Traditional / Arrangement Bob Dylan / 5:42
Musician: Bob Dylan: vocals, guitar / Recording Studio: Bob Dylan Garage Studio, Malibu, California: May 1993 / Producer: Bob Dylan / Sound Engineer: Micajah Ryan
“Delia” was inspired by a tragedy in the Yamacraw neighborhood of Savannah, Georgia, on the evening of December 31, 1900. A fourteen-year-old African-American, Delia Green, was murdered by her boyfriend, Moses “Cooney” Houston, barely older than she was. He was sentenced to life imprisonment and paroled after twelve years. This sad story has been an inspiration for several well-known blues musicians. Blind Blake and Blind Willie McTell were among the first to sing “Little Delia” (or “Delia’s Gone”). The story is told from the boyfriend’s point of view, who is pleading extenuating circumstances, saying that she insulted him.
Johnny Cash recorded “Delia’s Gone” twice: the first time for his album The Sound of Johnny Cash (1962), and again in 1994 for American Recordings, with different lyrics but always using the first person singular. Dylan’s version is written in a double register; the narrator somehow keeps his distance from the drama. He describes Delia as a gambling girl and presents Curtis, not Cooney, as the murderer: “Curtis’ looking high, Curtis’ looking low / He shot poor Delia down with a cruel forty-four.” Each verse ends with the use of the first person singular: “All the friends I ever had are gone.” Dylan, who qualifies the song as a “sad tale,” interprets this murder ballad very smoothly. The tone is melancholy, fragile, and accompanied by a somber guitar riff, not always easy to play.