful name, Laura Nyro, and people cared about her, and there was a city where she walked and the wind lifted her hair. The wind lifted her hair for some magical moment on the cover of New York Tendaberry, my first Laura record, and for me, her greatest work. She was not afraid to show you her strange face, and you could tell she was very comfortable with her body. Something as small as that, something as simple as ‘Look at me, I am different, see me’ can be ingested instantly and change you in a small way, a way that one day might become very large indeed. All of these simple gestures we do seep into and carve the people we meet. Every photograph, every thing, it is part of telling people who we are, part of the great word of God that we speak.
Rickie Lee Jones, Laura Nyro: Lyrics and Reminisces (via cracks-in-the-ceiling)

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I never met [Laura Nyro], except through her music. It’s not that I think about her much in these years; I don’t. But I don’t need to. Mythological creatures are part of us. And I suspect it is the metaphysical clay of her intention that I work with. So there she is, horse bound, twirling in the cosmos, made of the purple lipstick that only defiant tenderness can bear. All that color, all that eternal burning, all that practice after school. Against the backdrop of time, perhaps nothing less than genius after all—genius being a thing that resonates deeper than its time, that cannot be denied by its creator, that, measured against time, was a courageous and unexpected use of tools; and measured against history, has no relevance to any time but now. […] And this is the gift, you know, inspired from within. It is not what she did but what she was. Where I can discern the truly divine among us, those brushed for a moment by God’s little watercolor. What they do is amazing, yes, but it is because of what they are that the work is profound. Why is ‘Upstairs by a Chinese Lamp’ such an amazing work? Because it is being generated by a spirit wholly bent on love, on bringing love to the listener. I believe that now. I knew the song; it made me dream and made me hope. But now, growing old, I see that the intention of the writer was the thing that made the song live. In performance, the writer tells us many layers more than the music or the lyric can. If the writer is a performer, a great interpreter, like Laura, the inflection and movement reveal that meaning that cannot be spoken, but is understood by most of the people who witness it.
Rickie Lee Jones, Laura Nyro: Lyrics and Reminisces (via whisperthatruns)
Laura Nyro “Luckie” (ripped from vinyl)
dig them potatoes if you’ve never dug your girl before