Emmylou Harris -- Red Dirt Girl [REACTION/RATING]

Emmylou is one of the all-time greats of country music.

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#EmmylouHarris #RedDirtGirl #CountryMusicReactions

[justmansopinion]

This is one of the saddest stories ever told in song. But it's worth every tear to have a listen! "She never got any further across the line than Meridian." Cheers\=/\=/

[sammy]

Most haunting voice EVER! In love with this lady...for years!!! Wow!

[kevinmalone]

First of all Emmylou is beautiful! Such a beautiful and sad story. When Lillian laid the hammer down she commented suicide. 😢

[ChadEAult]

To me, the way I interpret this song it is a song of suicide. The first reference to “hammer” was the gas pedal. She intended to leave and experience the world. A girl from a small town that she wanted to escape. She wanted to escape the abuse, the pain, the loss of her brother. Yet she got stuck. She fell into a trap she couldn’t escape, married young, had five kids, couldn’t find the love she wanted. It drove her to drinking and pills and finally suicide. The last reference to “hammer, ” was of the gun she used to kill herself to end the pain she couldn’t escape. That’s how I interpret this song. There is double meaning to the word “hammer.” The first is of hope. The last is of the loss of that hope. Powerful song. One of her best.

[johnblair]

One thing they don’t tell you about the blues when you got ‘em, you keep on falling ‘cause there ain’t no bottom, there ain’t no end 🙏

[dangabbert]

I was fortunate enough to see her live about the time this song came out. She was backed by Buddy and Linda Miller. It was a great show! I think that’s Buddy Miller accompanying her on this track.

[nancyhamilton]

Till I Can Gain Control Again. My favorite song of hers

[JB-crnj]

Emmy Lou Harris is absolutely by FAR, and I'm talking about in light years, the most beautiful woman on the planet, in EVERY WAY, EVER!! And take note Carey and Taylor, she didn't have to get naked to do it!!!!
A 75 year old former musician.

[mikes.]

Great reaction to First Aid Kit “ Emily Lue” I can’t seem to find it but I watched your reaction to that a few weeks ago.

[Alexois]

This is one of the best songs ever!
Cheers from Sweden

[lilymcallister]

Lyrics:
Me and my best friend Lillian
And her blue tick hound dog Gideon,
Sittin on the front porch cooling in the shade
Singin every song the radio played
Waitin for the Alabama sun to go down
Two red dirt girls in a red dirt town
Me and Lillian
Just across the line and a little southeast of Meridian.

She loved her brother I remember back when
He was fixin up a '49 Indian
He told her 'Little sister, gonna ride the wind
Up around the moon and back again".
He never got farther than Vietnam,
I was standin there with her when the telegram come
For Lillian.
Now he's lyin somewhere about a million miles from Meridian.

She said there's not much hope for a red dirt girl
Somewhere out there is a great big world
That's where I'm bound.
And the stars might fall on Alabama
But one of these days I'm gonna swing
My hammer down
Away from this red dirt town.
I'm gonna make a joyful sound.

She grew up tall and she grew up thin
Buried that old dog Gideon
By a crepe myrtle bush in the back of the yard,
Her daddy turned mean and her mama leaned hard
Got in trouble with a boy from town
Figured that she might as well settle down
So she dug right in
Across a red dirt line just a little south east from Meridian.

She tried hard to love him but it never did take
It was just another way for the heart to break
So she dug right in.
But one thing they don't tell you about the blues
When you got em
You keep on falling cause there ain't no bottom
There ain't know end.
At least not for Lillian.

Nobody knows when she started her skid,
She was only twenty seven and she had five kids.
Coulda' been the whiskey,
Coulda been the pills,
Coulda been the dream she was trying to kill.
But there won't be a mention in the news of the world
About the life and the death of a red dirt girl
Named Lillian.
Who never got any farther across the line than Meridian.

Now the stars still fall on Alabama
Tonight she finally laid
That hammer down.
Without a sound.
In the red dirt ground.

[karolyn]

Beautiful song, beautiful singer. Thanks for gracing us with some Emmylou. One can never get enough. Have you seen her dancing with Bill Monroe?

[amandawoolley]

Listen to first aid kit cover this song! It’s beautiful

[TexasMagnolia]

All time favorite - Too many bottles of Wine. She is a legend and tough as nails. She ran with the Outlaws.

[christiekeaton]

What I get from this song is I can relate close to the words. (What I get is that Lillian passed away could've been the whiskey pills or .... ) My mother at the age of 26 had me and I was the 5th kid. 5 yrs later my dad passed away. She worked in nursery and that's hard work for a woman well anybody.My mom passed away at young age 38 from bone cancer. My mother never got passed the TN. line but she loved her kids and JESUS and she always smiled and enjoyed life. I'm a BIG TIME FAN of this lovely lady and my mom did also. Emmy Lou, Dolly Parton, and Linda Ronstadt got together as a trio and sing for yrs. SILVER THREAD and GOLDEN NEEDLES is awesome one they do. Thank you for the shout out and for making me laugh 😀. I'll keep on RockN2Country. You have a wonderful day.

[vickystanley]

Thank you for this Don. I had got to thinking that for some unimaginable reason nobody but me ever requested Emmylou. It's good to know thats not so. It's really good that more people have gotten to hear her, thanks to you. This is one of the songs she wrote herself and her voice isn't usually so soft.. not even on this song. I think Lilian did die, not at 27 probably, but in a tragically few years. I was just about to request Emmylou again by mentioning how much you like outlaw singers.Then I was going to say you probably don't realize it, but Emmylou goes outlaw too. Like when she sings Rose of Cimmaron or Pancho and Lefty. And there's the fact that she has sung with each of the Highwaymen. I thought it might be a persuasive way to request lol. Well, thanks again.

[TexasMagnolia]

Great music! She teamed up with Dolly and Linda Rondstat - To know him is to love him. An old classic.

[lilymcallister]

Thank you for doing this song Don. Part of me feels this as autobiographical as I was born in the georgia red clay. I did get "out" (but came back), but I knew so many who never got a chance. Including my brother who had a lot in common with Lillian too.

Yea, I think Lillian died. "Could have been the whiskey, could have been the pills, could of been the dreams she was trying to kill...". I think the line about the blues having no bottom means that she was depressed as well. A girl who lost her brother, had big dreams but not much opportunity. Dad got mean, mama leaned hard. And then she fell in with the boy and before she knew it, she had five kids and was battling addiction and depression. Whether that killed her or she took her own life, I don't know. But I do know small red dirt towns and where we refer to our "meridians" as a goal. A bigger town that holds the dream of opportunity if you can just get there. And as Emmy does here with wordplay, also a line you dream of crossing. I think the word means a line or circle that divides the earth. It also has a metaphysical meaning in eastern medicine/practices about the pathways in the body where energy and blood flow. To me, this line is a goal..if can just get past that line, you can break the cycle. Some do. A lot do not.

Emmylou with Buddy Miller at farm aid. A great performance. She has done this song with Mark Knopfler (who I get to see live in Sept..wooo!), and Rodney Crowell. All great performances.

[isthatwhatemptymeans]

If somebody makes a clerical error, and I make it up in heaven, I'm betting the angels don't sound much, if any better than this.

[kippytx]

Love Emmylou. To Daddy is so good too.