Welch and Rawlings have collaborated on seven critically acclaimed albums, five released under her name, and two released under the name Dave Rawlings Machine. Her 1996 debut, Revival, and the 2001 release Time (The Revelator), received nominations for the Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Folk Album. Her 2003 album, Soul Journey, introduced electric guitar, drums, and a more upbeat sound to their body of work. After a gap of eight years, she released a fifth studio album, The Harrow & The Harvest, in 2011, which was also nominated for a Grammy for Best Contemporary Folk Album.
Welch was an associate producer and performed on two songs of the soundtrack of the Coen brothers 2000 film O Brother, Where Art Thou?, a platinum album that won the Grammy Award for Album of the Year in 2002. She also appeared in the film attempting to buy a Soggy Bottom Boys record. Welch, while not one of the principal actors, did sing and provide additional lyrics to the Sirens song "Didn't Leave Nobody but the Baby." In 2018 she and Rawlings wrote the song "When a Cowboy Trades His Spurs for Wings" for the Coens' The Ballad of Buster Scruggs, for which they received a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Original Song. Welch has collaborated and recorded with Alison Krauss, Ryan Adams, Jay Farrar, Emmylou Harris, the Decemberists, Sam Phillips, Conor Oberst, Ani DiFranco, and Robyn Hitchcock.
Gillian Howard Welch was born on October 2, 1967 in New York City, and was adopted by Mitzie Welch (née Marilyn Cottle) and Ken Welch, comedy and music entertainers. Her biological mother was a freshman in college, and her father was a musician visiting New York City. Welch has speculated that her biological father could have been one of her favorite musicians, and she later discovered from her adoptive parents that he was a drummer. Alec Wilkinson of The New Yorker stated that "from an address they had been given, it appeared that her mother ... may have grown up in the mountains of North Carolina". When Welch was three, her adoptive parents moved to Los Angeles to write music for The Carol Burnett Show. They also appeared on The Tonight Show.
As a child, Welch was introduced to the music of American folk singers Bob Dylan, Woody Guthrie, and the Carter Family. She performed folk songs with her peers at the Westland Elementary School in Los Angeles. Welch later attended Crossroads School, a high school in Santa Monica, California. While in high school, a local television program featured her as a student who "excelled at everything she did."
Welch and Rawlings incorporate elements of early twentieth century music such as old time, classic country, gospel and traditional bluegrass with modern elements of rhythm and blues, rock 'n' roll, jazz, and punk rock. The New Yorker's Alec Wilkinson maintained their musical style is "not easily classified—it is at once innovative and obliquely reminiscent of past rural forms".
The instrumentation on their songs is usually a simple arrangement, with Welch and Rawlings accompanying their own vocals with acoustic guitars, banjos, or a mandolin. Welch plays rhythm guitar with a 1956 Gibson J-50 (or banjo), while Rawlings plays lead on a 1935 Epiphone Olympic Guitar.The New Yorker's Wilkinson described Rawlings as a "strikingly inventive guitarist" who plays solos that are "daring melodic leaps". A review in No Depression by Andy Moore observed that Rawlings "squeezes, strokes, chokes and does just about everything but blow into" his guitar.
Many songs performed by Welch and Rawlings contain dark themes about social outcasts struggling against such elements as poverty, drug addiction, death, a disconnection from their family, and an unresponsive God. Despite Welch being the lead singer, several of these characters are male. Welch has commented, "To be commercial, everybody wants happy love songs. People would flat-out ask me, 'Don't you have any happy love songs?' Well, as a matter of fact, I don't. I've got songs about orphans and morphine addicts." To reflect these themes, Welch and Rawlings often employ a slow pace to their songs. Their tempo is compared to a "slow heartbeat", and Cowperthwait of Rolling Stone observed that their songs "can lull you into near-hypnosis and then make your jaw drop with one final revelation".
