Dalton, whose heritage was Cherokee, was born Karen J. Cariker in Enid, Oklahoma. Her bluesy, world-weary voice is often compared to that of iconic jazz singer Billie Holiday. She sang blues, folk, country, pop, Motown - making over each song in her own style. She played the twelve string Gibson guitar and a long neck banjo.
In his 2004 autobiography, Bob Dylan wrote this in his description of discovering and joining the music scene at Greenwich Village's Cafe Wha? after arriving in New York City, New York, United States in 1961: "My favorite singer in the place was Karen Dalton. Karen had a voice like Billie Holiday and played guitar like Jimmy Reed... I sang with her a couple of times."
Dalton's second album, In My Own Time (1971), was recorded at Bearsville Studios and originally released by Woodstock Festival promoter Michael Lang's label, Just Sunshine Records. The album was produced and arranged by Harvey Brooks, who played bass on it. (Harvey Brooks played bass also on the Miles Davis album Bitches Brew, on the Bob Dylan album Highway 61 Revisited and on the Richie Havens album Mixed Bag.) Piano player Richard Bell guested on In My Own Time. Its liner notes were written by Fred Neil and its cover photos were taken by Elliot Landy. Less well-known is Dalton's first album, It's So Hard to Tell Who's Going to Love You the Best (Capitol, 1969), which was re-released by Koch Records on CD in 1996.
Both Dalton's albums were re-released in November 2006: It's So Hard To Tell Who's Going To Love You The Best, on the French Megaphone-Music label, included a bonus DVD featuring rare performance footage of Dalton. In My Own Time was re-released on CD and LP on November 7, 2006 by Light In The Attic Records.
The version of the song Something on Your Mind (composed by Dino Valenti) that is sung by Dalton on her album In My Own Time is the soundtrack during the ending credits of the 2007 film Margot at the Wedding, which was written and directed by Noah Baumbach and starred Nicole Kidman and Jennifer Jason Leigh.
Known as "the folk singer's answer to Billie Holiday" and "Sweet Mother K.D.", Dalton is said to be the subject of the song Katie's Been Gone (composed by Richard Manuel and Robbie Robertson) on the album The Basement Tapes by The Band and Bob Dylan. She struggled with drugs and alcohol for many years. It has been widely reported that she died in 1993 on the streets of New York City after an eight-year battle with AIDS.
However, an article in Uncut magazine confirmed that Dalton was actually being cared for by the guitarist Peter Walker in upstate New York during her last months.
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A cult singer, 12-string guitarist, and banjo player of the New York 1960s folk revival, Karen Dalton still remains known to very few, despite counting the likes of Bob Dylan and Fred Neil among her acquaintances. This was partly because she seldom recorded, only making one album in the 1960s - and that didn't come out until 1969, although she had been known on the Greenwich Village circuit since the beginning of the decade. It was also partly because, unlike other folksingers of the era, she was an interpreter who did not record original material. And it was also because her voice - often compared to Billie Holiday, but with a rural twang - was too strange and inaccessible to pop audiences. Nik Venet, producer of her debut album, went as far as to remark in Goldmine, "She was very much like Billie Holiday. Let me say this, she wasn't Billie Holiday but she had that phrasing Holiday had and she was a remarkable one-of-a-kind type of thing.... Unfortunately, it's an acquired taste, you really have to look for the music."
Dalton grew up in Oklahoma, moving to New York around 1960. Peter Stampfel of the Holy Modal Rounders, who was in her backup band in the early '70s, points out in his liner notes to the CD reissue of her first album that "she was the only folk singer I ever met with an authentic 'folk' background. She came to the folk music scene under her own steam, as opposed to being 'discovered' and introduced to it by people already involved in it." There is a photograph from February 1961 (now printed on the back cover of the It's So Hard to Tell Who's Going to Love You the Best reissue) of Dalton singing and playing with Fred Neil and Bob Dylan, the latter of whom was barely known at the time. Unlike her friends she was unable to even capture a recording contract, spending much of the next few years roaming around North America.
Dalton was not comfortable in the studio, and her Capitol album It's So Hard to Tell Who's Going to Love You the Best came about when Nik Venet, who had tried unsuccessfully to record her several times, invited her to a Fred Neil session. He asked her to cut a Neil composition, "Little Bit of Rain," as a personal favor so he could have it in his private collection; that led to an entire album, recorded in one session, most of the tracks done in one take. Dalton recorded one more album in the early '70s, produced by Harvey Brooks (who had played on some '60s Dylan sessions). Done in Bearsville Studios in Woodstock, it, like her debut, had an eclectic assortment of traditional folk tunes, blues, covers of soul hits ("When a Man Loves a Woman," "How Sweet It Is"), and contemporary numbers by singer/songwriters (Dino Valente, the Band's Richard Manuel). The Band's "Katie's Been Gone," included on The Basement Tapes, is rumored to be about Dalton.
