Songfacts®:

• Eli and the Thirteenth Confession was the second album from Bronx-born singer-songwriter Laura Nyro, whose debut, More Than A New Discovery, yielded several tunes that became hits for other artists. Eli was no different, with "Sweet Blindness" and "Stoned Soul Picnic" hitting big for The 5th Dimension, and "Eli's Coming" peaking at #10 via Three Dog Night. Nyro obviously knew how to write a hit song, but her resistance to smooth out her complex melodies, shifting tempos, and unusual chord changes for pop appeal kept her own renditions off the charts.
• In an explosion of horns and strings, this song introduces the album with the promise of a new beginning, with Nyro shouting, "Yes, I'm ready, so come on, Luckie!" Several of Nyro's songs depict the singer at war with the Devil - in another Eli track, "Poverty Train," she "saw the Devil and he's smiling at me." But with Luckie on the scene, the evil one doesn't stand a chance, because Luckie's clover is mightier than the "dragon with a double bite."
• Nyro had every reason to feel optimistic about her sophomore release, which she co-produced with her arranger, Charlie Calello. It was her first album with Columbia Records, having left Verve after taking on future record mogul David Geffen as a manager. She often considered it her first true album because she had so little creative control over her debut.
• Nyro sang an earlier iteration of the tune during her audition for Mercury Records in 1966.