[Marxism] when the levee breaks (led zeppelin)

[Les Schaffer <schaffer@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

i've had Led Zeppelin's "When the Levee Breaks" in my head for several
days now. to get a handle on this, i did a little google searching this
afternoon to see what i could find out about the origins of the song
(lyrics at bottom).


o   The song was based on a recording by Memphis Minnie:

   This is based on a 1929 recording of the same name by Blues artist
   Memphis Minnie McCoy (born Lizzie Douglas). Plant had the record in
   his collection.

   http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/When_the_Levee_Breaks
   http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Memphis_Minnie



o From a blogger, on the origins of the song:

   Likewise, the Great Mississippi flood of 1927 -- which inspired
   Memphis Minnie to write one of Led Zeppelin's best songs -- broke
   levees from St. Louis to New Orleans and turned most of the Delta
   country of western Mississippi (the state, not the river) into an
   inland sea. Thousands died, many of them African-American
   sharecroppers rounded up at gunpoint and set to work shoring up the
   levees. When the rainsoaked barriers finally gave way, hundreds of
   them, many chainganged together like convicts, were swept to their
   deaths.

   http://billmon.org/archives/002120.html


o A PBS special on The Great Flood:


   April 25: The situation in Greenville is dire. Thirteen thousand
   African Americans are stranded on the levee with nothing but
   blankets and makeshift tents for shelter. There is no food for them.
   The city's water supply is contaminated. The railway has been washed
   away, and sanitation is non-existent. An outbreak of cholera or
   typhoid is imminent.

   Will Percy decides that the only honorable and decent course of
   action is to evacuate the refugees to safer ground down river and
   arranges for barges to pick up and transport the refugees. Many
   people are reluctant to abandon Greenville, despite the fact that
   their homes have been submerged. The planters, in particular, oppose
   Will's plan, fearing that if the African American refugees leave,
   they will never return, and there will be no labor to work the
   crops. LeRoy, placing his business interests above his family's
   tradition of aiding those less fortunate, betrays his son and
   secretly sides with the planters. Boats with room for all the
   refugees arrive, but only 33 white women and children are allowed to
   board. The African American refugees are left behind, trapped on the
   levee. Later, Will Percy will write that he was "astounded and
   horrified" by this turn of events.

   April: To justify his relief committee's failure to evacuate the
   refugees, Will Percy convinces the Red Cross to make Greenville a
   distribution center, with the African Americans providing the labor.
   Red Cross relief provisions arrive in Greenville, but the best
   provisions go to the whites in town. Only African Americans wearing
   tags around their necks marked "laborer" receive rations. National
   Guard is called in to patrol the refugee camps in Greenville. Word
   filters out of the camps that guardsmen are robbing, assaulting,
   raping and even murdering African Americans held on the levee.

   http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/flood/timeline/timeline2.html


o the lyrics


   If it keeps on rainin', levee's goin' to break,
   If it keeps on rainin', levee's goin' to break,
   When the levee breaks I'll have no place to stay.
   Mean old levee taught me to weep and moan,
   Lord, mean old levee taught me to weep and moan,
   Got what it takes to make a mountain man leave his home,
   Oh, well, oh, well, oh, well.
   Don't it make you feel bad
   When you're tryin' to find your way home,
   You don't know which way to go?
   If you're goin' down south
   They go no work to do,
   If you don't know about chicago.
   Cryin' won't help you, prayin' won't do you no good,
   Now, cryin' won't help you, prayin' won't do you no good,
   When the levee breaks, mama, you got to move.
   All last night sat on the levee and moaned,
   All last night sat on the levee and moaned,
   Thinkin' 'bout me baby and my happy home.
   Going, go'n' to chicago,
   Go'n' to chicago,
   Sorry but I can't take you.
   Going down, going down now, going down.



les schaffer

________________________________________________
YOU MUST clip all extraneous text before replying to a message.
Send list submissions to: Marxism@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Set your options at: http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/listinfo/marxism