Back Water Blues

by Bessie Smith

From the album: Nobody Knows You When You're Down and Out / Take It Right Back ('Cause I Don't Want It Here)

Track 20 of 22 on Nobody Knows You When You're Down and Out / Take It Right Back ('Cause I Don't Want It Here) (1929).

Duration: 3:17

Nobody Knows You When You're Down and Out / Take It Right Back ('Cause I Don't Want It Here) cover art

Lyrics for Back Water Blues

When it rained five days and the sky turned dark as night When it rained five days and the sky turned dark as night Then trouble's takin' place in the lowlands at night I woke up this mornin', can't even get out of my door I woke up this mornin', can't even get out of my door There's enough trouble to make a poor girl wonder where she wanna go Then they rowed a little boat about five miles 'cross the pond Then they rowed a little boat about five miles 'cross the pond I packed all my clothes, throwed 'em in and they rowed me along When it thunders and lightnin', and the wind begins to blow When it thunders and lightnin', and the wind begins to blow There's thousands of people, ain't got no place to go And I went and stood up on some high old lonesome hill And I went and stood up on some high old lonesome hill Then looked down on the house where I used to live Backwater blues done called me to pack my things and go Backwater blues done called me to pack my things and go 'Cause my house fell down and I can't live there no more Mmm, I can't move no more Mmm, I can't move no more There ain't no place for a poor old girl to go

Listen On

More from Nobody Knows You When You're Down and Out / Take It Right Back ('Cause I Don't Want It Here)

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  2. A Good Man Is Hard To Find
  3. Kitchen Man
  4. Summertime
  5. Baby, Won't You Please Come Home
  6. Hot Springs Blues
  7. Empty Bed Blues
  8. Lonesome Desert Blues
  9. Me And My Gin
  10. Lady Luck Blues
  11. Alexander's Ragtime Band
  12. Aggravatin' Papa
  13. After You've Gone
  14. Weeping Willow Blues
  15. Trombone Cholly
  16. Down Hearted Blues
  17. St. Louis Blues
  18. Send Me To The 'Lectric Chair
  19. Blue, Blue
  20. Back Water Blues
  21. Cake Walking Babies From Home
  22. Jazzbo Brown From Memphis Town