Imagine it’s a regular Saturday the 1970s and a skinny little 6-year-old red-head is running around the house singing in that squeaky child’s voice while her mama has a stack of records playing on the “Hi-Fi” while she’s doing the weekly household things. That’s the memory vision that comes up when I hear Tanya Tucker’s debut hit, “Delta Dawn”. And I am that 7-year-old.
Music can flood the mind with memories and take you back to a point in history with all the emotions and experiences. Interestingly, smell can trigger those just as strongly. That’s what this song (and several others) does for me.
Tanya Tucker is the one that made “Delta Dawn” a hit in 1972 when she was just 13 years old, but many other singers at the time recorded it as well – Helen Reddy, Bette Milder, Loretta Lynn, and even Waylon Jennings. The song kicked off her career and she’d eventually become one of the few country “Outlaws” with the likes of Johnny Cash, Willie Nelson, Waylon Jennings, and Hank Williams, Jr.
“I thank the lucky stars and the Good Lord for that song,” Tucker told Nine-O-One Network Magazine in 1988. “If I cut it now for the first time I think it would be a hit. I was fortunate to have latched onto that one, and that was all Sherrill’s doing. If it hadn’t been for Sherrill, I probably would have been a rodeo queen or something.”
Tanya Tucker – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tanya_Tucker
Ready to kick it 70s style?? …Give it a listen below!
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?
What songs bring back early memories for you? What are some of your earliest musical memories?
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