The Iron Horse


We've done this one before, but I was reminded of it by AVI's discussion of trains. It's a really nice piece, too, which none of you should mind to hear again. She's picking with three fingers, two up and thumb down. It's very good work.

The story is pure Americana, too. It's the story of the meeting across cultures, the love that unites; and the separation occasioned by technology. You could say that the Native American aspect is tragic, spirited in its failure to overcome the technological advantage, and that would be true enough as far as it goes. 

But who made the banjo? Why, that's an instrument the South has from African... er, "immigrants." It's become a key feature in Southern music of all kinds, especially bluegrass, which she has adopted at another remove. 

So really this is an American song. It's about the meeting of cultures in the wild American land, the ways they come together, and the ways they are kept apart. 

3 comments:

E Hines said...

I looked the lady up on Wikipedia. Back in 2003 she was in a car accident (aside: wear your seatbelts) and one of her injuries was an apparently paralyzed right vocal cord "with little hope of recovery." A year later, a specialist told her there was slight movement in the vocal cord with a possibility of full recovery.

Apparently she's made her full recovery.

Seatbelts are a personal bugaboo for me. When I was in the Philippines, I had a secretary, a very good looking woman, who had a terrific scar down one side of her face from hairline to jaw that she always was at pains to conceal with her hair. She'd gone partway through the windshield of a car in her own accident some years before she worked for me. I still had to flat out order her to buckle up whenever she got into my car. The seatbelt would wrinkle her dress, she insisted.

Eric Hines

Grim said...

I mean, I am a biker. You've got to die of something; pick something fun.

E Hines said...

Yeah, buckling up on a bike would be counterproductive.

Eric Hines