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Backwater Blues Version 2
by
Bessie Smith
recording of 19
from
The Complete Recordings, Vol. 3 (Columbia/Legacy C2K-47474)
When it rained five days and the skies turned dark as night
When it rained five days and the skies turned dark as night
There was trouble taking place in the lowlands at night
I woke up this morning, wouldn't even get out of my door
I woke up this morning, wouldn't even get out of my door
Enough trouble to make poor girl wonder where she gonna go
They rowed a little boat, about five miles 'cross the farm
They rowed a little boat, about five miles 'cross the farm
I packed up all my clothing, throwed it in and they rowed me along
It thundered and it lightened and the winds began to blow
It thundered and it lightened and the winds began to blow
There was a thousand women, didn't have no place to go
I went out to the lonesome, high old lonesome hill
I went out to the lonesome, high old lonesome hill
I looked won on the old house, where I used to live
Backwater
blues have caused me to pack up my things and go
Backwater blues have caused me to pack up my things and go
'Cause my house fell down and I can't live there no more
Hmm, I can't live there no more
Hmm, I can't live there no more
And there ain't no place for a poor old girl to go
__________
Note: This was one of her most successful records; it was recorded just before the catastrophic
great Mississippi flood of 1927
Note 1: backwater, mostly old river beds which are left to take the excess flood water to relieve pressure on the
levees
(embankments). As the height of the water is excessive, however, breaches in the levee walls are deliberately made at certain points to allow particular areas to flood and thus lessen the pressure of water. These are the "backwaters," which occur in the St. Francis Basin to the west of the river between
Memphis
and Helena, in the great
Yazoo-Mississippi Delta
north of
Vicksburg
, in the Tensas Basin west of
Natchez
, and at other selected points.
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