Natalie Merchant - Sister Tilly
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Why did Rishi choose to revisit Natalie Merchant’s “Sister Tilly” after Dolly Parton and Gloria Steinem’s deaths?
You're listening to Song Exploder, where musicians take apart their songs and piece by piece tell the story of how they were made. I'm Rishike Shirway. When I heard the news about Dolly Parton's death a few weeks ago, and then a few days after that, heard about Gloria Steinem's death, I thought about this song that Natalie Merchant wrote called Sister Tilly. It's about losing a generation of activist women who did so much in their lifetimes. So I wanted to go back and revisit that song and Natalie Merchant's beautiful story about what the song means to her. Also, in the show notes, I'm including links to donate to To Dolly Parton's Imagination Library, which mails free books to children, and to the Women's Media Center, a nonprofit that Gloria Steinem co-founded.
Okay, here's the Natalie Merchant episode, which originally came out in June twenty twenty three. Natalie Merchant is an award winning singer and songwriter from upstate New York. She was the lead singer of the band 10,000 Maniacs until she left in 1993. And then, as a solo artist, she's put out nine albums over the last 30 years. Between 10,000 Maniacs and her solo work, she's had multiple multi-platinum records.
How does Natalie Merchant describe her musical background and the comeback album *Keep Your Courage*?
In April 2023, Natalie put out her first album of new songs in nine years. It's called Keep Your Courage. And for this episode, she talked to me about the song Sister Tilly. It's a eulogy for a fictional character, a woman who represents the generation of women who influenced her, women who were activists in the 1960s and 70s when she was growing up.
Oh Miss Tilly, I think you should know. Everyone's missing you here. Your fortune telling cards reflex in the eyes. Your cupons and your stacks of mother jaws. Feminist raves in your tide and shades and your zembl so glad. My name's Natalie Merchant. About three years before I wrote Sister Tilly. I went to a funeral. For a beloved librarian in my small town. The memorial was so large that we had to have it in a school auditorium. Her husband came up to me before the memorial because I was running the sound. And he said, When I give you the signal, play this song. As loud as you can. And he gave me the signal and it was Waterloo sunset by the Kinks.
What real‑life memorials inspired the creation of the fictional character Sister Tilly?
It was her favorite song. And the entire group of people in the room started weeping and laughing and everyone stood up and I was one of the people laughing and crying at the same time.
Millions of people swallowing like fly sounds.
Waterloo underground. Fast forward three years in the middle of the pandemic lockdown. I had a couple other friends of that same generation pass away and we weren't able to have any memorials. One was Sally Grossman, who was a local legend in upstate New York. So between those two experiences of Being at a memorial with a full room of people all celebrating this woman of that generation. And then poor Sally passing away and no one could gather for her. I had them in mind and how I wanted to celebrate the lives of these women and so many others of my mother's generation.
I was just sitting at my piano. I wasn't really writing with the aim of making an album. I hadn't done that in almost ten years. And I came up with the chord progression that made Sister Tilly appear. Oh Miss Tillney, I think you should know. Everyone's missing you. Yeah. I just said, Oh Miss Tilly. She just came out of my mouth, and that doesn't happen very often. Sometimes it's a blessing when you get a little message that says this is what your song is about and sometimes it's a curse because then I was like, Okay, I've created Sister Tilly, but I don't know. Who she is where she lives. I just had to flesh her out. I really wanted to turn Sister Tilly into a composite character. an amalgam of many different women because
I'm not really just eulogizing her, I'm eulogizing the generation. Of women. And so I thought that it'd be better to take characteristics from several different women I knew. The women that influenced me. At a young age. Introduced me to yoga. Definitely other books that I've read. Films that I saw. The influences are they're just the air that we breathe.
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Chapters
8 chapters
1
Why did Rishi choose to revisit Natalie Merchant’s “Sister Tilly” after Dolly Parton and Gloria Steinem’s deaths?
0:00–1:12
2
How does Natalie Merchant describe her musical background and the comeback album *Keep Your Courage*?
1:12–2:39
3
What real‑life memorials inspired the creation of the fictional character Sister Tilly?
2:39–5:27
4
How did Natalie develop the chord progression and melody that became the foundation of “Sister Tilly”?
5:27–9:30
5
Which musicians and instruments did Natalie bring together to arrange the song’s layered orchestration?
9:30–14:07
6
What lyrical references and 1960s‑70s cultural cues did Natalie embed to represent a generation of activist women?
14:07–19:44
7
Why does Natalie view “Sister Tilly” as a personal eulogy for her mother’s generation and a warning for today’s women?
19:44–21:55
8
How does the full performance of “Sister Tilly” encapsulate the episode’s themes before the show wraps up?
21:55–25:50