Lesley Gore - Wedding Bell Blues Lyrics

Never knew she sang this song. a Laura Nyro song.

Love this. I prefer Laura Nyro's version as it's more soulful, but Lesley is still better than 5th Dimension in my opinion.

alot of passable interpretations of this song but Laura Nyro's original is still the best. Nobody ever did a Laura Nyro song better than Laura.

Came here from Gilmore Girls

LAURA NYRO wrote, and originally recorded this song in 1966. Interestingly, in November 1969 when Nyro was selling out Carnegie Hall with her solo shows, three of her songs were in the USA top ten, including this at No.1 by the 5th Dimension. They recorded 8 Nyro songs.

Great voice.  Something special.

Can't think of another pop singer from/in the '60s who could take and interpret a song lyric, including making it her own with the turn of a phrase, besides Lesley--maybe except for Diana Ross when she was with The Supremes. Lesley was able to have that same pop style but take on the standards, too. :)

Lesley could never disappoint, not with her talent, and she didn't on this cover for sure.

I LOVE Lesley Gore! SOOO Talented and CUTE!!! She wrote many of her hit songs, too!

Nice song by this great Singer who not only had a good voice and real talent but was also beautiful!   I really miss her.  Used to moon over her listening to her songs.

The jerks that gave her thumbs down don't know their ass from a hole in the ground.

I remember when Lesley came out with this.  It sort of overlapped the version put out by the 5th Dimension.  They were riding a crest of hits at the time, and their recording of the tune made the charts.  Unlike other listeners here, I don't see the reason for comparison.  Lesley did a great job, as did the Fifth Dimensions as a popular vocal group.  I read some of the comments here and think to myself, no wonder there's no peace on this earth, people can't even listen to a song without getting nasty - Can't we maintain civility in our comments?

I agree. I like both versions just like The Dreams of the Everyday Housewife by Glen Campbell and Wayne Newton...

This is the first time I heard this version but Laura Nyro is still my favorite!

Well said! As a music scholar, writer, and performer, I often wonder why we have to act to destroy, belittle, or put down music (or people or lots of other things) that we don't like. If I hear something I don't like, I just turn it off and listen to something else!

Nyro wrote the song idiot. Her version is the best by far.

I wonder if she wrote it about Billy Davis Jr?

Regardless of who wrote this song, Marilyn McCoo (5th Dimension) is the one to beat.

And that's impossible!

right so
hers was the only version I knew from when I was a pre teen to last year when I turned 61
so really I have only heard ( professionally) the other version which would be by Laura ,the one who wrote it,
so even thought I had embraced the version which you like , I was open to the idea that the inventor has certain
uh what;s the term , ??
all Im saying is that now I hear the song's actual entire meaning in a new way
I began a study of Laura' Nyro just last yeat, and while I not even gottten 10% accomplished I have formed this opinion about this song
namely that it is sort of more a fun song like a pretend thing, more about the words serving the music,
as opposed to the very real melodrama of the 5th Dimentions', because I leaerned that the life she lived
before this song was written
was the most magical life of spontaneous street singing, in the do wop / motown /r&b ,
and it was the doo wop influence ( this idea is a new one to me ,and I am not sure , but let's just go with me for a sec,)
in this song where the story can be ironic, or not so life or death dramatic,
although yes on the face of it the words say marry me or else,, but what if i said the call response line with the singers "I'll you so .(marry me Bill), I always will"
this is where I hear the subterranean there's a concept
where the meaning is the opposite,, the desperation replaced by playful humor joy
like with the refrain i just quoted
what 'cha think
btw I could listen to that refrain going on for several insane;y humorous biting sarcasm
for example
"I always will"
could have the insight that yeah right forever baby.. as if that's the norm
turns out that the norm is 50%
so these singers and Laura could be coming from that ironic place

I wonder if Lesley Gore and Laura Nyro ever met one another.

+rkgk1517 I bet they did.....

+rkgk1517 RIP Goldy

Not bad, pop queen.

Actually released May 1969

i think that lesley was packaged so strongly as the "girl next door", that it was hard for her to be re-packaged as a singer of more mature songs. too bad, because she truly was able to pull those off.

Lesley actually recorded two versions of Wedding Bell Blues.

Lesley's version was released after the 5th Dimension version. I don't believe Lesley's charted.

Did this version come out before or after the 5th Dimension? And did this chart for Lesley?

we're counting down here in Washington!

For the record I grew up on the 5th Dimension one and loved it all these years, when I first heard Laura's take it took some time I fully admit to get used to it because after all these years of listening to the 5th Dimension version which was a happy-fast & uptempo song it took some getting used to the slow original & thoughtfult version that Laura composed.

But boy do I love BOTH versions. Laura sings it so soulfully & thoughtfully, hers is the bomb. I like Leslies cover too, always a fan of Leslie and she does a good job. I have nothing bad to say about ANYBODY unlike a few of you unfortunately. Some of you just need to grow up some.

