Red Dirt Girl Lyrics
God, I love this song. One of my favorites ever - such beautiful music, and so sad. It makes me want to cry! I suppose it's about her friend Lillian, wanted nothing more to get out of a hick town in Alabama, but never did.
This is one of the most tragic songs I've ever heard. It's about the pain of people who live and hurt so much and never really have a chance, but whose lives are as important as anyone's in the world.
Apparently the genesis of this song came when she was driving by herself down to a recording gig in Nashville, and passed through a little hick town called Meridian Mississippi. The name had a rhythm that appealed to her, and she started to come up with rhymes, like Gideon, Lillian, etc. The soil in the area was mostly red clay. By the time she got to Nashville she'd pretty much written the entire song.
Regarding the stars falling on Alabama: on November 12, 1833, there was a Leonid meteor shower in Alabama (visible other places, too) and people thought judgement day was coming. This was immortalized in the 1934 Perkins/Parrish jazz standard, "Stars Fell on Alabama," which has been recorded by numerous artists. Even Alabama license plates bore the "Stars Fell On" slogan from 2002-2009.
I think that the significance of the hammer comes from "hammer songs," mostly southern spiritual work songs that slaves and the free working poor would sing to make their difficult toil more pleasant.
This is my favorite Emmylou Harris song and it makes me cry every single time I hear it.
There is a lot to chew in this one. This is what war and violence do to families, it all started with the death of her brother, amazing.
I think that there is a possibilty that her brother "never got further than vietnam" because he had to go and fight in the war. just a suggestion.
The assonance of the "eon" rhyme is SO impressive.