I Made a Lover
Gillian Welch Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
I made a lover's prayer
Then watched the sky
Then wanted to cry
It's only you and I
And how I try
I made a lover's prayer
I made a lover's prayer
Help me rise above
What I'm thinking of
Just a little more love
Just a little more love
I made a lover's prayer
I made a lover's prayer
I made a lover's prayer
The lyrics of Gillian Welch's song, "I Make a Lover's Prayer" are an expression of the singer's desire for more love in her life. The repetition of the phrase, "I made a lover's prayer," creates a meditative rhythm that reinforces the fervor of the singer's prayer. The verse, "Then watched the sky, then wanted to cry," hints at a feeling of being lost or alone, which motivates the singer's search for love. The line, "It's only you and I," suggests that the singer's prayer is directed to a specific person, perhaps a lover, who is also the source of her loneliness.
The chorus of the song, "Help me rise above what I'm thinking of, just a little more love," captures the singer's desire for transcendence and for the unifying power of love. She seems to be asking for a way to escape from her own thoughts and emotions, which are blocking her from feeling the love she needs. The phrase, "just a little more love," is an acknowledgment that love alone may not solve all her problems, but it is a start. The song ends with another repetition of the titular line, "I made a lover's prayer," as if the singer is still going through the ritual of praying for love, hoping that it will eventually be answered.
Line by Line Meaning
I made a lover's prayer
I am beseeching a higher power to provide me and my lover with blessings and guidance.
I made a lover's prayer
I am continuing to implore for divine intervention in our romantic relationship.
Then watched the sky
After praying, I looked up and contemplated the vastness of the universe.
Then wanted to cry
Feeling overwhelmed by the immensity of it all, I desired to shed tears of relief.
It's only you and I
In this moment, we are the only two people in the world who matter.
And how I try
Despite my best efforts, I am struggling to keep our love afloat.
I made a lover's prayer
I repeatedly turn to prayer as a source of hope and comfort in our relationship.
Help me rise above
I am requesting divine assistance to lift me beyond the challenges that face us.
What I'm thinking of
I am referring to the negative thoughts and doubts that are weighing on me.
Just a little more love
I am pleading for an extra dose of affection and care from my partner.
Just a little more love
I am echoing my previous request for more love, as it is something I desperately need.
I made a lover's prayer
I will not give up on seeking help from a higher power to improve our relationship.
Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group, BMG RIGHTS MANAGEMENT US, LLC
Written by: DAVID TODD RAWLINGS, GILLIAN HOWARD WELCH
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
vonbear1
Gillian and Dave can express a universal emotion and make it available to all of us. That is something very special. My God they are incredible!
TONY INXS FAN FRIENDS
Que belleza de canción. Es realmente hermosa.
Gracias por esta espectacular publicación una verdadera belleza Tony desde Córdoba España paz. Fantástico
Chris Williams
It's hard being a hopeless romantic,I love your music..Your the bomb!!!
lennieblue
I have never heard of Gillian Welch. The song really caught me while watching Criminal Minds (episode 21, Season 5- Exit Wounds). So naturally I had to spend 45 minutes trying to find who and what. Glad I did. Nice!
Jim Thompson
I just heard it on Criminal Minds as well just a few minutes ago. Love it.
Rain
Awesome song to add to my Playlist! I had to hear this at the end of Criminal Minds, the music industry ruined it all! The best artists don't get recognition!! The so called Top Charts are filed with untalented people who can't sing without their Mike Tuners! Thanks for the Post 🤔😀✌✌
LKS for NHS Ambulance Services in England
Came across Gillian Welch on Last.FM. Listened to a lot of female country singer clones before GW, her voice just came right out and grabbed me. A true original. Amazing.
Suzanne Bryant
Heard this years ago on BBC Radio 2 as one of actor Christopher Eccleston's favourites. Screen shotted it as I thought it was really moving. I come back to listen to it every now and then. Very soothing.
Emma Wolno
Hauntingly beautiful
SHARON Yates
Beautiful!!!!!!!!!