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Blues Lyrics - Blind Lemon Jefferson
Rising High Water Blues
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by
Blind Lemon Jefferson
recording of May 1927, Chicago, Illinois
from Blind Lemon Jefferson (Ace CDCH 399) &
Blind Lemon Jefferson, Vol. 2 (Document 5018)
&
Blind Lemon Jefferson (Milestone 47022)
&
Best of Blind Lemon Jefferson (Wolf 16)
Backwater
rising, Southern peoples can't make no time
I said, backwater rising, Southern peoples can't make no time
And I can't get no hearing from that Memphis girl of mine
Water in Arkansas, people screaming in Tennessee
Oh, people screaming in Tennessee
If I don't leave Memphis, backwater spill all over poor me
People, since its raining, it has been for nights and days
People, since its raining, has been for nights and days
Thousands people stands on the hill, looking down were they used to stay
Children stand there screaming: mama, we ain't got no home
Oh, mama we ain't got no home
Papa says to the children, "Backwater left us all alone"
Backwater rising, come in my windows and door
The backwater rising, come in my windows and door
I leave with a prayer in my heart, backwater won't rise no more
__________
Note: this song refers to the catastrophic
great Mississippi flood of 1927
. Issued by Paramount under catalogue no. 12487;
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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