Singer/songwriter Laura Nyro (October 18, 1947-April 8, 1997), blessed with incredible musical talent, if not the looks that would have facilitated stardom, achieved her greatest commercial success writing pop hits for other artists. Indeed, the subject of this essay is much better known in its cover version by the 5th Dimension, who took it to number 27 on Billboard’s Hot 100 in July of 1970. Their unusually soulful rendition was no doubt inspired by Nyro’s bravura performance on her “New York Tendaberry” album.
If our country still needs to be saved these days, the conditions are far different from 1969, when the gospel-tinged song was written. How much do Laura’s protest sensibilities still apply?
Come on, people! Come on, children!
Come on down to the glory river
Gonna wash you up, and wash you down
Gonna lay the devil down, gonna lay that devil down
The unabashed Christian reference to baptism was unusual then in Leftist circles, and would be simply unacceptable nowadays. Nyro was never your garden-variety radical, and it’s quite telling that the song starts out this way. Before we do anything else, our sins must be washed away, and that would include drug abuse, something she did not support, even though most of her peers did.
Come on, people! Come on, children!
There’s a king at the glory river.
And the precious king, he loved the people to sing:
Babes in the blinkin’ sun
Sang “We Shall Overcome.”
Our first notion of a “king” at the river, especially in keeping with the earlier lyric, would be Christ the King—and He’s there all right. But, there’s also another king, as in Martin Luther King, recently assassinated, and halo still fully intact. Note the past tense in “sang.” Why aren’t the babes singing anymore? HAVE they overcome?
I got fury in my soul
Fury’s gonna take me to the glory goal
In my mind I can’t study war no more.Save the people! Save the children! Save the country now!
Now, for the big statement: She is chock full of fury! In this context, it can only be righteous anger, and it’s enough rage to take her to the “glory goal.” This is intriguing. “Glory river” is one thing, but “glory goal”? If we start with baptism, the goal has to be salvation, but she also must purge her mind of any bellicose thoughts, even if the line from the spiritual “Down by the Riverside” seems a bit too facile.
Back then, it was the unpopular Vietnam War, fashioned by JFK’s brain trust, escalated by LBJ, and finally ended by Nixon. The battlefield loss was humbling enough, to say nothing of the pointless carnage, aided and abetted by feckless “leaders” and a home front torn by protests that absolutely were supported by the Ruskies.
These days, however, the enemy is pure Evil, bent on destroying anything that is not fundamentalist Islam. Laura’s fury would surely rise up to defend her beloved New York City, rather than waste time worrying about what we could have done to provoke such a thing as 9/11. For my money, she is looking down in dismay as to the reaction of her successors in the peace movement. After all, it takes both sides to attain peace, but only one side to pursue war—something the pitiful Spaniards will soon learn.
Come on, people! Come on, children!
Come on down to the glory river
Gonna wash you up and wash you down
Gonna lay the devil down, gonna lay that devil down.
Important enough to repeat.
Come on people! Sons and mothers!
Keep the dream of the two young brothers
Gonna take that dream and ride that dove.
We could build the dream with love, I know
We could build the dream with love, I know
“The two young brothers” are the assassinated Kennedys, but she, like many of her era, was taken in by the media image, and the protective press coverage. It was not easy to determine then that their dream was mostly about bedding beautiful women, while rising to fame and power, on the backs of those same little people Laura cared about. Uber-feminist Nyro would have excised this particular lyric, knowing what we know now.
Tossing cynicism to the wind, though, if we approach the dream as some sort of grand and glorious socialist utopia, and ride the dove of peace, no one can deny that love would be more helpful than, say, hate in building (as in creating in reality) this and most other dreams. Of course, al Qaeda’s dream is in direct opposition to any of ours, and the Lefties would fall right alongside everyone else. Trouble is, many from the 60’s just don’t get it. Maybe it really WAS the drugs.
We could build a dream with love, children,
We could build the dream with love, oh people,
We could build the dream with love, I know,
We could build the dream with love.I got fury in my soul,
Gonna take me to the glory goal.
In my mind I can’t study war no more.Save the people! Save the children! Save the country now!
So, what can we conclude?
To be opposed to what ended up being a pointless and idiotically managed war could legitimize the anti-war sentiments of the song. But, mark well her religious basis! The glory goal is salvation, and building THAT dream is ultimately the only way to save the people, the children, and the country.