A very old song, by Laura Nyro; “Christmas in my soul”. I believe it was written in 1968, or about that time. It describes a state of mind, that is transitory, yet sustains. She was very young at this time, and died fairly young as well. This song has from time to time felt very naive. But as I listen to it tonight, I recognize something that is not naive, is fragile, yet impenetrable and unwavering in the midst of an insurmountable grotesqueness. It is the state of the world surrounding us from time to time. But then it vanishes from sight and memory, for a while.
It is as if her grief/grieving, occurs in momentary pieces. As if the pain, becomes a lens, for a second, to see something, you would not have seen as well before. Her portraits of prostitutes reveal another momentary lens, (below), and have the same quality; grieving then lens; grieving ground into lens…
The song she wrote to follow the above song—“Beads of Sweat”:
Another song by her, (she did several portraits on the same subject). “Upstairs by a Chinese Lamp”:
Here is the other, “Captain for Dark Mornings”:
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