Best Songs With The Name "Laura" In The Title

Feature Photo: usbotschaftberlin, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

The name Laura has turned up in songs across rock, pop, soul, folk, and old-school balladry for decades. Some of these songs are love songs, some deal with loss, and others simply use the name to build a character or tell a story. The eight recordings below come from very different eras and styles, which is part of what makes this collection interesting. Together they show how one familiar name can lead songwriters in completely different directions.

Willie & Laura Mae Jones – Dusty Springfield

Dusty Springfield released “Willie & Laura Mae Jones” as an Atlantic single in 1969, three years before it appeared on the UK album See All Her Faces. Tony Joe White wrote the song, and Springfield’s recording was produced by Jerry Wexler, Tom Dowd, and Arif Mardin. The lyric remembers two neighboring families in the rural South who worked the land, played music together, and depended on one another without caring about race. When hard times force both families to move away, the song turns into a quiet memory of people and a place that are gone. Springfield never oversings it, which makes the story feel more believable. Her version keeps White’s Southern feel while bringing in the warmth and control that made her one of the great soul singers of her generation.

Read More: Top 10 Dusty Springfield Songs

Laura Lee – Sweet

“Laura Lee” appeared on Sweet’s 1977 album Off the Record, written by Brian Connolly, Steve Priest, Andy Scott, and Mick Tucker. By this point the band had moved well beyond its early bubblegum image and was making tougher, more self-directed records. The track features Connolly on lead vocals, Priest on bass, Scott on guitar and keyboards, and Tucker on drums. Its melody has a dreamier feel than some of Sweet’s biggest glam-rock singles, but the band’s heavy rhythm section is still easy to recognize. The lyric looks back toward Laura Lee with a mixture of affection and longing rather than turning her into a complicated symbol. It is a good deep cut from a period when Sweet was stretching out musically and relying less on outside hitmakers.

Read More: Top 10 Sweet Songs

Goodnight Laura – Spoon

“Goodnight Laura” comes from Spoon’s 2010 album Transference. Britt Daniel wrote the song, and the recording was produced by Daniel and Jim Eno. It is one of the simplest tracks on the album, built around piano and a quiet vocal rather than the clipped guitars and strange rhythms Spoon often uses. Daniel sings to Laura as if he is trying to settle her mind at the end of a difficult day. There is no big twist or dramatic production move; the song works because it stays small. In the middle of an otherwise restless album, “Goodnight Laura” feels like somebody finally turning off the lights.

Read More: Top 10 Songs From The Spoons

Laura – Flogging Molly

Flogging Molly first released “Laura” on the 1997 live album Alive Behind the Green Door, then recorded a studio version for Whiskey on a Sunday in 2006. Dave King introduces the song as being about a young woman named Laura who had died, and the rest of the track is a goodbye to someone he clearly loved. The band does not slow everything down just because the subject is grief; the Celtic punk arrangement keeps moving with the same force heard throughout their catalog. That contrast between loss and energy gives the song much of its character. The chorus is direct, with King insisting that nobody could take Laura’s place. It is a memorial song that chooses movement over mourning in silence.

Read More: Top 10 Flogging Molly Songs

Laura – Carly Simon

Carly Simon recorded “Laura” for her 1997 standards album Film Noir. David Raksin composed the melody for the 1944 film Laura, and Johnny Mercer later wrote the lyrics that turned it into one of the best-known standards of the era. Simon’s version was produced by Simon and Jimmy Webb, with Arif Mardin also producing and arranging the track. She does not try to overpower the song; her phrasing stays close and conversational while the orchestral arrangement supplies the old-Hollywood atmosphere. The result fits naturally beside the other standards on Film Noir. Of the many famous recordings of “Laura,” Simon’s version gives the song a warm late-night quality that suits her voice especially well.

Read More: Top 10 Carly Simon Songs

Think Of Laura – Christopher Cross

Christopher Cross wrote “Think of Laura” after the 1982 death of Laura Carter, an eighteen-year-old Denison University student who was killed by a stray bullet. Cross knew Carter through her college roommate Paige McNinch, whom he was dating at the time, and wrote the song to honor Laura and comfort her friends. Michael Omartian produced the recording for Cross’s 1983 album Another Page. The song later became associated with the characters Luke and Laura on General Hospital, even though Cross did not write it for the television show. Released as a single, it reached number nine on the Billboard Hot 100 and number one on the Adult Contemporary chart. The record works because Cross keeps the arrangement gentle and lets the memory of Laura remain at the center.

Read More: Top 10 Christopher Cross Songs

Laura – Billy Joel

Billy Joel’s “Laura” appeared on his 1982 album The Nylon Curtain, produced by Phil Ramone. The song has a strong Beatles influence in its harmonies and arrangement, but the lyric is far less playful than the music suggests. Joel sings about a relationship in which Laura knows exactly how to push every emotional button and keep him tied to her problems. At the time, Joel described the subject more generally as a destructive family relationship, while drummer Liberty DeVitto later said Laura was a stand-in for Joel’s mother. The line about an umbilical cord makes that interpretation difficult to miss once you know the story. It remains one of the darker album cuts in Joel’s catalog and one of the few songs where his frustration breaks all the way through the polished production.

Tell Laura I Love Her – Ray Peterson

Ray Peterson released “Tell Laura I Love Her” in 1960, and the record reached number seven on the Billboard Hot 100. Jeff Barry and Ben Raleigh wrote the song, while Hugo Peretti and Luigi Creatore produced Peterson’s recording for RCA Victor. It tells the story of Tommy, who enters a car race hoping to win enough money to buy Laura a wedding ring. The race ends in a fatal crash, and Tommy’s final message is the title of the song. The melodrama made it a perfect example of the teenage tragedy records that became popular around that time. Ricky Valance later took his own version to number one in the United Kingdom, but Peterson’s American recording remains the one most closely identified with the song.