[5] Her father, Robert O. Swados, was a successful attorney who helped Seymour H. Knox III establish the National Hockey League Buffalo Sabres.

Swados studied music and creative writing at Bennington College in Vermont, receiving her Bachelor of Arts degree in 1973.

She was profiled by filmmaker Linda Feferman in the 1977 short documentary The Girl with the Incredible Feeling, a title drawn from a 1975 children's book which she wrote and illustrated.

[1] In 1985, Swados' musical The Beautiful Lady, concerning the life and works of six Russian poets who lived, composed and performed in St. Petersburg at the time of the Revolution, won the first Helen Hayes "Best New Play" award.

Swados also composed music for film (Four Friends, 1981[12]) and television (Seize the Day, 1987[13]), and performed live at Carnegie Hall.

The narrative follows a former child prodigy painter and rich-girl kleptomaniac as she struggles to reintegrate into society following a botched heist which left her incarcerated for two decades.

Swados provided the music for Lane's acting debut in Andrei Serban's 1972 production of Medea, and collaborated with the actress again on Runaways.

[21] In 2020 Ghostlight Records released an album by the name of The Liz Swados Project featuring many of her alt-musical singer/composer heirs to honour her music.

[22] In 2023, Swados' musical The Beautiful Lady was staged Off-Broadway in New York City at La MaMa's Ellen Stewart Theater.