Since this song is from the "Murder Ballads"-Album I guess it's pretty fair to assume the narrator meets a pretty girl, spends some time with her, then kills her and buries her body in the desert. My mind always set this "story" in Las Vegas - I guess because of "over mountains, over ranges / by great pyramids and sphinx / we met drifters and strangers" rather made me think of scenes I saw in CSI (now CSI Vegas) than of Egypt; also - and I hope that does not sound wrong - a "lovely creature" with "hair full of ribbons and green gloves on her hands" sounds like THAT kind of "exclusive company" you can find easily along the strip.
So both go on a trip through Las Vegas, ending up somewhere outside in the desert - where something happens and he kills her.
But when I heard the song for the very first time (admidetally I was quite young back then and English is my second language, so it was far from being perfect) I thought it was about a vanishing hitchhiker. A guy sees that beautiful girl that is dressed a bit old-fashioned (I mean, ribbons in the hair and gloves made me think of Southern Belles) and he offers her a ride. She takes the offer and leads him very chaoticly around, even into a sand-storm, and when he finally makes it home - she's gone.
Somewhere later he finds out that the "lovely creature" is dead, buried in the desert, and she probably tried to lead him there so that finally somebody discovers her body.
Since this song is from the "Murder Ballads"-Album I guess it's pretty fair to assume the narrator meets a pretty girl, spends some time with her, then kills her and buries her body in the desert. My mind always set this "story" in Las Vegas - I guess because of "over mountains, over ranges / by great pyramids and sphinx / we met drifters and strangers" rather made me think of scenes I saw in CSI (now CSI Vegas) than of Egypt; also - and I hope that does not sound wrong - a "lovely creature" with "hair full of ribbons and green gloves on her hands" sounds like THAT kind of "exclusive company" you can find easily along the strip. So both go on a trip through Las Vegas, ending up somewhere outside in the desert - where something happens and he kills her.
But when I heard the song for the very first time (admidetally I was quite young back then and English is my second language, so it was far from being perfect) I thought it was about a vanishing hitchhiker. A guy sees that beautiful girl that is dressed a bit old-fashioned (I mean, ribbons in the hair and gloves made me think of Southern Belles) and he offers her a ride. She takes the offer and leads him very chaoticly around, even into a sand-storm, and when he finally makes it home - she's gone. Somewhere later he finds out that the "lovely creature" is dead, buried in the desert, and she probably tried to lead him there so that finally somebody discovers her body.