Song of the Day | Indigo Girls – Elizabeth

As the Indigo Girls begin their latest tour of the UK this month, it’s hard to believe it’s nearly 20 years since they released their eponymous debut album. No surprise then that latest album One Lost Day has a retrospective feel, with opening track ‘Elizabeth’ setting the mood as Emily Saliers looks back at her college days in Louisiana and a fellow student she was close to.
But it’s about living in the moment as well, as the song gently pokes fun at a live audience focused only on recording the show to watch later. ‘Elizabeth’ is a celebration of a simpler and less self-conscious time, when we had no way to record our every interaction. There’s no bitterness as Emily declines to look up her lost love on social media to see her happily conventional lifestyle of today, preferring to simply remember the wild times they had back then: “I’m pretty sure it’s just enough. That I remember you fondly.” Woven together with Amy Ray’s distinctive warm harmonies, it makes for exactly the poignant but uplifting tale we’ve come to expect from an Indigo Girls song.

Monday 24th July – Birmingham Town Hall
Tuesday 25th July – Bierkeller, Bristol
Wednesday 26th July – Concorde 2, Brighton
Friday 28th July – Cambridge Folk Festival
Saturday 29th July – Islington Assembly Hall, London
Sunday 30th July – Islington Assembly Hall, London

Words: Sarah Byrne
Photo: Jeremy Cowart