Recent events have made me reach for this song once again.  There’s so much to say about what happened on 1/6/21, but sometimes it’s better to say less.  ‘Save The Country’ was written during the summer of 1968, another terrible, turbulent time that was a low point in American history- assassinations, riots, and social unrest.

Laura Nyro is an almost unknown American songwriter, who has written many well-known songs, covered by other artists.  This mix features FIVE different versions of Save the Country, as well as many well-known covers of her songs.  Many people do not prefer Laura’s versions of them- her voice tends to get to a place that makes some squirm, but the people who love her can’t get enough.  In any event you should check her stuff out!

The 5^th Dimension covered her songs extensively in the 60’s and early 70’s, even bringing “Wedding Bell Blues” to the #1 spot on Billboard in 1969.  They were a group of African American singers whose versions of Laura’s songs sounded tamer than the originals.  In other words, and please forgive the generalities, Laura was a white girl who sang like a black woman, and the 5^th Dimension are black folks who made her songs sound white.  That’s the essence of American music- when all those lines are blurred.

The essence of the American political experience is that we are all free to believe what we choose.  Instead of saying what I think, I’ll use the lyrics of Save the Country.

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!

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!’

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!

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.

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,
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(4X) 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!!

Save the people, save the children, save the country
Come on down to the glory river!

Save the people, save the children, save the country Now!

1. Save The Country- Rosanne Cash
2. Save The Country- Laura Nyro (single version)
3. Stoney End- Laura Nyro
4. Stoney End- Barbra Streisand (#6, January, 1971)
5. Wedding Bell Blues- Laura Nyro
6. Wedding Bell Blues- The 5^th Dimension (#1, November, 1969)
7. Wedding Bell Blues- The Roches
8. And When I Die- Laura Nyro
9. And When I Die- Blood, Sweat & Tears (#2, November, 1969)
10. When I Think of Laura Nyro- Jane Siberry
11. Stoned Soul Picnic- Laura Nyro
12. Stoned Soul Picnic- The 5^th Dimension (#3, July, 1968)
13. Eli’s Comin’- Three Dog Night (#10, November, 1969)
14. Eli’s Comin’- Laura Nyro
15. Time and Love- The 5^th Dimension
16. Time and Love- Laura Nyro
17. Sweet Blindness- Laura Nyro 
18. Sweet Blindness- The 5^th Dimension (#13, November, 1968)
19. Save The Country- The 5^th Dimension
20. Save The Country- Julie Driscoll, Brian Auger and the Trinity
21. Save The Country- Laura Nyro (album version, lyrics above)
22. And When I Die- Sweet Honey in the Rock 
23. And When I Die- Alison Krauss and Jerry Douglas

For a great introduction to Laura’s albums, try Eli and the 13th Confession. If that works for you, you’ll like New York Tendaberry even more.