Album: Natalie Merchant (2014)
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Songfacts®:

  • "Texas" is all about greed:

    Gonna get what's mine and wild horses couldn't keep it from me
    Papa says I'm a golden child and the whole world's gonna fall at my feet
    It’s all coming to me


    According to Merchant's 2014 interview with The Diane Rehm Show, the song was inspired by one Texan in particular: George W. Bush.

    "Those were eight long years," she says of the former president's tenure. "I had a lot of time to think about what sort of motivation there is involved in that kind of power. You know, craving that kind of power. To be part of that dynasty. And I think people will read it differently if they know who the song is about, but I also felt like it's a character type. These characteristics aren't particular to one individual. So, that's what I would say about that one... just greed, lust for power. Indifference to the consequences of that lust for power."

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