Delta Dawn

Meaning of the song Delta Dawn by Tanya Tucker, and what it is about

Musician Larry Collins and country songwriter Alex Harvey wrote the song "Delta Dawn". American singer and actress Bette Midler recorded the song for her debut album in 1971, marking the first noteworthy recording of the song. But Tanya Tucker's 1972 top 10 country smash and Helen Reddy's 1973 US number one single are what made it most famous.

The main character, a forty-one-year-old faded Southern belle from Brownsville, Tennessee, is insanely fixated on the recollection of a past love who abandoned her.

The song was written by Alex Harvey about his mother, he spoke about the song:

Harvey penned the song ten years prior to telling his mother not to attend to his TV performance because he didn't want her to get wasted and make a fool of herself. Harvey thought she committed suicide after his rejection of her when she died in a vehicle crash that evening.

Harvey carried the guilt over the occurrence for years until the night he composed the song, when he had a cathartic experience. Harvey was at the home of fellow songwriter Larry Collins, who was dozing off while Harvey fiddled with his guitar. Then, he thought his mother appeared to him in a vision.

Harvey woke Collins after he had written the first few words of the song, and the two of them completed it.

Lyrics of the song Delta Dawn by Tanya Tucker

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-meeting you here today

To take you to his mansion in the sky?

She's forty-one and her daddy still calls her, 'baby'

All the folks around Brownsville say she's crazy

'Cause she walks down town with a 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

And promised her he'd take her for his bride

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-meeting 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-meeting 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-meeting 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-meeting you here today

To take you to his mansion in the sky?