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".
Make Me a Pallett on Your Floor
Gillian Welch Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Make me down a pallet on your floor
Make me down a pallet soft and low
When I'm broke an' I got no where to go
Been hangin' around with a good time friends of mine
Hangin' around with a good time friends of mine
Oh, they treat me very nice and kind
Weary blues everywhere I see
Weary in blues everywhere I see
Weary blues, honey, everywhere I see
No one ever had the blues like me
Way I'm sleepin', my back and shoulders tired
Way I'm sleepin', my back and shoulders tired
Come tomorrow, I'll be satisfied
If I can catch that fast train and ride
So, make me down a pallet on your floor
Make me down a pallet on your floor
Make me down a pallet soft and low
Babe, I'm broke and I got no where to go
Gillian Welch's song "Make Me a Pallet on Your Floor" is a traditional blues song about a person who is broke and homeless, asking for a place to sleep. The song evokes a sense of longing for stability and comfort in the face of poverty and hardship. The request to "make me down a pallet on your floor" is a humble plea for a small kindness that could make a big difference in the singer's life. The repetition of the line emphasizes the singer's desperation and vulnerability.
The song also touches on themes of friendship and community. The singer mentions their "good time friends" who treat them kindly when they have money to spend, suggesting that even in difficult circumstances, people can find support and camaraderie. However, the pervasive sense of weariness and loneliness in the lyrics suggests that the singer feels isolated and disconnected from others most of the time.
The final verse brings a note of hope to the song, as the singer imagines catching a "fast train and ride" to a better future. This dream of escape is a common theme in blues music, representing the desire to leave behind difficult circumstances and start anew.
Overall, "Make Me a Pallet on Your Floor" is a poignant and timeless portrayal of the struggles faced by people living in poverty, and the importance of small acts of kindness and connection in difficult times.
Line by Line Meaning
Make me down a pallet on your floor
Please prepare a makeshift bed for me on the floor
Make me down a pallet soft and low
Create a comfortable bed for me using the available resources
When I'm broke an' I got no where to go
I'm currently facing financial struggles and I have nowhere else to stay
Hangin' around with good time friends of mine
I've been spending time with my friendly but carefree and perhaps financially irresponsible friends
Oh, they treat me very nice and kind
My friends are hospitable and treat me well especially when I have some money to spend
When I've got a dollar and a dime
My friends are only kind to me when I have some money to spend on them
Weary blues everywhere I see
I'm surrounded by sadness and despair everywhere I look
No one ever had the blues like me
I feel that no one understands the depth of my sadness and despair
Way I'm sleepin', my back and shoulders tired
My current sleeping position is very uncomfortable and has put a strain on my back and shoulders
Come tomorrow, I'll be satisfied
If by tomorrow I am able to leave the situation I'm in, I'll be content
If I can catch that fast train and ride
I'm hoping I'll be able to get on a fast train and leave soon
Babe, I'm broke and I got no where to go
I'm broke and desperate to find a place to stay
Lyrics © Wixen Music Publishing, Universal Music Publishing Group
Written by: Traditional, Gillian Howard Welch
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
city zen
Make me down a pallet on your floor
Make me down a pallet on your floor
Make me down a pallet soft and low
When I'm broke and I got nowhere to go
Been hanging 'round with a good-time friends of mine
Hanging around with a good-time friends of mine
Oh, they treat me very nice and kind
When I've got a dollar and a dime
We're in blues everywhere I see
We're in blues everywhere I see
We're in blues, honey, everywhere I see
No one ever had the blues like me
Way I'm sleeping, my back and shoulders tired
Way I'm sleeping, my back and shoulders tired
Come tomorrow, I'll be satisfied
If I can catch that fast train and ride
So, make me down a pallet on your floor
Make me down a pallet on your floor
Make me down a pallet soft and low
Babe, I'm broke and I got nowhere to go
Songwriters: GILLIAN WELCH
Rockers2Rockers
David Rawlings guitar playing is sublime. Topped off with his softly voiced harmony, it all fits like a hand in a velvet glove with the lead vocals if Gillian Walsh. Ace!
Bradford Masoni
There's this tiny moment around 2:05 or 2:06 where he gets the idea for where he's going -- how he's going to end the phrase -- just before he executes it, and he gets this tiny smile. Such a nice little moment for guitar players (and non-guitar players).
Jason Umbrellabird
I didn't spot the smile.
Max
This song has been coming to me in my sleep...for the last 4 months
Gillian...you are a Legend......God Bless
Ethan Cordray
This is my favorite version of this classic song. I think Gillian captures the feel of the broke-down, weary blues perfectly. Just needing a place to sleep when you've got nothing left. If you've never been in that situation, you probably know somebody who has.
Mark Cianciolo
Instant goosebumps. From the profound feeling Gillian finds deep within herself and shares with us. This is a song no one performs who does not love it. Love it so much that they have to put it out there. It's a BIG SONG, a work of natural genius from Mississippi John Hurt. A miracle, if the truth be told. And this is a fantastic version from Gillian and David. Praise the Lord and Amen.
Richard Whiteford
This is some of the best lead guitar playing I've ever heard in this type of music.
Ws Johnston
Perfect vocal and instrumental harmony. Pretty incredible!!!
Michele M Media
Two gigantic talents. I can't stop listening. Thanks for posting such great sound too.They sold me two albums on E-music already, so keep it up. Fantastic albums!
Mark McCurry
i've heard this old blues song done by, many, many artists, but these two are just perfect.