What Is The Meaning Of Nyro’s “Stoney End”?

by Kevin Burton

   One of the greatest vocal performances in my time as a consumer of pop music is on a song that leaves me deeply conflicted; Stoney End by Barbara Streisand.

   The song grabbed me on some level immediately upon its 1971 release, even before I had the life experience to understand it. It’s impossible to miss the brilliance of Streisand’s delivery, but I kind of hold the song at arm’s length.

   It was written by Laura Nyro, a Rock and Roll Hall of Famer you may not know, because her songs really took off through the voices of others such as Streisand, Blood Sweat and Tears and The 5th Dimension.

   Nyro had sort of an off-kilter presentation as a performer but as a writer she had few peers. Nyro recorded the song for a solo album in 1966, But Streisand’s version easily eclipsed it.

   Streisand is one of the most gifted vocalists ever, but most wouldn’t consider her a rock and roller.  Stoney End represented a departure for Streisand from her usual style of the time. Some of her fans didn’t like it. But the song went to number six on the hot 100 and revitalized her career.

   The line that raises the conflicts within me come in the first verse when Streisand sings, “I was raised on the good book Jesus, till I read between the lines.”

    That line didn’t register with me in 1971. At that time, it couldn’t.  By the grace of God I got saved. Thereafter I have had a different filter for assessing song lyrics.

    Between the lines in the Bible, there is written nothing but love. But I know that spiritual blindness stops some people from seeing it. Willful rebellion stope others from accepting it.

   Few other songs resonate with me the way Stoney End does. But I can’t talk about it without talking about the “good book Jesus” line.  I was not the first to object to it.

   “When (Nyro) first recorded the tune in 1966, her label, Verve, also took issue with the Bible reference and made her change it, fearing it would stir controversy,” reads the Stoney End article on SongFacts.

    “On the single version, released the following year, she sings alternate opening verse:

I was raised from love
And I was raised on golden rules
Till the love of a winsome Johnny
Taught me love was made for fools”

   As much as I disagree with the original line, you want it in the song, because then you know what the writer is all about. Take it out and the song is decapitated. This “winsome Johnny “ line is junk, pedestrian prose rather than poetry, not worthy of Nyro.

   I want to assess the song as a whole, but without forgetting that this writer has established herself as hostile to Jesus.

   As a pop song, as a piece of literature, Stoney End is pure genius. The best of songs have room for the listener to enter, take a look around and carve out a place to rest.

   Having looked into Stoney End just a bit, I have seen wildly varying takes on it. Some throw up their hands. Even Streisand isn’t sure what the song means.

   “You know, the lyric still confuses me today, but the melody is so catchy,” Streisand admitted in a Sirius Radio interview in 2014. “It was kind of metaphorical and abstract – which is kind of interesting to guess what the writer intended.”

   One of the reviews I read was by Nicolas George, writing on oldtimemusic.com. He writes, “Stoney End conveys a message of hope, resilience, and personal growth. It reminds listeners that even in the face of adversity, it is possible to break free from the constraints that hold them back and embrace a brighter future.”

   “The song metaphorically represents the challenges one faces in life, symbolized by the “stoney end,” George writes. “As the song progresses, it becomes evident that the “stoney end” represents a transformative experience. It symbolizes hitting rock bottom and overcoming obstacles.

   I find George’s take, total nonsense.  It made me wonder if he and I were listening to the same song.

   My take is that the song speaks of a reluctant but inexorable slide into deepening despair, with no second chances.

    Nyro’s wail “mama let me start all over, cradle me, mama cradle me again” is a universal emotion.  Who hasn’t occasionally looked back on life and thought, “wow, if I could just start over.”

   But nobody says it like Nyro does, “mama cradle me again.” That’s the poetry. The obvious impossibility of that notion and the power of the mother and child relationship brings out the pathos in the singer’s predicament. 

  And her line “I never wanted to go down the stoney end” tells me she saw this thing coming on early and knew it wouldn’t end well, as does the line “I don’t believe I want to see the morning.” 

   There have been times in life when I have inhabited this song. Like the Old testament prophet Jonah, whale boy, who said twice in Jonah 4 that, “It is better for me to die than to live.”  He was saying, in Nyro’s words, “I don’t believe I want to see the morning.”

   The second verse is the least interesting part of the song. By her third verse writer Nyro speaks of her “raging soul.”

   “Never mind the forecast ’cause the sky has lost control
‘Cause the fury and the broken thunders
Come to match my ragin’ soul
And now I don’t believe I want to see the morning”  

   Streisand conveys rage and fury and then some, in the way she handles the word “soul.” The way she wails “mama” as the song fades out is also dramatic, arresting.

   It’s hard to imagine a better pairing than the genius writing of Nyro and the brilliant performance of Streisand on the song.  The reviewers I read, with wildly varying takes on the meaning of the song, were unanimous in their praise of Streisand.

   As, I said. I don’t buy George’s assessment of Stoney End, but he did give us one excellent suggestion:

   “Exploring Laura Nyro’s discography can provide a deeper understanding of the song’s origins,” George wrote.

   Alright.

   Nyro had a lot to say about death, dying, spirits, heaven, hell and the Bible. For example in her “And When I Die” she includes:

Swear there ain’t no heaven
And I pray there ain’t no hell
But I’ll never know by living
Only by dying will tell

In one brief lyrical burst she has dismissed heaven, a central tenant of the Bible, meanwhile praying, (to who exactly?) that there isn’t a hell, another central tenant.  She finishes with the lie that only in death can such information be had.

   Going by at least some of her other writings, and the lyrics I mention above, is it not possible that Stoney End is about a descent into hell?

   Look, if Streisand doesn’t know what it means, I’m not about to be dogmatic about it. But that is my guess.

   One could “start all over” any number of times but apart from Jesus it would end the same, as Nyro put it, “down the stoney end.”

   Apart from Jesus I promise you, you DON’T want to see the morning.