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.
Let the Mystery Be
Iris DeMent Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Everybody's worryin' 'bout where they're gonna go
When the whole thing's done
But no one knows for certain
And so it's all the same to me
I think I'll just let the mystery be
Some say once you're gone you're gone forever
Some say you rest in the arms of the Saviour
If in sinful ways you lack
Some say that they're comin' back in a garden
Bunch of carrots and little sweet peas
I think I'll just let the mystery be
Everybody's wonderin' what and where they they all came from
Everybody's worryin' 'bout where they're gonna go
When the whole thing's done
But no one knows for certain
And so it's all the same to me
I think I'll just let the mystery be
Some say they're goin' to a place called Glory
And I ain't saying it ain't a fact
But I've heard that I'm on the road to purgatory
And I don't like the sound of that
I believe in love and I live my life accordingly
But I choose to let the mystery be
Everybody is wondering what and where they they all came from
Everybody is worryin' 'bout where they're gonna go
When the whole thing's done
But no one knows for certain
And so it's all the same to me
I think I'll just let the mystery be
I think I'll just let the mystery be
The lyrics of Iris DeMent's song "Let The Mystery Be" seem to suggest that people are obsessed with figuring out the meaning of life, where we came from and where we go after death, but ultimately we can never truly know for certain. The lyrics express frustration with the uncertainty of these big questions and encourage a "live and let live" attitude towards spirituality and the afterlife.
The opening lines paint a picture of a world where everyone is searching for answers about the meaning of life, where we come from and where we go after we die, but nobody really knows for sure. That sense of uncertainty can be unsettling, but the singer seems to be at peace with that fact. Instead of dwelling on the unknown, she chooses to "let the mystery be." She isn't advocating for any particular answer or belief, simply acknowledging that sometimes it's best to accept the unknown and live in the present moment.
The following verses are similarly ambivalent towards any particular spiritual belief or afterlife. While some people believe in reincarnation, the singer chooses not to speculate about what happens after we die. The idea of going to a place called Glory or being stuck in purgatory are both plausible, but ultimately it doesn't matter because none of us can know for certain. The singer remains steadfast in her belief in love and living a good life, but doesn't claim to have any answers beyond that.
Overall, "Let The Mystery Be" is a song about embracing the unknown and accepting that some aspects of life are beyond our understanding. The song provides a sense of comfort in the face of existential angst by encouraging listeners to let go of the need for certainty and instead focus on living in the present moment.
Line by Line Meaning
Everybody's wonderin' what and where they they all came from
Everyone is questioning their origins and where they originated from
Everybody's worryin' 'bout where they're gonna go
Everyone is concerned about their ultimate destination
When the whole thing's done
Refers to the end of life
But no one knows for certain
No one has definite knowledge or certainty of what happens after death
And so it's all the same to me
The artist doesn't concern themselves with the unknown
I think I'll just let the mystery be
The singer chooses to not try to solve the mystery
Some say once you're gone you're gone forever
Some believe death is the absolute end of existence
And some say you're gonna come back
Others believe in rebirth or reincarnation
Some say you rest in the arms of the Saviour
Some have faith that they will be saved and rest in the arms of a higher power
If in sinful ways you lack
Condition for being saved
Some say that they're comin' back in a garden, bunch of carrots and little sweet peas
Some believe they will be reborn or resurrected in a garden with edible crops
Some say they're goin' to a place called Glory
Some believe in an afterlife of bliss or paradise
And I ain't saying it ain't a fact
The singer doesn't dispute these beliefs
But I've heard that I'm on the road to purgatory
The singer has heard a belief in a place of temporary punishment after death for those not fully absolved of sins
And I don't like the sound of that
The singer doesn't like the idea of being punished
I believe in love and I live my life accordingly
The artist believes in love and actions that align with that belief
But I choose to let the mystery be
The artist chooses to not try to solve the mystery
Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group, Warner Chappell Music, Inc.
Written by: Iris Luella Dement
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
@juliangiulio3147
Oh yes, this is what I seem to Know :)
The NDE's -some of which just cannot be doubted, are enough evidence that there is something.
But if not (if a 'scientist' thinks that is merely 'the lack of oxygen', when what about those when were actually dead for a while and came back!?
Many 'Scientists' are not really rational, but support their materialist viewpoint quite irrationally!
But, failing that, we have our own being to delve into... I think we all know it unconsciously, I would wager... But it may be deeply buried..!
Some of my own evidence, and I am no 'New ager', or Buddhist/Hindu, is that past lives have come tome when I was working on current problems... I was not and still don't seek them out!
And it is almost also like it is 'not me' as well!
But like the song suggests, it is still good to keep an open mind and let people believe what they want to :)@@loriosterweil982
@LocalTeen
Everybody's wonderin' what and where they they all came from
Everybody's worryin' 'bout where they're gonna go
When the whole thing's done
But no one knows for certain
And so it's all the same to me
I think I'll just let the mystery be
Some say once you're gone you're gone forever
And some say you're gonna come back
Some say you rest in the arms of the Saviour
If in sinful ways you lack
Some say that they're comin' back in a garden
Bunch of carrots and little sweet peas
I think I'll just let the mystery be
Everybody's wonderin' what and where they they all came from
Everybody's worryin' 'bout where they're gonna go
When the whole thing's done
But no one knows for certain
And so it's all the same to me
I think I'll just let the mystery be
Some say they're goin' to a place called Glory
And I ain't saying it ain't a fact
But I've heard that I'm on the road to purgatory
And I don't like the sound of that
I believe in love and I live my life accordingly
But I choose to let the mystery be
Everybody is wondering what and where they they all came from
Everybody is worryin' 'bout where they're gonna go
When the whole thing's done
But no one knows for certain
And so it's all the same to me
I think I'll just let the mystery be
I think I'll just let the mystery be
@kedemberger8773
Leftovers brought me here. The best US show I've ever seen (along with Oz). Now I know this song will follow me till the rest of my life.
@dannycostello1978
Too right!
@maryjohannesen1716
I've picked this out for my Funeral.
@bt4817
We had this at my dads funeral - he used to listen to Iris while cooking on a Sunday
@BenjiMordino
Iris deserves much more fame than she has, once you discover the purity of that voice, the beauty of her songwriting, the beautiful simple folk picking. Just blissful stuff.
@ryandavidson3660
I actually picked up the guitar 4 years ago and started to teach myself because of her music :)
@mkllong4663
I heard her sing this in Dallas tonight. She and this song have gotten better with time. She's a true warrior of love.
@chuckschillingvideos
It's very possible Iris never wanted "much more fame" - the compromises that seem obligatory in achieving fame and fortune seem inimicable to her in my opinion. I would posit she deserves exactly the level of fame and fortune she wishes, whatever that might be.
@theccpisaparasite8813
Just a simple singer of folk songs. A voice right out of the bones of the nation. She sounds like she could have sang in the time of the Dust Bowl. Wonderful bit of Americana here.
@dobronx5270
I am currently watching The leftovers. I know very few people are watching it and feel sad about it. This show is such a masterpiece and deserve a good exposure.