Tanya Tucker: Delta Dawn Meaning
Song Released: 1972
Delta Dawn Lyrics
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...
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It's asking for your interpretation not for your mean remarks to what others want to say.
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The absolutely biggest stretch is the Mary Magdalene approach. Talk about over-reach. One individual analyzed each line in the song and said it was like Amazing Grace, another song with spiritual meaning. (Duh - being as Amazing Grace IS a spiritual song - written about a man's incredible conversion in the 1600's after he went from being a slaver to a slave to a man reborn). Amazing Grace is John Newton's story of salvation. Delta Dawn is a modern day ballad, apparently based on the story of a man's mother's sad ending. A more general interpretation of the song is pretty much what is seen in Great Expectations with the tale of Miss Haversham, jilted by a scoundrel at the alter. Painful to read the stretches reached by some people. Oh, for the one who really stretched the Mary Magdalene part, Mary Magdalene, despite common misconception, was not a prostitute. She was a wealthy woman who had demons cast from her..........read the Bible. She has been maligned by many who extrapolate a combination of Mary's and put it on poor Mag's mantel.
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I beleave that it is delta dawns funeral. The flower that she wears is reference to when they used flowers before the embalming process to cover up the smell of the dead. Then the rest of the song is about her life. She was 41 when she passed but still to that day her daddy called her baby. Everyone thought she was crazy.and so forth.
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Though the writer of the song tells his own story, the real beauty of this song lies in it's ability to delve deep into a person's psych and reveal their own unique story. The melody is absolutely wonderful(one you catch yourself singing endlessly). Whether one admits it or not, each of us has, whether obvious to us or not, deep spiritual dreams and meanings in our life. This song touches on a woman's longings for a godly man who helps her to find beauty in herself. This requires a person to set out on a journey of their own not caring what the world thinks even if she is thought to be crazy. What is most important is being true to yourself and becoming better than you are deep within.
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Many years ago, Delta Dawn was the name a prostitute had claimed as her street name. She either worked the streets or she worked in a brothel. It a the dream (the word "Fantasy" might be more appropriate) of most prostitutes that someday a "Prince in Shining Armor" will fall in love with her and take her to his castle or in this case, "His Mansion in The Sky". This either being a mansion built on a mountain or a "Penthouse Suite" in a tower high above some city, somewhere. The mysterious man's intentions were probably sincere. He was going to meet her, offer her a new life and take her away. However, for some unknown reason, the man was not able to return to meet her. Since she believed him with all of her heart, she couldn't let it go and became obsessed with him "Meeting Her Here Today". C'mon people. Haven't you ever watched the movie "Pretty Woman"?
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Don't know but it's a lost love as usual.
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Where are y'all pulling Mary out of this?? Lol the songwriter has said many a time the song is bout his momma! https://youtu.be/YBXOOSEPGSU
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I don't know, but have always loved this song. Somehow I think I can identify more with this song for me the older I get, and now I'm already 20 years past Delta Dawn's age. Three marriages, three divorces, no significant other in a long time, I still feel young, I still want to be loved and cherished. When I look in the mirror it shocks me at how old I really am. When I look at men my age I see them looking at young women half my/our age. Dreams don't die till we do.
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I think that this song is about a woman who had a mysterious suitor and then he left her and she couldn't come to terms with it and became mentally unstable and continued going to the spot where he promised he'd meet her until she died and went to the mansion in the sky.
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Delta Dawn is a story about a Modern Day Mary Magdalene.The first witness of the resurrection.
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it's my opinion that she was not looking for god... just someone she had lost long ago... I do believe god has found her though... or she has found god/Jesus... but none the less its a great song..
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This interpretation has been marked as poor. view anyway
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Actually Alex Harvey wrote the song to honor his mother. She was not quite accepted by her husbands family.She had a problem with English and made fun of.
She had a rough life which ended in suicide. -
Delta Dawn is a story about a modern day Mary Magdeline.
"Delta Dawn"
(Is what a young girl called herself when she was very young.)
"What's that flower you have on"
(It means, what she is carrying. An unborn child, a son. She will give birth to the Christ child, but nobody knows it, not even her.)
"Could it be a "Faded Rose" from days gone by"..
(It's symbolic for rebirth of that christ child. An old story with a new beginning. The story faded, but is renewed at a later time.)
"And did I hear ya say, he was a meetin' you here today, to take you to his mansion in the sky"...
(She speaks of having an unnatural knowledge of things to come. Meeting up with an old flame. A new vision of an old memory. And he will take her to heaven.)
"She's forty-one and her daddy still calls 'er "baby"
Her father still treats her like a child, even though she is grown.
"All the folks round brownsville say she's crazy."
(And all the people in her town say she is out of her mind because she talks about things that they don't understand. But she isn't, she is a visionary.)
" Cuz she walks downtown with a suitcase in her hand."
(She's never in one place for long and people know this about her. She's a sort of gypsy.)
"Lookin for a mysterious dark haired man"...
(Someone that she remembers from long time ago in a faint memory. Who promised her once that he would return for her when the time was right.)
"In her younger days they called her Delta Dawn"
When she was young everyone called her an unruly child. She was a charmer and a dreamer. She had her head in the clouds instead of books.
"Then a man of low degree stood by her side. Promised her he'd take her for his bride."
(She met the wrong man instead, who wanted to harm her. And they married.)
Delta Dawn is a vision of the below statement.
"There is to be born a second chance for a son of God. A new beginning. The vision has a reality to hold within your heart. For only believers." -
I honestly belive if you examine the song, Delta Dawn fell in love and was engaged to, as the song says, a mysterious dark haired man.It refers to a mansion in the sky because the guy left and lied.
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