A number of famous artists have recorded the song “Scarlet Ribbons (For Her Hair).” Although Jo Stafford first had some success with a recording of the song in 1949, one of the most popular versions is Harry Belafonte’s version, first released in 1956. Because of Belafonte’s recording and performances of the song, it has continued on as a classic of sorts, having been covered by Roy Orbison, The Cats, Dinah Shore, Jim Reeves, Gene Vincent, Joan Baez, the Kingston Trio, and in more recent years by artists like Sinéad O’Connor (one of my favorite), Cliff Richard, and Willie Nelson. Perry Como called it “perhaps the most beautiful tune I ever sang.”
But what is the song about? The song is in the voice of a parent, who is looking in on their daughter at bedtime. The daughter is in prayer and asks “for me some scarlet ribbons,/scarlet ribbons for my hair.” The parent then recounts how all of the stores in town were closed and they could not find any scarlet ribbons for the child that night.
In the morning, though, the parent again looks into the child’s room and sees in her room, “In gay profusion lying there,/ Lovely ribbons, scarlet ribbons.” The singer ends, amazed at the mystery.
If I live to be a hundred,
I will never know from where,
Came those lovely scarlet ribbons;
Scarlet ribbons for her hair.
On his Stardust album bonus track, Willie Nelson changed the line about living to “a hundred” to “two hundred.”
Evelyn Danzig wrote the music for the song, and then in 1949, during a party at her home, Jack Segal filled in the lyrics. The song, however, sounds like a timeless folk tale, complete with a mysterious ending that seems fitting of many old folk songs. But what is the song really about?
The Writing of “Scarlett Ribbons”
The song’s lyricist, Jack Segal, has explained that he was visiting the home of composer Evelyn Danzig on Long Island, NY and heard her play some music. She played a piano exercise she wrote that intrigued him, sounding to him like a child’s lullaby. Right there, after he was left alone in the room, he sat down and composed the lyrics in fifteen minutes.
Although the song was soon recorded by several artists, it was not until Belafonte recorded a stripped down version on his second album that the song started to resonate into the classic it has become.
What is the Meaning Behind “Scarlet Ribbons”?
The simple explanation behind the song is that it is about a girl’s faith in God being rewarded. Her prayer for the scarlet ribbons is miraculously answered. The proof of the miracle is provided by the parent. The parent had confirmed there was no other way that the little girl could have obtained the ribbons that night, as all of the stores were closed.
The interpretatin of the song as one about God and faith is consistent with the way many have used the song. For example, after Jim Reeves’ death, his record company included the song on the Jim Reeves gospel collection, A Beautiful Life: Songs of Inspiration (2014) (even though he originally included it on the partly religious album Songs to Warm the Heart (1959)).
Others have even listed it as a Christmas song.
While we often should defer to the simplest explanation of something, I think regardless of the songwriter’s intent, there is another reason the haunting song has resonated through the years. The reason is not that people were looking for a song about God providing a girl with ribbons for her hair. At least for me, there is another way that the song has meaning for me. And this interpretation is reflected in the video that Jim Reeves made for the song, where the focus is on the father overlooking his sleeping child. Maybe the song is about parenthood and childhood.
Like many fathers of a young child, I worry about her constantly. What will life bring for her? What can I do to protect her? How do I make sure she has what she needs and learns what she needs to know?
So, when I hear “Scarlet Ribbons,” the lyrics provide the viewpoint of the parent. The parent worries that they cannot provide the daughter with the scarlet ribbons she prays for. Wanting to help the daughter find what she wants, and perhaps also to maintain the child’s belief in miracles for a little while longer, the parent searches the town for the ribbons even though it is late.
So, I relate to the parent’s anxiety. But what about the miracle of the ribbons appearing in the morning? As most parents know, the lives of our children are filled with small miracles every day. Every morning when I wake up, I see my daughter growing in new ways. And each day, she is capable of something new, with or without my help.
And like the miracle of the ribbons, these little miracles appear and bring me great joy. They also reassure me that something more powerful than me is looking after my daughter, whether that something be what we call “God” or nature or years of evolution or growing up or whatever. And whatever it is called, it is still a miracle.
One may ask why did the author chose “scarlet ribbons” to reflect the child’s growth? Of course, it could just that Segal in writing lyrics for Danzig’s music found the four-syllable phrase fitted the music. But if the “scarlet ribbons” were selected for a specific meaning, the most obvious one might be that the red ribbons reflect a symbol of a girl growing up and changing, i.e., getting her first period. That of course is not to argue that he song is about menstruation, but such a symbol would tie into one of the ways children change and grow.
Whether or not the choice of “scarlet ribbons” was made for a reason, the song still seems to be about a parent’s anxiety and faith in a child’s growth. Ribbons may seem silly or insignificant. But in the song they remind us that the little miracles surrounding our children are sometimes more powerful than the parting of the Red Sea.
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. Joe Henry is producing the new album, Whistle Down The Wind.
(1964). It was released in the year after the bombing.