A Musical Journey
From Iris DeMent’s “Infamous Angel” (1992)
The background is worth the price of admission!
“Iris Luella DeMent (born Jan. 5, 1961), an American two-time Grammy-nominated singer and songwriter, was born in Paragould, Arkansas, the 14th and youngest child of Pat DeMent (1910–1992) and wife Flora Mae (1918–2011). Iris’s mother harbored dreams of going to Nashville and starting a singing career. Although she put those plans on hold to get married, her singing voice was an inspiration and influence for her youngest daughter Iris.
DeMent was inspired to write her first song ‘Our Town’ by a drive through a boarded-up Midwest town, at the age of 25. The lyrics came to her “exactly as it is now”, without need for re-writing, and she realized then songwriting was her calling in life. ‘Our Town’ was played during the closing scene for the final episode (July 26, 1995) of CBS’s television series Northern Exposure.”
She was fourteenth and youngest! Way to go Flora Mae!
lyrics …
Our Town
And you know the sun’s settin’ fast, and just like they say, nothing good ever lasts
Well, go on now and kiss it goodbye, but hold on to your lover ’cause your heart’s bound to die
Go on now and say goodbye to our town, to our town
Can’t you see the sun’s settin’ down on our town, on our town, goodnight!
Up the street beside that red neon light – that’s where I met my baby on one hot summer night
He was the tender and I ordered a beer; it’s been 40 years and I’m still sitting here
But you know the sun’s settin’ fast, and just like they say, nothing good ever lasts
Well, go on now and kiss it goodbye, but hold on to your lover ’cause your heart’s bound to die
Go on now and say goodbye to our town, to our town
Can’t you see the sun’s settin’ down on our town, on our town, goodnight!
It’s here I had my babies and I had my first kiss; I’ve walked down Main Street in the cold morning mist
Over there is where I bought my first car; it turned over once but then it never went far
And I can see the sun’s settin’ fast! And just like they say, nothing good ever lasts
Well, go on now and kiss it goodbye, but hold on to your lover ’cause your heart’s bound to die
Go on now and say goodbye to our town, to our town
Can’t you see the sun’s settin’ down on our town, on our town, goodnight!
I buried my Mama and I buried my pa; they sleep up the street beside that pretty brick wall
I bring them flowers about every day, but I just gotta cry when I think what they’d say
If they could see how the sun’s settin’ fast, and just like they say, nothing good ever lasts!
Well, go on now and kiss it goodbye, but hold on to your lover ’cause your heart’s bound to die
Go on now and say goodbye to our town, to our town
Can’t you see the sun’s settin’ down on our town, on our town, goodnight!
Now I sit on the porch and watch the lightning bugs fly, but I can’t see too good, I got tears in my eyes
I’m leaving tomorrow but I don’t wanna go – I love you, my town, you’ll always live in my soul!
But I can see the sun’s settin’ fast, and just like they say, nothing good ever lasts!
Well, go on now and kiss it goodbye, but hold on to your lover ’cause your heart’s bound to die
Go on now and say goodbye to our town, to our town
Can’t you see the sun’s settin’ down on our town, on our town, goodnight!
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EZ CHORDS DOWNLOADABLE AS IMAGE FILES:
I’m playing an Epiphone Emperor Joe Pass with flatwound strings, my go-to guitar these days. These songs are new for me. Once you get to the point where you can “almost” play the song … the glanceable cheat sheets I create (it takes hours!) are wonderfully useful!
Epiphone Emperor Joe Pass Guitar
Boss VE-8 Acoustic Singer vocal and guitar module
No guitar amplifier
Shure Beta 87A microphone
Audio processed in Reaper
If you would like updates on my music and all the new EZ chord songs, please subscribe at http://www.markurso.com – and you are also invited to subscribe to this great channel on Rumble!
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Mark Urso
mark@markurso.com
@MusicVidNet