“Martha Ellis was only 12-years old when she died in 1896. Her parents obviously loved and sorely missed her as they erected this marker at her grave. Little Martha is buried at Rose Hill Cemetery in Macon, Georgia.
The cemetery was laid out in the 1880s with the idea that it would be a resting place for the dead, and also a gathering place for the living people of Macon. But by the late 1960s, Rose Hill was no longer an active cemetery and was ignored by the adults of the community. The solitude there, however, made it a gathering place for young people.
Among those young folks were the members of the newly formed Allman Brothers Band. Dickey Betts has mentioned numerous times that he found quiet spots in the cemetery to write songs.
The Martha Ellis memorial must have made an impression on Duane Allman. The only Allman Brothers track written solely by him is named “Little Martha” and the name, at least, was inspired by her. The track is included on the Eat A Peach album recorded only a few weeks before Duane died in 1971.
The title was inspired by Martha Ellis, but Duane said he wrote the song about his then girlfriend, Dixie Lee Meadows. He says the melody came to him in a dream in which Jimi Hendrix showed him the melody in a motel room bathroom. Hendrix demonstrated using the sink faucet as a guitar fretboard.
Allman remembered the melody during the Eat A Peach sessions, and he played it accompanied only by Dickey Betts on guitar and Berry Oakley on bass. When the song was originally mixed, Oakley’s part was removed, leaving only a guitar duet.
uh huh
a song 2 feeeeeeeeel. beautiful
We’d watch the shapes the rain would make Falling down the window of our bus I said they reminded me of paper ponies blowing free You said they reminded you of us Your belly in my arms Tomorrow we’ll be through these rains and gone
Woke up with the driver crying “Birmingham” Looked through the glass and found the morning sky I said that cloud’s shaped like a burning man You didn’t have the heart to tell me why
Your belly in my arms Tomorrow we’ll be through these clouds and gone
I put my hand inside your skirt And asked if you thought that our babies life would turn out this way You said you wasn’t really sure But really you was too good to say it
Your belly in my arms Tomorrow we’ll be through these rains and gone Your belly in my arms Tomorrow we’ll be through these gates and gone
Back to the Monastery 