“Wedding Bell Blues” (The 5th Dimension)

Today’s classic song of the day was written by one of my favorite songwriters, the late, great Laura Nyro. The song is “Wedding Bell Blues” and it was a huge hit for the 5th Dimension. Released in September of 1969, it went all the way to #1 on the Billboard Hot 100, Cash Box Top 100, and Billboard Adult Contemporary charts.

The 5th Dimension were intimately familiar with Laura Nyro and her music, having had previous hits with her songs “Stoned Soul Picnic” (#3 on the Hot 100) and “Sweet Blindness” (#13), both released in 1968. Unlike most of their previous hits, which featured full-group harmonies, this one’s pretty much a solo piece for vocalist Marilyn McCoo, who sings the heck out of it. Perhaps she was channeling her real-life romance with fellow 5th Dimensioner Billy Davis, Jr.; at the time, they were a couple but hadn’t yet set a wedding date. Just like the couple in the song.

Laura Nyro wrote “Wedding Bell Blues” back in 1966 and released it on her very first album, More Than a New Discovery. The 5th Dimension’s version hews fairly close to Ms. Nyro’s original but adds a bit of show business spice and professionalism. Like on most of the 5th Dimension’s hits, producer Bones Howe called in the Wrecking Crew to provide the backing tracks, including Tommy Tedesco and Mike Deasy on guitars, Larry Knechtel on keyboards, Joe Osborn on bass, and the ubiquitous Hal Blaine on drums. (It’s one of Hal’s best tunes with the most perfect shuffle beat you’ll find on record.)

Laura Nyro was, perhaps, an underappreciated talent, at least by the general public. She never really had any hit singles on her own, although several of her albums cracked the Billboard Pop Albums chart (New York Tendaberry at #32, Gonna Take a Miracle at #46, Christmas and the Beads of Sweat at #51, Smile at #60, and Eli and the Thirteenth Confession at #181). She was better known as a songwriter, with a bevy of hits performed by other artists: “And When I Die,” for Blood, Sweat & Tears; “Eli’s Coming” for Three Dog Night; “Stoney End” and “Time and Love” for Barbara Streisand; and, of course, “Wedding Bell Blues,” “Stoned Soul Picnic,” “Sweet Blindness,” “Save the Country,” and “Blowin’ Away” for the 5th Dimension.

Equally important, Ms. Nyro was a big influence on other artists, including Joni Mitchell, Carole King, Cyndi Lauper, Elton John, Ricki Lee Jones, Elvis Costello, Kate Bush, Bette Midler, and Todd Rundgren. Mr. Rundgren said that when he first heard her, he “stopped writing songs like The Who and started writing songs like Laura.” She had that kind of impact.

Laura Nyro was one of the first songwriters I recognized when I was young. I had just started collecting 45s (Google it, young people) and was trying to figure out what some of my favorite hits had in common. We’re talking “Eli’s Coming” (3 Dog Night), “Stoney End” (Barbra Streisand), “Wedding Bell Blues” and “Stoned Soul Picnic” (5th Dimension), “And When I Die” (Blood, Sweat & Tears)—all from wildly different performers, but all sharing a certain something. Well, a close examination of the record labels (you had to be there, young people) revealed that they all had the same composer, a certain “L. Nyro.” That was Laura Nyro, and her sound was distinctive.

Laura Nyro was born Laura Nigro on October 14, 1947, in the Bronx. Her father was a piano tuner and jazz trumpeter and her mother a bookkeeper. She wasn’t a happy child but turned to music to cope with a difficult childhood; “I’ve created my own little world, a world of music, since I was five years old,” she once said. She read poetry, listened to her father’s jazz records, and taught herself how to play piano. She started writing songs while in high school and signed her first record contract when she was just 18.

That first record, More Than a New Discovery (later rereleased as The First Songs) contained a bevy of songs that took the music industry by storm—and provided big hits for other artists. We’re talking “And When I Die” and “He’s a Runner,” a hit and a stellar album track for Blood, Sweat & Tears; “Stoney End” and “Hands Off the Man” (as “Flim Flam Man”), both hits for Barbra Streisand, and “Blowin’ Away” and “Wedding Bell Blues,” both hits for the 5th Dimension. That’s six big tunes on one album—her first album. That’s talent.

Laura Nyro’s songs had a unique sound. I loved and still love her melodic sense, her jazzy-yet-soulful chordal style, her not-really-obvious showtune influence, and her quirky way with words. Nothing sounds quite like a song by Laura Nyro.

Sadly, Laura Nyro passed away on this day, April 8th, in 1997, just short of her 50th birthday. She left us way too early—but left us with one of the strongest catalogs of songs around. She was posthumously inducted into both the Songwriter’s Hall of Fame and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, even if most people didn’t know who she was.

And here’s your extra special bonus video of the day, Laura Nyro performing the last half of “Wedding Bell Blues” and all of “Poverty Train” at the Monterey Pop Festival in 1967. She was just 19 at the time. Damn.