Some of the greatest poetry of the last 60 years has been written as song lyrics and Tuesday is the day I focus on those lyrics and the artists who write them.

Laura Nyro was a singer/songwriter who never achieved the same level of fame as those who recorded her songs at the time she wrote them. Some of her most famous songs were recorded by Three Dog Night, The 5th Dimension, Barbra Streisand, and other Top 40 artists of the late 1960s and early 70s. Nyro’s recording career began with a string of five albums in five years (1967-1971), but she only recorded 5 more albums during the next 30 years. She died at the age of 49 in 1997, leaving behind a short burst of songwriting mastery that has influenced hundreds of artists over the last 50 years, including the avant-garde compositions of Diamanda Galas, the punk poetry of Patti Smith, the art rock of Kate Bush, the post-punk of Elvis Costello, the pop music of Elton John, and too many more to count.

I have selected her songs “Stoney End” (1967), “Stoned Soul Picnic” (1968), “Time and Love” (1969), and “Beads of Sweat” (1970) to best showcase her lyrics.

Stoney End

I was born from love
And my poor mother worked the mines
I was raised on the Good Book Jesus
Till I read between the lines
Now I don’t believe
I want to see the morning
Going down the Stoney End
I never wanted to go
Down the Stoney End
Mama let me start all over
Cradle me, Mama, cradle me again
I can still remember him
With love light in his eyes
But the light flickered out and parted
As the sun began to rise
Now I don’t believe
I want to see the morning
Going down the Stoney End
I never wanted to go
Down the Stoney End
Mama let me start all over
Cradle me, mama, cradle me again
Never mind the forecast
‘Cause the sky has lost control
‘Cause the fury and the broken thunder’s
Come to match my raging soul
Now I don’t believe
I want to see the morning
Going down the Stoney End
I never wanted to go
Down the Stoney End
Mama let me start all over
Cradle me, mama, cradle me again

Stoned Soul Picnic

Can you surry, can you picnic, whoa?
Can you surry, can you picnic?

Come on, come on and surry down to a stoned soul picnic
Surry down to a stoned soul picnic
There’ll be lots of time and wine
Red yellow honey, sassafras and moonshine
Red yellow honey, sassafras and moonshine
Stoned soul, stoned soul

Come on, come on and surry down to a stoned soul picnic
Surry down to a stoned soul picnic
Rain and sun come in again
And from the sky come the Lord and the lightning
And from the sky come the Lord and the lightning
Stoned soul, stoned soul
Surry on, soul

Surry, surry, surry, surry
There’ll be trains of blossoms
There’ll be trains of music, there’ll be music
There’ll be trains of trust, trains of golden dust
Come along and surry on, sweet trains of thought, surry on down
Can you surry, can you surry?

Surry down to a stoned soul picnic
Surry down to a stoned soul picnic
There’ll be lots of time and wine
Red yellow honey, sassafras and moonshine
Red yellow honey, sassafras and moonshine, moonshine
Stoned soul, yeah
Surry on, soul

Time and Love

So winter froze the river and winter birds don’t sing
So winter makes you shiver so time is gonna bring you spring
So he swears he’ll never marry says that cuddles are a curse
Just tell him plain you’re on the next train if love don’t get there first
Time and love, everybody, time and love,
Nothing cures like time and love
Don’t let the devil fool you, here comes a dove
Nothing cures like time and love for the man if you please, if you think that you can

So winter froze the river and winter birds don’t sing
So winter makes you shiver, so time is gonna bring you spring
You been runnin’, you been ramblin’, and you don’t know what to do
A holy golden wager says that love will see you through
Time and love, everybody, time and love,
Nothing cures like time and love
Don’t let the devil fool you, here comes a dove
Nothing cures like time and love for the man if you please, if you think that you can

So Jesus was an angel and mankind broke his wing
But Jesus gave his lifeline so sacred bells could sing
Now a woman is a fighter gathered white or African
A woman is a woman, inside has miracles for her man
Time and love, everybody, time and love,
Nothing cures like time and love
Don’t let the devil fool you, here comes a dove
Nothing cures like time and love for the man if you please, if you think that you can

Beads of Sweat

Cold jade wind
Not an angel in the sky
Just cold jade restless wind
Something’s coming along
To devastate my soul

I pricked my fingers
On the thorns
And this rain is a-raining hard
This sky’s gonna beckon Mariah
To match my soul
Rain in the river
Rain in the river
Rain on the river banks
Down my neck
Beads of sweat

Rain on the highway
Running clear across New York
A windsong in the barren trees
Wild lavender heather
By the railroad sways
Listen to the wailing
Of the rain in the river
Rain on the river banks

Roll, roll
River, rock his soul
She’s calling you
Rainclouds, rainclouds
Roll, roll
River, rock his soul
She’s calling you
Rainclouds, rainclouds
Down his neck, down his neck, down his neck
Beads of, beads of, beads of
Beads of sweat.

Five boys standing
On the banks of the river
Waiting for the virgin snow
Searching for a miracle
A pearl in an oyster
And we all looked out to God
Although He is the color of the wind
Listen to the wailing
Of the rain in the river
Rain on the river banks

Rain in the river, rain in the river, rain in the river

• Lyrical Tuesday