Who knew that someone had the guts to cover Laura’s “Beads of Sweat”? And a Swede, no less!
Turns out that Moniqa Sunnerberg recorded both that song and another challenging Nyro composition, “Gibsom Street”, on her 1972 album Sunnerligen. But she translated “Beads of Sweat” into “Winter Wind”. Guess that was taken from the opening line of the song, “Cold jade wind/not an angel in the sky.”
This was the most rockin’ song that Laura ever recorded, thanks to Duane Allmann’s searing guitar solo (which some Swede didn’t do a half-bad job reproducing) and Young Rascal Dino Danelli’s pounding drums (his bandmate, Felix Cavaliere, produced the track). It really does capture a feeling of New York on a cold, hard-raining day, with Laura comparing the wild weather to her own raging soul.
Laura’s lyrics also reference another song about wind, “Mariah,” which Helena Lind (see previous post) told me that she and her sister used to harmonize on with Laura. Here’s the overdramatized Harve Presnell version from the film Paint Your Wagon (the original recording was by the Kingston Trio).
You better sit down, this is a friend of mine who is working on an all Nyro CD playing, BOS/Map to the Treasure. Her name is Sue Keller and she is known as Ragtime Sue. She is a blessing, and cannot wait to hear the CD.
BTW, her cat has since departed. Beautiful animal no?
It does surprise me somebody would try to cover “Beads of Sweat” owing to its atmospheric nature, which like most of the later bands on legendary British label 4AD was very hard to reproduce live. In recent times I have listened to Duane Allman’s work with the Allman Brothers Band and it is utterly electrifying at least at the Fillmore. I find it unsurprising Laura never played the song live – it is too hard to reproduce.