Cher gained popularity in 1965 as one-half of the folk rock husband-wife duo Sonny & Cher after their song "I Got You Babe" peaked at number one on the US and UK charts. Together they sold 40 million records worldwide. Her solo career was established during the same time, with the top-ten singles "Bang Bang (My Baby Shot Me Down)" and "You Better Sit Down Kids". She became a television personality in the 1970s with her CBS shows; first The Sonny & Cher Comedy Hour, watched by over 30 million viewers weekly during its three-year run, and then the namesake Cher. She emerged as a fashion trendsetter by wearing elaborate outfits on her television shows.
While working on television, Cher released the US Billboard Hot 100 number-one singles "Gypsys, Tramps & Thieves", "Half-Breed", and "Dark Lady", becoming the female artist with the most number-one singles in United States history at the time. After her divorce from Sonny Bono in 1975, she released the disco album Take Me Home (1979) and earned $300,000 a week for her 1979–1982 concert residency in Las Vegas.
In 1982, Cher made her Broadway debut in the play Come Back to the 5 & Dime, Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean and starred in its film adaptation. She subsequently garnered critical acclaim for her performances in films such as Silkwood (1983), Mask (1985), The Witches of Eastwick (1987), and Moonstruck (1987), the last of which won her the Academy Award for Best Actress. She then revived her music career by recording the rock-inflected albums Cher (1987), Heart of Stone (1989), and Love Hurts (1991), all of which yielded successful singles such as "I Found Someone", "If I Could Turn Back Time", and "Love and Understanding". Cher contributed to the soundtrack for her next film, Mermaids (1990), which spawned the UK number-one single "The Shoop Shoop Song (It's in His Kiss)". She made her directorial debut with a segment in the abortion-themed anthology If These Walls Could Talk (1996).
Cher reached a new commercial peak in 1998 with the dance-pop album Believe, whose title track topped the Billboard Year-End Hot 100 singles of 1999 and became the biggest-selling single of all time by a female artist in the UK. It features pioneering use of Auto-Tune to distort her vocals, known as the "Cher effect". Her 2002–2005 Living Proof: The Farewell Tour became one of the highest-grossing concert tours of all time, earning $250 million. In 2008, she signed a $60 million deal to headline the Colosseum at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas for three years. During the 2010s, she landed starring roles in the films Burlesque (2010) and Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again (2018) and released studio albums Closer to the Truth (2013) and Dancing Queen (2018), both of which debuted at number three on the Billboard 200.
Having sold 100 million records, Cher is one of the world's best-selling music artists. Her achievements include a Grammy Award, an Emmy Award, an Academy Award, three Golden Globe Awards, the Billboard Icon Award, and awards from the Kennedy Center Honors and the Council of Fashion Designers of America. She is the only artist to date to have a number-one single on a Billboard chart in six consecutive decades, from the 1960s to the 2010s. Aside from music and acting, she is noted for her political views, social media presence, philanthropic endeavors, and social activism, including LGBT rights and HIV/AIDS prevention.
Cher Official Website: https://www.cherfanclub.com
YouTube Channel: https://youtube.com/cher
Dixie Girl
Cher Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
I used to chase the fireflies
Then I grew up and started chasing the guys
Teenage romance what just the thing
Till I got in a family way
Now mama only working in a cheap cafe
[Chorus]
Waiting on tables and passing myself around
Dixie girl, you're the small talk
In a small talking town
I fall in love every day with someone
Who ends up just driving away
While I dreaming I with him
Going down that west bound highway
One night a man walks in and smiles
And orders coffee black
Took me for a ride in his brand new cadillac
Told me he loved me with all his heart
I told him I loved him too
He said goodbye Dixie, I'll be back for you
[Chorus]
Now all I do is read those
Hollywood photograph magazines
Work my shifts for tips
And live alone in my dreams
I'm a Dixie girl who prays
Some day she'll be a Delta queen
Find a good man,
Who'll raise me and my baby
[Chorus: x 2]
In Cher's song Dixie Girl, she shares the story of a young woman from the South who dreamt of the possibility of love and chasing her heart's desires. She recalls her carefree days as a little girl chasing fireflies in Dixie, but as she grew up, she found herself chasing after boys. Cher sings about the young woman's teenage romance, that ended with her getting pregnant, leaving her mother to work alone at a cheap cafe. The woman is now trapped in her small town, where she falls in love every day but ends up getting her heartbroken as the men she falls for just drive away. However, one night a man walks in and changes her life. He takes her for a ride in his brand new Cadillac and tells her that he loves her with all his heart. She reciprocates the feeling and hopes that he comes back for her. But as fate would have it, he leaves Dixie, and she is left to dream about him while she waits tables and passes herself around.
