High Water (For Charley Patton)
Encyclopedia
"High Water" is a song by Bob Dylan
, released on his 31st studio album
"Love and Theft" in 2001. The song draws its title from the Charley Patton song "High Water Everywhere
", which is one of many songs based on the 1927 Louisiana flood. Other songs about the event include Memphis Minnie
's "When the Levee Breaks
" (later recorded by Led Zeppelin
), and Randy Newman
's Louisiana 1927
.
The song directly quotes three classic American songs in the last two verses, first the traditional ballad "The Cuckoo" with the line:
"The cuckoo is a pretty bird
She warbles as she flies."
Robert Johnson's "Dust My Broom
" with the line:
"I'm getting up in the morning
I believe I'll dust my broom."
Charlie Pattons " Shake it and break it" with the line:
"You can shake it, you can break it,
you can hang it on the wall."
Bob's amended version of this line is "Bertha Mason shook it – broke it, then she hung it on a wall."
Bob Dylan
Bob Dylan is an American singer-songwriter, musician, poet, film director and painter. He has been a major and profoundly influential figure in popular music and culture for five decades. Much of his most celebrated work dates from the 1960s when he was an informal chronicler and a seemingly...
, released on his 31st studio album
Studio album
A studio album is an album made up of tracks recorded in the controlled environment of a recording studio. A studio album contains newly written and recorded or previously unreleased or remixed material, distinguishing itself from a compilation or reissue album of previously recorded material, or...
"Love and Theft" in 2001. The song draws its title from the Charley Patton song "High Water Everywhere
High Water Everywhere
"High Water Everywhere" is a song composed by Delta blues singer Charley Patton. It was recorded as a two part 78 recording in October 1929.Its subject is the Great Mississippi Flood of 1927 which devastated Louisiana...
", which is one of many songs based on the 1927 Louisiana flood. Other songs about the event include Memphis Minnie
Memphis Minnie
Memphis Minnie was an American blues guitarist, vocalist, and songwriter. She was the only female blues artist considered a match to male contemporaries as both a singer and an instrumentalist.-Career:...
's "When the Levee Breaks
When the Levee Breaks
"When the Levee Breaks" is a blues song written and first recorded by husband and wife Kansas Joe McCoy and Memphis Minnie in 1929. The song is in reaction to the upheaval caused by the Great Mississippi Flood of 1927....
" (later recorded by Led Zeppelin
Led Zeppelin
Led Zeppelin were an English rock band, active in the late 1960s and throughout the 1970s. Formed in 1968, they consisted of guitarist Jimmy Page, singer Robert Plant, bassist/keyboardist John Paul Jones, and drummer John Bonham...
), and Randy Newman
Randy Newman
Randall Stuart "Randy" Newman is an American singer-songwriter, arranger, composer, and pianist who is known for his mordant pop songs and for film scores....
's Louisiana 1927
Louisiana 1927
"Louisiana 1927" is a 1974 song telling the story of the Great Mississippi Flood of 1927 that left 700,000 people homeless in Louisiana and Mississippi...
.
The song directly quotes three classic American songs in the last two verses, first the traditional ballad "The Cuckoo" with the line:
"The cuckoo is a pretty bird
She warbles as she flies."
Robert Johnson's "Dust My Broom
Dust My Broom
"Dust My Broom" is a blues standard originally recorded as "I Believe I'll Dust My Broom"by Robert Johnson, the Mississippi Delta blues singer and guitarist, on November 23, 1936 in San Antonio, Texas. The song was originally released on 78 rpm format as Vocalion 03475, ARC 7-04-81 and Conqueror 8871...
" with the line:
"I'm getting up in the morning
I believe I'll dust my broom."
Charlie Pattons " Shake it and break it" with the line:
"You can shake it, you can break it,
you can hang it on the wall."
Bob's amended version of this line is "Bertha Mason shook it – broke it, then she hung it on a wall."