DeMent was born in Paragould, Arkansas, the 14th and youngest child of Pat DeMent (1910–1992) and wife Flora Mae (1918–2011). Iris's mother had harbored dreams of going to Nashville and starting a singing career. Although she put those plans on hold to get married, her singing voice was an inspiration and influence for her youngest daughter Iris. DeMent was raised in a Pentecostal household. Her family moved from Arkansas to the Los Angeles area when she was three. While growing up, she was exposed to and influenced by country and gospel music. Singing at age five as one of "the little DeMent sisters", Iris had a bad experience when she forgot her words during her first performance, which caused her to avoid performing in public for some time.
DeMent was inspired to write her first song, "Our Town," by a drive through a boarded-up Midwest town at the age of 25. The song lyrics came to her "exactly as it is now," without need for re-writing, and she realized then that songwriting was her calling. "Our Town" was played during the closing scene for the final episode (July 26, 1995) of CBS's television series Northern Exposure. The song has been recorded by Kate Rusby, Kate Brislin & Jody Stecher and Trampled by Turtles.
Her first album, Infamous Angel, was released in 1992 on the Rounder-Philo label and explored such themes as religious skepticism, small-town life, and human frailty. "Let the Mystery Be" has been covered by a number of artists, including 10,000 Maniacs and Alice Stuart, and was used in the opening scenes of the film Little Buddha. In the fall of 2015, a version of "Let the Mystery Be" from the Transatlantic Sessions became the musical theme for the opening credits of the HBO series The Leftovers, replacing the original "Main Title Theme" composed by Max Richter, and it would once again serve as the opening theme for the series finale.
In her second album, My Life, released in 1994, she continued the personal and introspective approach. The record is dedicated to her father, who died two years earlier. My Life was nominated for a Grammy Award in the Best Contemporary Folk Album category.
DeMent's third album, The Way I Should, was released in 1996. Featuring the protest song "Wasteland of the Free", it is DeMent's most political work. It covers topics such as sexual abuse, religion, government policy, and Vietnam.
DeMent sang the duet "Bell Bottomed Tear" as part of The Beautiful South's Much Later with Jools live special in 1997.
In 1998, the song "Iris" by the rock band Goo Goo Dolls was named after her. Singer and songwriter John Rzeznik had already written the lyrics to the song but was having a problem naming it. He opened up the LA Weekly and noticed that DeMent was playing in town and thought her name was beautiful and then decided to name it after her.
She sang four duets with John Prine on his 1999 album In Spite of Ourselves, including the title track. She appeared in the 2000 film Songcatcher, playing the character Rose Gentry and singing on the soundtrack as well. Her duet with Ralph Stanley on "Ridin' That Midnight Train" was the opening track on his 2001 album, Clinch Mountain Sweethearts: Ralph Stanley & Friends.
In 2004 she released Lifeline, an album of gospel songs. It included 12 covers and one original composition ("He Reached Down"). It was the first album she released on Flariella Records, a label she started herself and named after her mother. A shortened version of her rendition of "Leaning on the Everlasting Arms" was later used in the closing credits of the Coen brothers' film True Grit. On October 2, 2012, DeMent released her first album of original songs in 16 years, Sing the Delta.
DeMent has sung duets with Steve Earle and Emmylou Harris and is featured on the albums of many other performers. She sang the Merle Haggard song "Big City" on Tulare Dust: A Songwriters' Tribute to Merle Haggard. She has made frequent appearances on Garrison Keillor's radio show A Prairie Home Companion. DeMent contributed harmony vocals to "Pallbearer", a song from country artist Josh Turner's 2012 album Punching Bag.
In 2015, DeMent released The Trackless Woods, an album based upon and inspired by the words of Russian poet Anna Akhmatova, on her own Flariella record label. She reunited with John Prine in 2016 for his second duets album For Better, or Worse and performed on two tracks. DeMent received the Americana Trailblazer Award at the 2017 Americana Music Honors & Awards.
Before The Colors Fade
Iris DeMent Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
I sit alone remembering you
Alll those things you'd say and do
And the feel of being next to you
The angles of your sweet, old, face
The voice that filled my life with grace
I walk as through a sacred place
Before the colors fade
Everybody comes and then they go
Everybody fades and glows
Everybody falls and climbs
Some people go before their time
But no one sparkled quite like you
I'm gonna miss you through and through
I'll visit every shade and hue
Before the colors fade
Tonight I'll read you like a book
Every twist and turn you took
Every song and every look
All you gave, all you took
In time you might seem like a dream
But until then and in between
I'll linger on each sacred scene
Before the colors fade
Before the colors fade from view
I sit alone remembering you
And all those things you'd say and do
And the feel of being next to you
The angles of your sweet, old face
The voice that filled my life with grace
I linger in this sacred place
Before the colors fade
The song "Before the Colors Fade" by Iris DeMent is a heartfelt and emotional tribute to someone the singer loved and lost. The lyrics speak to the impermanence of life and the importance of cherishing the memories we have with those we love before they fade away.
Through vivid imagery, DeMent paints a picture of the person she is remembering - their sweet old face, the sound of their voice, and the way they made her feel. She acknowledges that everyone has their time and that this person, in particular, shone brighter than most. She is going to miss them deeply, but before the colors fade, she will relish every moment and every memory.
The final verse is especially poignant as DeMent promises to read the person like a book and savour every detail of their life together. She knows that in time, the memories may fade, but for now, she will cling to them and treasure them in this sacred place.
Overall, "Before the Colors Fade" is a timeless ballad about love, loss, and the power of memories. It reminds us to cherish the moments we have with loved ones while we have them and hold them close in our hearts even after they're gone.
Line by Line Meaning
Before the colors fade from view
I want to cherish the present moment with you so that I can keep it as a memory forever.
I sit alone remembering you
I am filled with nostalgia and thoughts of you when we were together.
All those things you'd say and do
I remember every word you said and every action that brought us closer together.
And the feel of being next to you
I miss the sensation of physical and emotional closeness when we were together.
The angles of your sweet, old, face
I recall the details of your kind and wizened visage from my memories.
The voice that filled my life with grace
I cherish the sound of your voice and the way it impacted my life positively.
I walk as through a sacred place
The memories of us are sacred to me, like walking through a holy place.
Everybody comes and then they go
People inevitably come and go in life.
Everybody fades and glows
Everyone has their time in the spotlight and their moments of obscurity.
Everybody falls and climbs
People have their ups and downs in life.
Some people go before their time
Some people die young, before they reach their full potential in life.
But no one sparkled quite like you
You were a unique and special person, and no one can compare to you.
I'm gonna miss you through and through
I will miss every part of you, from your personality to your physical presence.
I'll visit every shade and hue
I will revisit every memory and experience we shared, from the happiest to the saddest.
Tonight I'll read you like a book
I will delve deep into my memories to recall every aspect of you, like reading a detailed book.
Every twist and turn you took
I will remember every decision and action you took in life, both good and bad.
Every song and every look
I will recall every song that held meaning to us and every look you gave me that made my heart flutter.
All you gave, all you took
I will remember every moment of give and take in our relationship.
In time you might seem like a dream
As time passes, my memories of you may fade or feel like a distant dream.
But until then and in between
But for now, and in the period between the present and the future, I will hold on tightly to these memories.
I'll linger on each sacred scene
I will cherish and savor every memory and experience we shared together as sacred moments.
Before the colors fade
Before these memories fade away into obscurity or become harder to recall, I will hold on to them tightly.
Contributed by Jake F. Suggest a correction in the comments below.