Delta Dawn

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"Delta Dawn" is a song written by musician

Though the song is credited exclusively to Collins and Harvey, the melody of the chorus is similar 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.^[2]

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.^[3]

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

Recording history

The first recording of "Delta Dawn" was made by Harvey for his

Dianne Davidson sang backup for Harvey's recording. She was the first singer after Harvey to record the song and chart in 1971–1972.^{[citation needed]}

Tracy Nelson also sang backup on Harvey's recording, and performed "Delta Dawn" in her live act.^{[citation needed]}

Bette Midler

After hearing Tracy Nelson sing "Delta Dawn" at the Bottom Line in New York City, Bette Midler added the song to her repertoire.^{[citation needed]}

During the time Tanya Tucker’s and Helen Reddy’s recordings of the song were being produced (see below), Bette Midler recorded "Delta Dawn" for her The Divine Miss M debut album, for which her bluesy version was planned as the lead single. Reddy's single was released June 1973, two days after Midler's. The preemption required a marketing change for Midler, so the original B-side "Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy" was shopped to radio, itself becoming a top ten hit.

The song was also included on Midler's 1977 live album Live at Last (Bette Midler album) which was recorded at the Cleveland Music Hall in Cleveland, Ohio.

Tanya Tucker

Before Bette Midler's recording,

While Harvey's original version started with the first verse, Sherrill suggested starting with the chorus instead, done a cappella – a term unknown to 13-year-old Tucker.^[3] This distinction became a signature of her version.

Helen Reddy

Record producer Tom Catalano created an instrumental track of "Delta Dawn." Catalano first offered the vocal track to Barbra Streisand, but she refused; after this he gave the vocal to Reddy.^[8]

Reddy's version, which added upward

Reddy had reached number two with both "I Don't Know How to Love Him" and I Am Woman in her native Australia; "Delta Dawn" became her first number one hit there, spending five weeks at the top of the Kent Music Report in August and September 1973.^[12] "Delta Dawn" also marked Reddy's only chart appearance in South Africa, reaching number 13 in the autumn of 1973.^[13]

Other recordings

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• Waylon Jennings on his 1972 album Ladies Love Outlaws
• Loretta Lynn on her 1972 album Here I Am Again
• Other 1972 covers included those by Kitty Wells, Jody Miller, Bob Luman (Lonely Women Make Good Lovers), and Nat Stuckey.
• The Statler Brothers on its 1973 Mercury album The Statler Brothers Sing Country Symphonies in E Major
• Nola Francis released a version of the song in 1973. It peaked at number 98 in Australia.^[14]
• Other 1973 covers included those by Sonny James, Dottie West, Teresa Brewer, and Ray Conniff.
• Scott Walker in 1974
• Dash Rip Rock on its 1991 live album Boiled Alive.
• Me First and the Gimme Gimmes on its album Ruin Jonny's Bar Mitzvah
• Debbie Rule on her 2015 album Texas Girls
• Hellbound Glory on its 2017 album Pinball, although the location in the song was changed to the Sacramento River Delta.
• Home Free and Brooke Eden - 2023

Chart performance

Weekly charts

Tanya Tucker version

Helen Reddy version

Certifications

Use in popular media

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• On
  Mike Hannigan
  worked.
• Stone Cold Steve Austin gave the first verse his take on an episode of WWE Raw – notable for his failure to hit the high notes.
• Sonny and Cher performed it on their The Sonny & Cher Comedy Hour on CBS.
• Appeared in the movie Big Fan, starring Patton Oswalt.