The song showcases the struggles of small-town living, where people are often left to dream about the life they could have had if they had made different choices. It is a poignant reminder that sometimes, no matter how hard we try, life doesn't always go according to our plans, and things can unravel pretty quickly. Overall, Dixie girl is a beautiful song that reminds us to appreciate what we have and cherish the moments that we have to pursue our dreams.
Line by Line Meaning
When I was a little girl in Dixie
As a child growing up in Dixie, life was simple and carefree
I used to chase the fireflies
My childhood was filled with innocence, wonder, and chasing after little pleasures
Then I grew up and started chasing the guys
As a teenager, priorities shifted from childhood innocence to teenage romance
Teenage romance was just the thing
As a teenager, love and romance were all that mattered
Till I got in a family way
Until I became pregnant and had to face the realities of the situation
Now Mama only working in a cheap cafe
As a result of my pregnancy, my mother had to take on a job at a low-paying cafe to support me and my baby
Waiting on tables and passing myself around
In order to make ends meet, I had to resort to working as a waitress and compromising my dignity just to get by
Dixie girl, you're the small talk in a small talking town
My reputation as a single mother and waitress was the talk of the town, yet I felt small and insignificant in the grand scheme of things
I fall in love every day with someone who ends up just driving away
Despite my situation, I still held out hope for finding love and companionship, but it always seemed to be just out of reach
While I dreaming I with him, going down that west bound highway
In my dreams, I imagined escaping my current reality and traveling towards a better future with someone who truly loved and cared for me
One night a man walks in and smiles, and orders coffee black
One night, a man entered the cafe where I worked and caught my attention with his charm and simple request for coffee
Took me for a ride in his brand new Cadillac
He swept me off my feet by taking me on a joyride in his fancy car
Told me he loved me with all his heart, I told him I loved him too
He professed his love for me and I reciprocated his feelings, hoping that this was finally the real deal
He said goodbye Dixie, I'll be back for you
Despite the promises and declarations of love, he still left me behind with just a fleeting promise of a future return
Now all I do is read those Hollywood photograph magazines
Left alone with my dreams, I resorted to seeking escapism through reading Hollywood magazines and dreaming of a life that seemed out of reach
Work my shifts for tips, and live alone in my dreams
I continued to work grueling shifts as a waitress, barely making ends meet, and living vicariously through my own dreams
I'm a Dixie girl who prays, someday she'll be a Delta queen
Despite it all, I still hold out hope for a better future and a chance at true love and happiness as a queen of the Delta
Find a good man, who'll raise me and my baby
Ultimately, my deepest desire is to find a good man who will love and care for me and my child, providing a stable and secure future for us both
Chorus: Waiting on tables and passing myself around, Dixie girl, you're the small talk in a small talking town
Despite my struggles and dreams, my current reality is that of a single mother, waitress, and gossip fodder in my small town
Chorus: I fall in love every day with someone who ends up just driving away, while I'm dreaming I'm with him, going down that west bound highway
Despite my disappointments and heartbreaks, I still hold out hope for finding love and a way out of my current situation
Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group
Written by: JAMES SANFORD JR. PINKARD, JOHN ROBERT DURRILL
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind