Natalie Merchant - Sister Tilly

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 Hrishikesh Hirway. This episode is brought to you by Booking.com. I've been to a few national parks over the years, and it's always been a pretty magical experience. I've been to Yosemite and Joshua Tree here in California. Those are some of the closest ones to me. But I've been wondering about taking a trip to one that's maybe not so close. And last year, I started looking at some lists ranking some of the most beautiful national parks, and one that's come up on a few of the lists is Glacier National Park in Montana. Okay, that's the first part of the daydream sorted. The next is, "Where am I gonna stay?" So I went on Booking.com to look at some options, and they have all kinds of different places to stay. I found a little cottage that looks incredible. It has a mountain view, it has a balcony, it has air conditioning. It has great reviews. I'm very excited about that idea. Or if I decide I wanna bring my dogs with me, I can use the pet friendly filter, and turns out there are some really nice pet friendly hotels on the site too. So go on, book that trip. It's easy. Booking.com. Booking.yeah. This episode is brought to you by Progressive Insurance. Insurance isn't one size fits all. That's why drivers have enjoyed Progressive's Name Your Price tool for years now. With the Name Your Price tool, you tell them what you wanna pay, and they'll show you options that fit your budget. So whether you're picking out your first policy or just looking for something that works better for you and your family, they make it easy to see your options. Visit progressive.com. Find a rate that works for you with the Name Your Price tool. Progressive Casualty Insurance Company and affiliates. Price and coverage match limited by state law. 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 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 2023. [gentle music] 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. 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