Reason To Believe
Karen Dalton Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
I'd find a way to believe that it's all true
Knowing that you lied straight-faced while I cried
Still I look to find a reason to believe
If I gave you time to change my mind
I'd find a way to leave the past behind
Knowing that you lied straight-faced while I cried
Still I look to find a reason to believe
Someone like you makes it easy to give
Never thinking of myself
If I listen long enough to you
I'd find a way to believe that it's all true
Knowing that you lied straight-faced while I cried
Still I look to find a reason to believe
The lyrics to Karen Dalton's song "Reason to Believe" are a poignant expression of the struggle to let go of a relationship that has ended in betrayal. The singer acknowledges that the person who hurt her has lied to her face, yet she still searches for a reason to believe in their love. There is a sense of powerlessness and confusion, as she admits that "someone like you makes it hard to live without somebody else" and that she is "never thinking of myself".
The repetition of the lines "if I listen long enough to you, I'd find a way to believe that it's all true" shows how the singer is trying to convince herself that the relationship can be salvaged, despite the evidence to the contrary. The phrase "knowing that you lied straight-faced while I cried" encapsulates the pain of realizing that the person you trusted has deceived you.
The last lines of the song, "still I look to find a reason to believe", convey a sense of hopefulness and determination, as the singer refuses to give up on the possibility of finding love and happiness. Overall, the lyrics of "Reason to Believe" are a powerful testimony to the complexity of human emotion and the enduring desire for connection.
Line by Line Meaning
If I listen long enough to you
If I give in to your lies and deceitful ways just long enough
I'd find a way to believe that it's all true
I'd convince myself that your words hold merit, despite knowing your dishonesty
Knowing that you lied straight-faced while I cried
Understanding clearly that you deceived me even as my tears flowed uncontrollably
Still I look to find a reason to believe
Despite everything that has happened, I search for a reason to trust you again
If I gave you time to change my mind
Maybe if I let you try to persuade me again, I could reconsider my current stance
I'd find a way to leave the past behind
I could learn to let go of the hurt and betrayal in the hopes of moving on with you again
Someone like you makes it hard to live without Somebody else
Being with someone as manipulative and untrustworthy as you makes it nearly impossible to be alone
Someone like you makes it easy to give
However, being with you makes it easy for me to be selfless and put your needs before my own
Never thinking of myself
I constantly prioritize you and your feelings above my own desires and needs
If I listen long enough to you
Once again, if I give in to your words, your lies, your manipulations
I'd find a way to believe that it's all true
I would force myself to believe in you once more, despite all evidence to the contrary
Knowing that you lied straight-faced while I cried
Despite knowing the pain and deception you caused me before
Still I look to find a reason to believe
I still search for a reason to continue to trust and be with you, even when it seems impossible
Writer(s): Tim Hardin
Contributed by Ryan L. Suggest a correction in the comments below.
@gitisai3517
If I listen long enough to you
I'd find a way to believe that it's all true
Knowing, that you lied, straight-faced
While I cried
Still I'd look to find a reason to believe
If I gave you time to change my mind
I'd find a way to leave the past behind
Knowing that you lied, straight-faced
While I cried
Still I'd look to find a reason to believe
Someone like you makes it hard to live
Without, somebody else
Someone like you, makes it easy to give
Never think of myself
If I listen long enough to you
I'd find a way to believe that it's all true
Knowing that you lied, straight-faced
While I cried
Still I'd look to find a reason to believe.
@hadend
If I listened long enough to you
I'd find a way to believe that it's all true
Knowing that you lied straight-faced while I cried
Still I look to find a reason to believe
If I gave you time to change my mind
I'd find a way to leave the past behind
Knowing that you lied straight-faced while I cried
Still I look to find a reason to believe
Someone like you makes it hard to live without
Somebody else
Someone like you makes it easy to give
Never think about myself
If I listened long enough to you
I'd find a way to believe that it's all true
Knowing that you lied straight-faced while I cried
Still I look to find a reason to believe
@chefwoo22
I've heard everyone from Tim Hardin, Bruce Springsteen, Cher, Marianne Faithful, Peter Paul & Mary, Judy Collins & Rod Stewart sing this. It's the first one to bring instant tears.
@davidmcnair1455
Hardin wrote it.
@blackmarketgoodness5715
Her voice captures the essence of the song , the hurt of being cursed with a beating heart.
@dawnc2807
I like Karen Carpenters version too....given that she had an eating disorder this song has a different meaning.
@benkeijs
Mitchell Woo, Springsteen didn't sing this. His Reason to Believe is a total different song he wrote in 1982
@chefwoo22
Ben Keisjer: Thanks for the correction.
I was lucky enough to hear Tim Hardin sing it at Mr. Yasgur's farm half-a-century ago.....Yikes!
@sadidrahimi
I can’t believe this is only 200k. Karen Dalton was once in a blue moon, less than handful of artists can compare
@quietmind7476
This is brilliant!! Never heard of Karen until now.
@A.F.Chimes
Karen made me obsessed with this song. Check out my version on my channel
@ruthannarenee
Resonates hope, forgiveness, grace, love. Songs like this make me believe in god.