From the recording Sarah Barker & Gypsy Twang
In 1999, Dolly Parton released ‘The Grass is Blue’ and rekindled my interest in her music. I’d always loved her very early material and some of her collaborative work, but her pop songs were outside the parameters of my musical taste.
In 2001 she released ‘Little Sparrow’ and I became a diehard Dolly fan for life. By her own admission, mountain music has always been her heart’s first love. But she knew in order to make the kind of living she wanted, she would have to appeal to a larger demographic.
Dolly is a great songwriter in this genre. She draws inspiration from the roots music she grew up with in the Carter Family tradition. This is a hauntingly beautiful song reminiscent of ‘Fair and Tender Ladies’.
Lyrics
Little sparrow, little sparrow
All ye maidens heed my warning
Never trust the hearts of men
They will crush you like a sparrow
Leaving you to never mend
They will vow to always love you
Swear no love but yours will do
Then they’ll leave you for another
Break your little heart in two
Little sparrow, little sparrow
Precious fragile little thing
Little sparrow, little sparrow
Flies so high and feels no pain
If I was a little sparrow
For these mountains I would fly
I would find him, I would find him
And look into his lying eye
I would flutter all around him
On my little sparrow wings
I would ask him, I would ask him
Why he let me love in vain
Little sparrow, little sparrow
Precious fragile little thing
Little sparrow, little sparrow
Flies so high and feels no pain
But I am not a little sparrow
I am just the broken dream
Of a cold false-hearted lover
And his evil cunning scheme
Little sparrow, little sparrow
Precious fragile little thing
Little sparrow, little sparrow
Flies so high and feels no pain
Flies so high and feels no pain
Flies so high and feels no pain