Kristin Hersh is a singer/songwriter well-known in the Indie music scene for her work with rock groups Throwing Muses and 50 Foot Wave. Raised in Newport, Rhode Island, Kristin and Betty became unlikely friends at Salve Regina University. As Kristin explained it in an endearing blog entry entitled Beautiful Old Betty: "She was too old to be in college and I was too young; this was all we really had in common, if you can call it that." Betty took Kristin under her wing and often attended Throwing Muses concerts to show her support. After Betty's passing, Kristin wrote a song about her entitled "Elizabeth June", which appears on Kristin's 2008 album Speedbath. Here's what Kristin had to say about the song:
This is Betty's song...my friend Betty, whose ghost haunts Palm Springs, or at least haunts me in Palm Springs. She died here, lonely. I was too afraid to see her old to go looking for her. But I bet she was beautiful up to and through the end.
No drums, no bass per se, though we achieved bass frequencies by dropping one of the acoustics an octave. The track sounds sweet, yet bizarre. Somehow, a B flat crept in, though there's no such note in the chords I was playing. Maybe it's Betty, singing along. Betty sure liked to sing.
The lyrics hurt my feelings 'cause I miss Betty and I missed her end, but I like to think of her sweet, yet bizarre self having only palm trees to answer to, after a life fraught with tension. Bullied by the entertainment industry, she was riddled with insecurity...a great brain, not given a minute to think.
The song says she found some peace.
