According to Bluegrass Today (2017), "Giddens shattered long-held stereotypes. By the time she was done, she had systematically dismantled the myth of a homogenous Appalachia." She studied and performed opera. Thank God, huh? A beautiful Dixie lullaby.
Rhiannon Giddens makes the song beautiful. A little about her:
Giddens is multiethnic in ancestry. Her father was European American and her mother African American and Native American. Her sister Lalenja Harrington is a director for Beyond Academics, a four-year certificate program supporting students with intellectual and developmental disabilities, at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. A singer and songwriter herself, Harrington occasionally collaborates with her sister on musical projects.
Giddens married Irish musician, Michael Laffan, in 2007. They have a daughter and a son; however, they are now separated. Giddens is now in a relationship with her musical partner, Francesco Turrisi. She has homes in Greensboro, North Carolina; Nashville, Tennessee, and Limerick, Ireland.The song, released in 2011, is titled "Leaving Eden," written by Laurelyn Dossett. Eden is a reference to Eden, North Carolina.
Hush now, don’t you
wake up
We’ll be leaving at first light
Mama's buying you a mockingbird
To lull you through the night
Across the den by morning
Here’s a blanket for you to share
They’re building down in Georgia
Daddy hears he’ll find work there
CHORUS
And the mockingbird can sing
Like the cryin' of a dove
And I can’t tell my daughters
All the things that I'm scared of
But I am not afraid of that bright glory up above
Dying’s just another way to leave the ones you love
No work for the working man
Just one more empty mill
Hard times in Rockingham
Hard times harder still
The crows are in the kitchen
The wolves at the door
Our father's land of Eden is paradise no more.
CHORUS
And the mockingbird can sing
Like the cryin' of a dove
And I can’t tell my daughters
All the things that I'm scared of
But I am not afraid of that bright glory up above
Dying’s just another way to leave the ones you love.
My sister stayed in Eden
Her husband’s got some land
An agent for the county thinks that they might make a stand
A hard life for working
With nothing much to show
It's a hard life of leaving with nowhere to go.
CHORUS
And the mockingbird can sing
Like the cryin' of a dove
And I can’t tell my daughters
All the things that I'm scared of
But I am not afraid of that bright glory up above
Dying’s just another way to leave the ones you love.
Quite striking to find her playing with Elvis Costello, aka, Declan Patrick MacManus, best known for "Radio, Radio," 1978, "(What's So Funny 'Bout) Peace, Love, and Understanding," written by Nick Lowe in 1974 and released by Costello the same year, "Everyday I Write the Book," 1983, and, of course, "Watching the Detectives," 1977.
We’ll be leaving at first light
Mama's buying you a mockingbird
To lull you through the night
Across the den by morning
Here’s a blanket for you to share
They’re building down in Georgia
Daddy hears he’ll find work there
CHORUS
And the mockingbird can sing
Like the cryin' of a dove
And I can’t tell my daughters
All the things that I'm scared of
But I am not afraid of that bright glory up above
Dying’s just another way to leave the ones you love
No work for the working man
Just one more empty mill
Hard times in Rockingham
Hard times harder still
The crows are in the kitchen
The wolves at the door
Our father's land of Eden is paradise no more.
CHORUS
And the mockingbird can sing
Like the cryin' of a dove
And I can’t tell my daughters
All the things that I'm scared of
But I am not afraid of that bright glory up above
Dying’s just another way to leave the ones you love.
My sister stayed in Eden
Her husband’s got some land
An agent for the county thinks that they might make a stand
A hard life for working
With nothing much to show
It's a hard life of leaving with nowhere to go.
CHORUS
And the mockingbird can sing
Like the cryin' of a dove
And I can’t tell my daughters
All the things that I'm scared of
But I am not afraid of that bright glory up above
Dying’s just another way to leave the ones you love.
Quite striking to find her playing with Elvis Costello, aka, Declan Patrick MacManus, best known for "Radio, Radio," 1978, "(What's So Funny 'Bout) Peace, Love, and Understanding," written by Nick Lowe in 1974 and released by Costello the same year, "Everyday I Write the Book," 1983, and, of course, "Watching the Detectives," 1977.
"Is it a mystery to live? Or is it a mystery to die?"
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