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Dixie Flyer Lyrics
I was born right here, November '43
My dad was a captain in the army
Fighting the Germans in Sicily.
My poor little momma
Didn't know a soul in L.A.
So we went down to the Union Station and made our getaway.
Got on the Dixie Flyer bound for New Orleans
Across the state of Texas to the land of dreams.
On the Dixie Flyer bound for New Orleans
Back to her friends and her family in the land of dreams.
Her own mother came to meet us at the station,
Her dress as black as a crow in a coal mine
She cried when her little girl got off the train.
Her brothers and her sisters drove down from Jackson, Mississippi
In a great green Hudson driven by a Gentile they knew.
Drinkin' rye whiskey from a flask in the back seat
Tryin' to do like the Gentiles do
Christ, they wanted to be Gentiles, too.
Who wouldn't down there, wouldn't you?
An American Christian, God damn!
On the Dixie Flyer bound for New Orleans
Back to her friends and her family in the land of dreams
On the Dixie Flyer bound for New Orleans
Across the state of Texas to the land of dreams
Across the state of Texas to the land of dreams.
Song Info
Submitted by
yuri_sucupira On Nov 27, 2001
More Randy Newman
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I love his characterization of American Christians. Drinking Rye Whisky ..... God Damn !
In this song, Newman offers a fleeting insight -- or maybe an "outsight," given his Jewish background -- of the American South, from the view of a wide-eyed child, most likely retelling the story he heard often growing up of his mother's return home to New Orleans to be with family during the war. The lyrics are marvelous
-- Her brothers and sisters drove down from Jackson, Mississippi, in a great green Hudsen driven by a gentile they knew, drinking rye whisky from a flask in the back seat, trying to do like the gentiles do, Christ, they wanted to be gentiles, too. Who wouldn't down there, wouldn't you? An American Christian, God Damn! --
The music is lovely and lush as well...The NPR Car Talk guys use it as a transitional piece between segments (and they would ask that we not hold this against Randy Newman). This is a ballad that transports the listener back to a place that was crazy with racism but also magical and absurd and, well, dreamy.
An autobiographical song about RN's childhood when he was taken back to live in NO while his dad was in the WW2 army.