That's right, Laura Nigro!

@OMax3rd Laura Nigro's version kind of sucks. It is, of course, her song, but that doesn't mean that hers is the best interpretation thereof. As to this version, there is nothing wrong with it, it just seems devoid of feeling compared to Marilyn's.

@OMax3rd The Fifth Dimension's version was released before Lesley's version.

@ScienceProjek the song writer, Laura Nyro, does it better than either of those other versions. And I like Leslie but her's wasn't a hit, The 5th Dimension version was.

Lesley actually recorded two versions of this song. One version is the "single" release; the other one is featured on the Bear Family 5-cd box set. Both are great!

@tavian1269 I like an honest view of this song even though I prefer Lesley Gores version better. But they are both great songs.

Nice post. Didn't even know she did this song. Prefer the 5th Dimension verson a little better since I really didn't care for the ending of this song...Just my opinion.

Her name is Lesley, by the way... and this song is pure heaven. This gals work has brought me more joy than I can measure. Thank you Miss Gore! As a youth I wanted to grow up & marry Lesley Gore and I still do, regardless of her sexual orientation. Her career was about spreading joy, & shes done that in spades. I thank my lucky stars that shes been part of my life for so many decades. Thank you, thank you, thank you!!!

I can't decide b/w this and 5th dimension version. Close call.

@ItsMrPumpkinhead2U Yes, Marilyn McCoo is still performing.

You're right. This is a good version. It's a little faster than the 5th Dimension version. I'm very surprised to like this version better than theirs!

@ItsMrPumpkinhead2U What do the last 10 years have to do with anything? Leslie isn't turning in number 1 hits anymore, and you sure don't see many others from the 60's making chart toppers now either. 5th Dimension hits are constantly played in radio and movies and they had put out 12 albums in about 10 years.
Leslie Gore was big for a few years. Now why don't you tell me which one had a #1 hit with this song we're listening to, and which one didn't chart at all?

todays female singers cant hold a candle to leslie

@herasmarket Couldn't disagree more. That said, she does a terrific job on a song known as a Marilyn McCoo hit. Lesley's the shit, but she can't touch the talent of Marilyn McCoo.

Thanks for the post.

I Love this song

was this a single? It blows the fifth way out of the water!!!

This version was not the white version ripoff of the 5th Dimension. A Jewish girl from the Bronx named Laura Nyro wrote/sung the song about the dating situation of her aunt, singer Helen Mirrell.

wow -- I love this -- she is simply breathtaking in this -- LESLIE!

@agamemnon1 maybe so, maybe not. back then, several artists recorded the same song. songs were stars unto themselves back then. not like these days. if somebody recorded one of beyonce's hit songs today and tried to have a hit record with it, they would be looked at as a copycat. it was just a different time, musically.

agamemnon1, What the fuck? There was never a time when people couldn't listen to records by black musicians. I lived back then and this is just another version of the song. There are lots of covers of this song. The version by the Fifth Dimension was the hit version. Everybody heard it.

What wedding bell blues?Gay marriage is legal up here in Canada.

This was sweet, but nobody can outsing Marilyn Mccoo!

@waynebrasler Her Bob Crew stuff is all on the box set...and btw, this version did get released before 5d's.

@Spiritwolfe09 Actually this versio came out before 5D's.

@ScienceProjek yeah.i was going to disagree but youre right.its really has a groovier feel to it.

Well the 5D tried to scoop Motown and Diana Ross about 10 years later with Love Hangover and we all know how that one turned out. Sometimes, the timing is just off for an artist; it was on for Lesley with It's My Party, on for the 5D with Wedding Bell Blues and on for Diana Ross with Love Hangover.

HER VOICE WAS TOO SOFT

Had Lesley's version preceded the Fifth Dimension's release she would have enjoyed a big hit and career rivitalization. But I don't think Crewe was ever prepared to give her the level of promotion any artist needs. I saw her perform this on T.V. and she was sensational. Any chance EVER that her Crewe work will come out on C.D.?

The Fifth Dimension's version was completed and released prior to Lesley's version being released. Wonder what would have happend to Lesley's version had it been released first? Same situation with Lesley's version of It's My Party. ....Phil Spector was in the studio with the Crystals recording it but Quincy and Mercury got Lesley's version out first!

Gors version is OK..But I am sorry...the 5th Dimensions version is WAY!!!! Way!! more beleiveable with More emotion.

Thanks for the posting. I had not heard this before. It was great.

Most of the big hits had covers. A cover is considered to be a compliment by the original performers.

1-- Lesly Gore got a hold of this song before the 5th Dimension? And 2nd, how did the comments turn into Art Bell? Perhaps the name 5th Dimension invited it.

Lesley actually recorded two different versions of Wedding Bell Blues. Both great tunes!

