Rising High Water Blues
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.
