Sarah Palin is "Tupelo Bound"

"When it was announced that Governor Palin will be at the Lynchburg, VA, National EWomen conference in October, the event SOLD OUT in just 21 days--six months in advance!" So: "In addition to their national conference in Lynchburg, VA, on October 7-8, 2011, Extraordinary Women announces that special guest, Governor Sarah Palin, will join them for three additional events: Tupelo, MS; October 21-22, 2011- Greenville, SC; March 16-17, 2012-Birmingham, AL; April 27-28, 2012."

Oh my: She's Tupelo bound! I know a song about that.

I first encountered Nick Cave as a writer of Ute Lemper's "Little Water Song," so I got The Best of Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds, which has a "Tupelo" track. Its sonic landscape seemed like a train relentlessly bearing down on Tupelo; perhaps because the band's vocalization of "Tupelo-o-o" sounded like a train's whistle in this and other parts:

Distant thunder rumble. Distant thunder rumble
Rumble hungry like the Beast
The Beast it cometh, cometh down
The Beast it cometh, cometh down
Wo wo wo-o-o
Tupelo bound. Tupelo-o-o. Yeah Tupelo
The Beast it cometh, Tupelo bound

The song may actually be about a big storm headed for Tupelo. Gonna be a flood ... a flood of lies.

In the CD's liner notes, it's said of the lyrics of "Tupelo" that Nick Cave is speaking through the character of a visionary southern preacher articulating a warped Old Testament logic. The notes go on to say: 'These metaphorical figures, and others like those in "Saint Huck" and "The Carny" (the latter included here), are both blessed and blighted: beautiful losers, holy fools, cast out of the light. Like the similar cast of characters who would appear on 1996's Murder Ballads, they tend to be consumed by extreme, often literally murderous, emotions; adrift or else drowning, at odds with themselves and the world.'

Sarah "will be sharing her personal testimony of faith on Saturday afternoon at each of the conferences." She may be that visionary southern preacher, or that beast. "The Beast it cometh, Tupelo bound." Be careful, Tupelo!

Looka yonder! Looka yonder!
Looka yonder! A big black cloud come!
A big black cloud come!
O comes to Tupelo. Comes to Tupelo

Here are Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds singing "Tupelo:"



The quoted information about Sarah's appearance in Tupelo was found at "Extraordinary Women Conference Adds Governor Sarah Palin to Three Additional Events."

The lyrics for "Tupelo" were found here. They may not be 100% accurate.

The YouTube video of Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds singing "Tupelo" is the same length as the track that appears on The Best of Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds CD, but I haven't compared the lyrics. Compressed and heard through tinny PC speakers, it isn't quite the portent of doom that it is on the CD.