Comparing two female singers who are singing the same song is pretty much like...comparing apples to apples.

Again another fool who thinks you can compare apples to oranges. I take it you know little or nothing about music! Oh well I still think it is a good song done by a wonderful singer!

Wedding Bell Blues was released on Mercury Records September 1969. Lesley always wanted to record this song, but her producers would did not want her to record it.

i guess she was referring to "billie". great song!

Well, you are comparing apples to oranges. Two different sining styles. Very hard to make a comparison, if a comparison can be made at all. But to each their own!

What you fail to realize that you are comparing apples to oranges. Two different singing styles. But to each their own!

Agreed Saltifish. Marilyn has them all hands now. There shouldn't even be a comparasion.

OK, I have now listened to all the versions and McCoo is easily the best! There will be no more talk of who is better from now on.

inferior version to laura nyro's

You have to keep in mind that Lesley has a very soft singing voice and style. Other women who have sung this song have tended to have very strong and powerful voices. So it is not that Lesley voice is "lame" it is cause she has a softer voice. What ever it sounds good to me

She sounds a bit Country Fine like our Dolly Pardon!...Not so lame..and 'Not the entire Song!..but you know how cool with a proper appraisal:Patty LaBelle!

C'mon, Bill--I mean, Blackmore. You're being a little snarky. Reportedly Gore came to terms w/ her lesbianism in college, but Nyro was much more "undecided." She DID marry, had a son, etc. Of course, some reports have this song being written about an aunt's real life experience w/ a man named Bill who kept putting off knot tying.

I lke Lesley ok, but the first word she sings here "Bill" sounds pretty lame and emotionless... not a good start to the tune IMO

Lesley had wanted to record songs by Laura Nyro, however, Quincy Jones did not want her to. The 5th Dimension's version was finished and released before Lesley's version.

Marilyn McCoo's vocal was certainly fine, but LESLEY GORE gives a more interesting reading of the lyric. Had MERCURY RECORDS released this version before the 5th Dimension it surely would have been the Hit Record it should have been for Lesley at a time when it was getting tougher for female vocalists to make the Charts which were being dominated by psychadelic sounds of various bands. LESLEY was unfairly pigeon-holed as the "it's my party" gal and wanted to move on to more adult tunes.

For my tuppence worth, the Laura Nyro original is THE vocal performance but even that version gets dragged down by the slow tempo and perfunctory arrangement.
Another great singer, Bobbie Gentry, sounds slightly distracted on it. Then again, she'd just divorced after a couple of months of marriage and both Nyro and Gore obviously had no interest in marriage at all. McCoo married shortly after the 5D version was a hit. The girlish passion in her vocal probably came from conviction.

This is actually the superior Vocal version of WEDDING BELL BLUES ~ Lesley Gore is an interesting singer and extremely underated as a musician. Had this record been released just prior to the bland 5th Dimension's effort it surely would have charted on it's own.

Lol bland 😂🤦‍♀️

thanks ariatur! That's info we all didn't know!

Laura Nyro was, in fact, bisexual . . . but that has nothing to do with this song, which was actually NOT written from personal experience. Laura actually wrote it about the jazz vocalist Helen Merrill, who was a close friend of Laura's parents. Helen was having an affair with a married man named Bill, who, in turn, would not divorce his heiress wife for Helen. So, Laura, who was 17 at the time, mischievously wrote the song based on what she heard Helen complaining about!

As an addendum to Kurplunktube's comment regarding Ms. Gore's sexual preferences...Ms. Nyro who wrote the song was also a lesbian or at least a pretty active bisexual...

I love Lesley Gore but she does nothing with this song.

I just about agree. A close thing between Laura Nyro and the 5th Dimension. I disagree with your "After all, she wrote the song" implication though. This "everybody-should-write-their-own-stuff' edict is relatively recent and usually without foundation. Too many singers scribbling and writers warbling. Compare the Cole Porter and Frank Sinatra versions of "Night and Day". Porter wrote it but with his voice it's nothing. Sinatra nails it and makes it one of the greatest songs of the 20th Century.

Laura Nyro's version is a lot better.

What a Great Song this is.
Thanks for this.

i dont know who bill is but i hope he marries her.

I almost don't know a '60s hit performer who could phrase a lyric or a word in a pop song like Lesley, except maybe Diana Ross at that time, she really had a way with expressing the songs she sang.

Wow, I clicked on this vid by accident and what an unexpected treat! Never cared for the 5th Dimension and Laura Nyro renditions of this song but this is excellent. Lesley most definitely should've had a hit with this. Her phrasing and the arrangement are both beautiful!

And here I am thinking that the 5th Dimension were the only who ever recorded this song(hehehe) ! I had no idea that Lesley Gore recorded this song.

Thanks for posting this song. Could possibly have been the hit had Mercury released it before the 5th Dimension released their song.