"When The Levee Breaks... Part II"
In my last post, I found and linked to an old blues song... 'When The Levee Breaks...'
I became curious about what other blues songs were inspired by the flood of 1927... It appears that there are quite a few...
For example, this one from BarBeQue Bob...
In this song, he describes losing his woman in the flood... I don't know how true it is, but as someone pointed out in those comments of the previous post, most blues are written about heart break or bad news...
Bird Song Camp
Lunch Time
Cleveland, MS
This song, by Big Bill Broonzy, is about the Ohio River flooding, but it works because it does flow into the Mississippi...
Some of the songs were inspired by people who actually experienced the flood... others by performers who just thought it would make a great song...
In this photo, it is easy to tell by how much the river is out of its banks... the normal channel is delineated by the willow trees on either sido of the river.
Charley Patton, "High Water Everywhere..." Charlie sings of going to Rosedale... which is what I did yesterday... "Where is Rosedale?" you might ask... well... look...
The levee is right next to Rosedale... and the river is up about 15 feet on the levee there... Look at the distance on the map that Rosedale is from the main river channel. Long ago, Rosedale was a port city... but the river changed course... and that was the end of its growth opportunity...
Rosedale shows up in the lyrics of another song that I bet you have all heard before...
If you don't recognize that version, I bet you know THIS one! Embedding is disabled, but if you will click HERE, you can hear it...
I'm going down to Rosedale, take my rider by my side.
I'm going down to Rosedale, take my rider by my side.
You can still barrelhouse, baby, on the riverside.
I'm going down to Rosedale, take my rider by my side.
You can still barrelhouse, baby, on the riverside.
I remember at the time... damn, those guys from England are singing about Rosedale!! I had no clue that they were covering an old Robert Johnson song...
Anyhoo... the river has crested... it will takes WEEKS for the water to recede, so the danger really isn't over yet... the levees are doing their job... The Mississippi will crest Tuesday, I believe, in Vicksburg at 57'... a record over the 1927 level. But not really. In 1927, the levees broke, and much of the water that should have flowed into the Gulf went into the Mississippi Delta instead. It is estimated that had the levees held, the river level would have been about 67 feet...
Let's see... what have I left out...
Oh yeah... kink... let's see... I think spanking would be a blast... giving... ropes would definitely be fun... sex in public places...
How's that for starters??
Anyhoo... the river has crested... it will takes WEEKS for the water to recede, so the danger really isn't over yet... the levees are doing their job... The Mississippi will crest Tuesday, I believe, in Vicksburg at 57'... a record over the 1927 level. But not really. In 1927, the levees broke, and much of the water that should have flowed into the Gulf went into the Mississippi Delta instead. It is estimated that had the levees held, the river level would have been about 67 feet...
Let's see... what have I left out...
How's that for starters??
~shoes~
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteCool lesson on more flood blues. It's like a genre! Oh...and nice ending :)
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteThe Ohio River crested at Louisville this year 2 days before the derby. The Governor declared the whole metropolitan area a disaster area and the only wholesale seller of gas raised the price of a gallon of gas about 50 cents over night. This is illegal per ouru state laws. So now the Attorney General is suing them and they are putting their filthy stolen profits to lawyers who are hoping we all forget that since gas is back to $3.95 a gallon. Asshats!
ReplyDeleteOh, Reggie thinks I should publish along the lines of your last comments. SMILE
Thank You for the Birdsong Camp photo! ;-D I've googled it - and have been reading up on it... I don't know why but it grabs my heart! As do you...
ReplyDeletexoxoxo
gobbles
p.s. i'm listening to the GREAT Patton right now!
Conspicuous by its absence is Johny Cash's Five Feet High and Rising. Also, look a little deeper into the British Rock Invasion of the 60s and you'll find that most of it (the Beatles included) simply repackaged our Blues Players and sold them back to us with white men on the lable...
ReplyDeleteThis is the very first time I've listened to these songs. Thanks for posting them.
ReplyDeleteYou can never forget the kink ;0)
I listen to Robert Johnson often (and Cream too, for that matter), but only after reading this post did I Google Rosedale, which led to a blog with a great old story about Johnson selling his soul to the devil in exchange for mastering the Delta Blues. Around here, going (down) to Rosedale means shopping at a nearby mall.
ReplyDelete@ Wine And Words... it IS like a genre! Yep, nothing like a nice end... ;o)
ReplyDelete@ Dawn... That fourth photo on the previous post is the I-40 Bridge there in Memphis... As for summer activities, I teach when/if classes are available... and hope to travel some as well.
@ Charlene... the gas thing... blerk!!! When gas was $4 per gallon under Bush, everyone was claiming that he was trying to max his income, given his family is in the oil industry... I guess with Obama now, ... well, I don't know, the media doesn't seem to be saying anything about $4 gas now... at least from the standpoint of where to lay the blame...
We had a bad ice storm back in 1994, and a service station here in town did that price max thing... let's just say that the community remembered, and he was out of business in no time... I hope you are dodging all of those tornadoes up there!!! :o(
@ Gobbles... have you found any history about the Bird Song camp? I haven't been able to. If you have some links, please send them...
@ Kurt... I knew that most of the band from the British Invasion were repacking the Blues... The Johnny Cash song was an oversight on my part since I got stuck in the blues genre... I hope Johnny forgives me...
@ Marnie... that would be a great carving for a headstone... "Never Forget The Kink"... or The Kinks, for that matter...
@ Blissed-Out Grandma... yeah, supposedly, Robert Johnson was trying to perform at some of the area honkytonks, but just couldn't play the guitar... he supposedly met the Devil at the Crossroads (purported to be the intersections of Hwys 49 & 61), and sold his soul for the ability to be able to play. When he showed up to play again, it was reported that he had improved exponentially...
You can't do much shopping at THIS Rosedale... Hahahaha...
I hope all is well and that you are enjoying your retirement!!
~shoes~