Een tragische ballade van Townes van Zandt over een jonge vrouw die zich gedwongen ziet prostituee te worden en uiteindelijk zelfmoord pleegt. Het scenario lijkt afkomstig uit een roman van Charles Dickens, maar het is allesbehalve onrealistisch. Veel mensen realiseren zich niet hoe arm delen van het Amerikaanse platteland zijn, met name in het Diepe Zuiden. Van de tien armste staten van de VS bevinden negen zich in het zuiden van het land.
The name she gave was Caroline
Daughter of a miner
And her ways were free and it seemed to me
The sunshine walked beside her
She came to Spencer, across the hill
She said her pa had sent her
‘Cause the coal was low and soon the snow
Would turn the skies to winter
She said she’s come to look for work
She was not seeking favors
For a dime a day and a place to stay
She’d turn those hands to labor
But the times were hard Lord, and the jobs were few
All through Tecumseh Valley
But she asked around and a job she found
Tending bar at Gypsy Sally’s
She saved enough to get back home
When spring replaced the winter
But her dreams were denied, her pa had died
The word come down from Spencer
So she turned a whorin’ out on the streets
With all the lust inside her
And it was many a man returned again
To lay himself beside her
They found her down beneath the stairs
That led to Gypsy Sally’s
In her hand when she died was a note that cried
Fare thee well, Tecumseh Valley
The name she gave was Caroline
Daughter of a miner
And her ways were free and it seemed to me
The sunshine walked beside her
Uitgelichte afbeelding: Tecumseh, Oklahoma. Mogelijk verwees Van Zandt naar dit stadje. – By kennethaw88 – Own work, CC BY 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=54591918
