Songwriters possess the power to change reality in a way. If something happens that they find upsetting or tragic, they can use their craft to imagine what might have occurred had fate been a bit more forgiving.
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Brandi Carlile’s 2018 song “Fulton County Jane Doe” came from a writer who couldn’t abide the senselessness of a news item he read. The song he created wrested immortality for its title character from the jaws of anonymity.
Revisiting a True Tale
Superstar artists aren’t uniform in how they reach their peak. In some cases, it takes a while before they hit their best stride and deliver their finest effort. Brandi Carlile came into her 2018 album, By The Way, I Forgive You, after releasing five albums over a time span of more than a decade,
These records featured both accomplished songwriting in the Americana vein and Carlile’s powerhouse vocals, and they steadily improved in terms of their commercial reception. But By The Way, I Forgive You simply seemed to accelerate into another gear compared to what had come before it.
Much of the album’s acclaim focused on the inspirational single “The Joke”, which put Carlile and her twin-brother writing collaborators and band members Phil and Tim Hanseroth in the Grammy spotlight. But the brilliance throughout the entire album stands out, with “Fulton County Jane Doe” a particular highlight.
Although Carlile and the Hanseroth brothers are all listed as writers, Carlisle has given credit in interviews for the bulk of the song to Phil Hanseroth, who was inspired by a true story. An injured woman was found in a field in Fulton County, Georgia, in 1988. She died days after being found and remains unidentified to this day.\
Examining the Lyrics of “Fulton County Jane Doe”
“Fulton County Jane Doe” doesn’t speculate much on the details of this woman’s demise. Instead, Hanseroth’s lyrics offer her empathy and friendship, which in turn dignifies her unknown life. Carlile’s stirring vocals both ache for her fate and rise resiliently in kinship with her.
“Oh, the night brought us together,” Carlile sings. “And I lent my heart to you.” Some might find this gesture futile, but the song asks us to have faith that this woman can understand and feel the offering. The woman on whom the song is based did indeed have “Jesus tattooed on your hand,” as the lyrics indicate.
The narrator promises not to let her own preoccupations erase her story from her consciousness. “I’ll always save some room for you,” Carlile promises. “I won’t let you get left behind.” He’ll do even better than that: “That somewhere far from Fulton County/Someone says a prayer for you.”
In the final verse, the narrator dedicates the song to Jane while suggesting that they have something in common. “We came into this life with nothing,” Carlile testifies. “And all we’re taking is a name.” That ties into the chorus, where the narrator refuses to let her be just a nameless victim. “Somebody called you something sweet once,” she sings. “It was more than Fulton County Jane.”
Brandi Carlile’s “Fulton County Jane Doe” doesn’t try to make sense of what happened to this woman. It just acknowledges that she should be remembered for how she lived, even if we have to use the most benevolent corners of our imaginations to make that happen.
Photo by Kevin Winter/Getty Images
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