Chords for Laura Nyro Interview - 1969

[N] _ Music, all of which she writes, arranges, and sings, as you know, to her own
[E] accompaniment, has been called [Bb] rock, _ _ jazz, and soul, I guess, are the three elements
that [F] cover it.
Two of her works, by the way, [E] have been recorded by a popular
group, the Fifth [Bb] Dimension, and both of these pieces, [C] _ _ Stoned [Eb] Soul Picnic _ and
Fruit [Db] Blindness, indicate that her music is [E] beginning to reach larger audiences.
_ Now Miss Nero discusses her work with William [Bb] Kloman, freelance writer for
Esquire magazine [D] and the Sunday New York [Bb] Times. _ _ _ _ _ _
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_ [E] _ _ I was never even conscious [Bb] of it, you know, _ _ that I was sitting down and writing a personal [E] song.
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_ _ [Gb] Well, it's like [Bbm] a labor, you know, _ _ _ _ _ [Bb] it's a very special labor, _ _
[E] and _ _ [Bb] it's always [Eb] worth it at the end, you know,
[D] so it's a good, good _ feeling, it's a good labor, _ _ _ _ [Bbm] and _ _ _ sometimes _ _ [A] I _ just be [Bb] feeling, going through something _ [E] emotional,
and unable to know what it is, you know, like I just don't know what it is, _ [Bbm] and
then _ one night I just [Bb] sit down, _ and there's a song there that's coming _ [Eb] from, you know,
from inside [Bbm] me, _ _ and [Bb] uh, it comes from pain, _ _ _ _ _ _ yeah, it comes from pain, and [Eb]
usually it comes from pain,
[Bb] and sometimes, _
[Eb] you know, a lot of times [E] it comes from _ [Bbm] a _ [Bb] _ _ _ _ [F] _
joy [Eb] [E] that's so joyful that [Eb] even
it's painful, you [Bbm] know, but [E] uh, _
[Bbm] _ _ you know, it [Bb] comes, it's usually near the middle of the road,
[E] you know, I, I, uh, the feeling is [Eb] extreme, [A] whether it's extreme joy, [Bb] or pain, [F] yeah, yeah, [Bbm] yeah, _ _ _ did you [E] start doing this when you were [F] little?
_ [Bbm] Yeah, when I was about, uh, _ _ [E] I don't know, baby, [Bb] you know, I would [E] sing, and then I, when I was a little girl,
I wrote [Gb] poetry, _ and [Eb] uh, you [Ebm] know, like when I was five [D] years old, I played the piano,
_ [E] _
_ [Bbm] and _ _ [F] you know, from that time, [E] it just became [Eb] a thing, you know, and uh, [E] it was my little world,
like creating your own world, [Bbm] yeah, _ [Gb] you know, [Bb] kind of, I didn't know, [Gb] you know, I would, I remember [E] like as a
child being in my parents' house, and like sometimes I'd just be in my [Ebm] room, _ totally [Bbm] tuned out, _ or
_ totally [Eb] tuned in, you [Bb] know, [Eb] tuned in to, um, [Bbm] _ _ [Eb] to my own thing, because _ [Gb] in [E] my world, [Bbm] I could
_ look at my [Eb] pain, [E] and it wasn't ugly to me, [D] it was, um, _ [E] it was a matter of [Eb] understanding it, _ and
_ _ channeling it, you [E] know, into a beautiful thing, _ _ and [Bbm] uh, _ _ because I think pain is, _ [Bb] is something
[Bbm] _ _ that can do two [F] things to a person.
_ [Bb] I think it, [Bbm] it [Eb] can sometimes shatter a person,
_ _ [E] destroy them, _ [Bbm] or _ they _ can grow from their pain, _ _ _
[E] they can become a greater person, I believe,
from their [Bb] pain, because, _ you know, it's uh, _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ that, you [Bbm] _
know, _ _ and um, _ _
_ [Bb] _ _ _ _ _ _ [Bbm] _
_ _ _ [F] yeah, _ _ [Bbm] _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ yeah, [E] but not only songs, [Bb] not only that, I mean, _ _
_ [G] it, it, it [Bbm] just _ can penetrate you,
_ [E] you know, it [Bb] just _ _ penetrate [Eb] a human being, you know, [E] and [D] uh, [Ebm] _ uh, [Bbm]
[F] it's also, it [Eb] also, um, _ _
kind [Gb] of _ [Bb] _ has, [Gb] _
has to do [Bbm] with [Gbm] your communication with people [D] after that, you know, [A] you, you,
I think [Gb] that you understand [Eb] more, you know, [Gb] because I really feel [Bb] that, you know,
pain can do [F] those two [Eb] things, you know.
And [F] if you're [Bbm] _ _ creating, [F] or if your work involves the
openness to the experience, do [Bb] you ever find [Gbm] the difficulty that you
[F] seek certain kinds of experience [E] in order to [Bb] create something from them? _ _ _ _ _
Uh, well, _ _ [F] I [Bbm] _
_ _ suppose that, that it's a little bit of that, you know, [E] it's a little bit of that,
because [Bb] like, sometimes, you know, like, um, _ [Eb] _ _ _
it's [F] very groovy, I say, oh, very [Eb] good material,
_ _ [Gb] _ _ [G] and it's terrible, [Ebm] it sounds terrible, but, but, [E] uh, you know, but, _ [Bbm] _ _ _ _ _
_ _ [Bb] _ _ _ _ um, [Bbm] _ _ _ _ no, but I, _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ but, but it's a natural [Ebm] thing, you know, I, I [Eb] reflect, you know, [E] I reflect [Eb] on, on, [F] uh,
you know, things, [Eb] you know, [E] and what I [Bb] feel, you know, [Bbm] I, it's the most honest [Eb] part of me.
[Gb] And what _ [Bb] about, _ _ what, what, what influences, how much people _ maybe [F] see the world the same way you
[Bbm] do? _ _
[F] Are there people that you, like, learn to see the world through your [Bbm] child? _ _ _ _
Well, _ I, I, I'm [Eb] sure that, you know, that I see the world through, [Bb] you know, through,
[Eb] through my eyes, and it's, uh, it's, um, _ uh, I think that I see things differently than [E] most
people.
I think so, you know, because like, you know, like, um, um, _ _ [Bb] _ _
you know, like, I [Eb] remember
in school, you [Bb] know, _ _ I hated school, and, and when the [Eb] teacher, like, uh, [E] she used to talk to me,
I wouldn't really be hearing what she was saying, but I would be looking into her eyes and trying
to, you know, and getting into a [Eb] sensory thing, you know, and_
And seeing the [A] world through your senses.
_ _ _ [Gb] Right. _ _
_ _ Yeah.
_ Thank you.
_ You're welcome. _ _ _ _ _