Delta Dawn

By Dusty on August 16, 2024

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Delta Dawn

written by Alex Harvey and Larry Collins
performed by Tanya Tucker, Helen Reddy, Bette Midler, and others
released (originaly November 1971)

[Intro]
Delta Dawn, what's that flower you have on?
Could it be a faded rose from days gone by?
And did I hear you say he was a-meetin' you here today
To take you to his mansion in the sky?

[Verse]
She's forty-one, and her daddy still calls her baby
All the folks around Brownsville say she's crazy
'Cause she walks downtown with her suitcase in her hand
Looking for a mysterious dark haired man
In her younger days, they called her Delta Dawn
Prettiest woman you ever laid eyes on
Then a man of low degree stood by her side
Promised her he'd take her for his bride

[Chorus]
Delta Dawn, what's that flower you have on?
Could it be a faded rose from days gone by?
And did I hear you say he was a-meetin' you here today
To take you to his mansion in the sky?

[Bridge]
Delta Dawn, what's that flower you have on?
Could it be a faded rose from days gone by?
And did I hear you say he was a-meetin' you here today
To take you to his mansion in the sky?

[Chorus]
Delta Dawn, what's that flower you have on?
Could it be a faded rose from days gone by?
And did I hear you say he was a-meetin' you here today
To take you to his mansion in the sky?
Delta Dawn, what's that flower you have on?
Could it be a faded rose from days gone by?
And did I hear you say he was a-meetin' you here today
To take you to his mansion in the sky?

___________________________

I like this song very much and I am writing about it because it was playing in my brain when I woke up today. I cannot ignore signs such as that. Anyway, this song is both iconic and strange. With the exception of a not too clarifying single verse, Delta Dawn is just the chorus lyrics sung over and over, somewhat set to the tune of Amazing Grace. Nevertheless, because it tells a timeless tragic story, with a familiar tune, and not too much detail (such that one can impose one's own story into the song's message), I believe this explains its staying power. Well, that and the fact that its original performers were top tier singers.

I'm pretty fascinated by the psychological impact of fading beauty. How does someone handle it when all of the attention - often a lot of it unwanted and unsolicited - starts to go away? If your identity is tied up in that beauty, does losing it make you go a little crazy? Is it like you're disappearing and helpless to stop it? How can anyone avoid letting their identity be tied up with an innate physical trait? (Nobody cautions a tall person, or a smart person, not to let those things become part of a self-identity.) Beauty is different though. How should you handle the possession of great beauty, knowing that it will begin to fade at some point?

The only thing that I can think of as comparable would be developing a disability in one's early-ish adulthood. (Does my own worsening blindness give me commonality with an aging Southern Belle? Obviously yes. "Delta Dusty...") Of course, people feel pity or sympathy for you over the loss of eyesight (not that pity is always appreciated, mind you.) Does anyone feel sympathy or pity for someone with faded beauty? I suspect it's very often the opposite. Anecdotally, people kind of view beauty as a lottery ticket that one can cash in on (job, family, etc.), or not, and if not, then that person is often treated with some amount of derision.

I spent most of my life thinking this was exclusively a Tanya Tucker song. Imagine my surprise to learn that this was originally a Bette Midler song, though she didn't write it either. The songwriter was a guy named Alex Harvey, and he wrote it about his mom. The real backstory is a lot sadder than the actual song:

(via wiki)

"Delta Dawn" is a song written by musician Larry Collins and country songwriter Alex Harvey. The first notable recording of the song was in 1971 by American singer and actress Bette Midler for her debut album "The Divine Miss M". However it is best known as a 1972 top ten country hit for Tanya Tucker and a 1973 US number one hit for Helen Reddy.

Though the song is credited exclusively to Collins and Harvey, the melody of the chorus is virtually identical to the Christian hymn "Amazing Grace."

Content

The title character is a faded former Southern belle from Brownsville, Tennessee, who, at 41, is obsessed to unreason with the long-ago memory of a suitor who jilted her. The lyrics describe how the woman regularly "walks downtown with a suitcase in her hand / looking for a mysterious dark haired man" who she says will be taking her "to his mansion in the sky."

Reddy's recording in particular includes choir-like inspirational overtones.

The song's writing

Alex Harvey said he wrote the song about his mother:

"My mother had come from the Mississippi Delta and she always lived her life as if she had a suitcase in her hand but nowhere to put it down."

Ten years before Harvey wrote the song, he was performing on TV and told his mother not to come, lest she get drunk and embarrass him. That night she died in a car crash, and Harvey believed it was suicide caused by his rejection.

For years Harvey suffered from guilt over the incident, until a cathartic incident the night he wrote the song. He was at fellow songwriter Larry Collins' house, who was asleep while Harvey noodled around on his guitar. He believed his mother then came to him in a vision:

"I looked up and I felt as if my mother was in the room. I saw her very clearly. She was in a rocking chair and she was laughing...I really believe that my mother didn't come into the room that night to scare me, but to tell me, 'It's okay,' and that she had made her choices in life and it had nothing to do with me. I always felt like that song was a gift to my mother and an apology to her. It was also a way to say 'thank you' to my mother for all she did."

After writing the first few lines of the song, Harvey woke Collins and they finished it together.

Though the Tanya Tucker version of this song is probably the most enduringly popular, Helen Reddy's version was more popular in the early 1970s.

Weekly charts

Tanya Tucker version

Chart (1972)	Peak position
US Billboard Hot 100	72
US Hot Country Songs (Billboard)	6
Canadian RPM Country Tracks	3

Helen Reddy version

Chart (1973)	Peak position
Australia (Kent Music Report)	1
Canada RPM Top Singles	1
Canada RPM Adult Contemporary	1
New Zealand (Listener)	20
South Africa (Springbok Radio)	13
US Billboard Hot 100	1
US Billboard Easy Listening	1
US Cash Box Top 100	1

So to be clear... this song was written by a guy whose mother appeared to him in a vision, years after her apparent death by suicide, a suicide which was seemingly motivated by his (the songwriter) desire that she not show up drunk at his then television appearance, and which left him with feelings of deep guilt and remorse for years. The song is both an apology and a catharsis.

With that firmly in mind... what is the lesson of this?

Sometimes setting boundaries with an unhealthy family member can lead to years of remorse if or when they react badly to that
Sometimes setting boundaries with an unhealthy family member can lead to a bad outcome for that person... but that's not your fault and their ghost might eventually tell you as much
Sometimes the ghost of your mom can help you write a hit song

I don't know. Life is complicated. There's not always a lesson. Do you best. Love people. Be kind. Hope for the best.