Georgia Lee Lyrics
He's referring to an actual event and an actual place. In northern California (wherehe lives) a young girl was kidnapped and killed, and no suspect was ever caught. There's a creche on the southbound side of Hwy 101 just south of Petaluma (where the hills turn from green into gold) where she's memorialized. Georgia Moses.
The opening line is referencing a hymn (Dark Was the Night, Cold Was the Ground), famously recorded by Blind Willie Johnson. A copy of that performance is on the record that was attached to the Voyager spacecraft that's currently on its way out of the solar system.
Yeah, juan gregory is right. Georgia Moses was a 12 year old girl who went missing and was murdered; Tom Waits made comparisons between her case and that of the similar tragedy that befell Polly Klaas. The Polly Klaas case garnered a lot of attention from her community and the media, while there was little attention paid to Georgia Moses' murder. When he asks, "Why wasn't God watching?" I think he is including her community, family, and humanity itself in that question.
www.justinmcroberts.com/blog/2010/03/georgia-lee-part-1/
why hasn't anyone commented on this song?... so beautiful and as far as the meaning goes i think it is pretty self explanatary... a girl left to the world and left to herself... if there is a god why hasn't he looked after her... why would god let a girl fall by the wayside when she has done nothing wrong... the age old question i believe is being asked here... why do bad things happen to the innocent? the world is a wonderful place but still the innocent suffer... thank you tom... and please go on tour
One of Tom's songs that makes me cry.