i realized watching a second time that she was pulled off stage earlier in the movie for talking about her past and that this song fully redeems that moment. little things like this happen constantly throughout the movie, with plenty cut from the script. complicated stuff with a really strong overall effect.
Absolutely, this movie is about the death of innocence in the US, as represented by Barbara Jean, the character played by Ronee Blakey, whose performance is flawless and heartbreaking. Barbara Jean had started dying from the first time we laid eyes on her, with her collapsing shortly after getting off the plane and landing in hospital.
She acts and sing with weird movements ...almost like "stage left" "stage right" ....she ccan sing and I wanted to hear her music because her acting was horrible.