Songs from the Wine Cellar is a series by David that features one track (both released and unreleased material) and the story behind it.
Check back monthly for new music from the wine cellar!
Sally Hemings
I’d been touring nonstop for many, many months.
When you’re on the road, it is very easy to slip into the “ESPN mode.” Done with your concert, have a drink, return to hotel room, turn on ESPN.
So I decided to read books instead. I picked up the six volume by Dumas Malone on Thomas Jefferson and was enthralled. After finishing this erudite set of books – besides falling in love with Jefferson as everyone does – I noticed that the author, Dumas Malone, had fallen in love too.
He asked us to believe that after Mr. Jefferson’s wife had died in his early thirties, his interactions with all woman in the biblical sense had ended. Hmmm. It seemed like Mr. Malone had literally carved Thomas Jefferson into marble as well.
- A decade of touring went by for me.
- Historical DNA testing came into being
- The Hemings family of Virginia was tested…and lo & behold, Mr. Jefferson was not made of marble while he lived – and these were his descendants based on his intimate relationship with Sally, who was technically, a slave.
When the Lewinsky imbroglio broke in the 90’s, only to be revealed & unraveled by a DNA sample, the parallels between the two situations came fully into view…as did my song Sally Hemings.
Lyrics
She bore him a child, then there were more
she came to him black, came to him poor
husband & wife? No master ’n slave
and they both took their secret to the grave…
WELL THEY CARVED HIM IN BRONZE
‘N THEY CARVED HIM IN STONE
AH BUT HE WAS JUST A MAN
MADE OF FLESH AND OF BONE
AND SHE GAVE HIM HER LOVE
WHEN SHE CAME TO HIM ALONE…
SALLY HEMINGS
A man of means, a man well bred
above reproach so nothing was said
But on his farm, they all knew
those children’s eyes shone in Jefferson blue…
WELL THEY CARVED HIM IN BRONZE
‘N THEY CARVED HIM IN STONE
AH BUT HE WAS JUST A MAN
MADE OF FLESH AND OF BONE
AND HE SPOKE OF IDEALS
‘TILL HE CAME TO HER ALONE…
SALLY HEMINGS
he might have loved her, this might be true
but after all, what could she do?
(what else could she do?)
History hides, a thousand sins
written by the side that wins
They twist the truth, they twist today
but for a blue dress and a little DNA
WELL THEY’LL CARVE HIM IN BRONZE
‘N THEY’LL CARVE HIM IN STONE
AH BUT HE IS JUST A MAN
MADE OF FLESH AND OF BONE
AND SHE GAVE HIM HER LOVE
WHEN SHE CAME TO HIM ALONE…
LIKE SALLY HEMINGS
