| Emmylou Harris – Didn't Leave Nobody But The Baby Lyrics | 16 years ago |
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Okay, I put my interpretation into the lyric so the context is a little easier to understand. It's a dark interpretation, but I think it may be accurate. Didn't Leave Nobody But The Baby Go to sleep you little baby Go to sleep you little baby Your momma's gone away and your daddy's gone to stay Didn't leave nobody but the baby SLEEP CHILD YOUR MOTHER RAN AWAY, FATHER LEFT, NEVER COMING BACK Go to sleep you little baby Go to sleep you little baby Everybody's gone in the cotton and the corn Didn't leave nobody but the baby SLEEP CHILD EVERYONE ELSE IN THE FIELD OR TRAVELED TO DISTANT FIELDS TO WORK WE ARE ALL ALONE NOW WITH NO ONE ELSE TO CARE FOR YOU You're a sweet little baby You're a sweet little baby Honey in the rock and the sugar don't stop Gonna bring a bottle to the baby YOUR A SWEET CHILD MIXING A BOTTLE OF SWEET POISON Don't you weep pretty baby Don't you weep pretty baby She's long gone with the red shoes on Gonna meet another lovin baby DONT' CRY CHILD YOUR MOMMA RAN OFF TO BE A HARLOT POSSIBLY TO MEET A MAN, AND HAVE ANOTHER BABY Go to sleep you little baby Go to sleep you little baby You and me and the devil makes three Don't need no other lovin baby SLEEP CHILD DRINK THIS POISON AND SLEEP IT'S WAS JUST ME AND YOU NOW IT'S ME, AND YOU AND THE DEVIL I CAN'T TAKE CARE OF ANOTHER CHILD Go to sleep you little baby Go to sleep you little baby Come and lay your bones on the alabaster stones And be my ever lovin baby SLEEP CHILD - SLEEP FOREVER I WILL REVERENTLY BURY YOU AND AM DOING IT OUT OF LOVE SINGER BELIEVES THAT WHAT SHE IS DOING IS NECESSARY |
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| Emmylou Harris – Didn't Leave Nobody But The Baby Lyrics | 16 years ago |
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Hmmm.... I heard this song and thought it was great. But the more I listened the deeper, darker meaning it seemed to have. I may be wrong, but I think it may mean that the mother died or ran off, the father has run off and is going to stay gone. The red shoes makes me think that the woman has run off to be a harlot, perhaps the baby was an illegimate birth at a time when any extra mouths were impossible to care for. So the mother ran off, the father may have been unknown or uncaring. Everyone else was in the field working, or had gone away in search of work to work distant fields. The verse Honey in the rock and the sugar don't stop Gonna bring a bottle to the baby May mean that the singer was mixing a bottle and adding honey and sugar (and lots of it) to hide the taste of poison. The remaining verses then become obvious. Go to sleep little baby Got to sleep little baby You and me and the devil make three Don't need no other lovin' babe come lay bones on the alabaster stones and be my everlovin' baby The singer is basically saying, drink this, go to sleep, your mamma ain't coming back, now there's only me and the devil to care for you, as if the singer knows that what she is doing is immoral but necessary. And the last verse, "and be my everlovin' baby" refers to live hereafter. As if the singer is professing everlasting love to this poor child she had put in the ground because there was no one to care for it. Pretty dark I know... but... Thoughts? |
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