Bob Dylan & Water Rising

My friend's daughter, when she was much younger, used to sing the refrain from Blowin' in the Wind like this:

The ants are my friends.....

Could you die?

I'm the one in my family that gets made fun of for getting song words wrong, so I empathize. But since I got my very own iPod last summer for my birthday (inscribed "Life Begins at 50"), I can actually hear the words to songs. And though this is seven years after the song came out, I can't help calling attention to another Dylan work -- High Water.

It's a prophetic ballad of a flood, seems like.

The full title is actually High Water (For Charlie Patton). I looked him up:

Charlie Patton (May 1, 1891 - April 28, 1934)....was an American Delta blues musician. He is considered by many to be the "Father of Delta Blues" and therefore one of the oldest known figures of American popular music. He is credited with creating an enduring body of American music and personally inspiring just about every Delta blues man (Palmer, 1995). Robert Palmer considers him among the most important musicians that America produced in the twentieth century.

Patton lived most of his short life in the Mississippi delta. Probably explains why Dylan chose the refrain, "High water everywhere." The opening lines caught my climate ear:

High water risin' - risin' night and day

All the gold and silver are being stolen away

How is it that this song, written in 2001, has so much more resonance after Katrina? You gotta hear it to get the full effect, preferably on an iPod, no matter what creatures you consider to be your friends.

For what it's worth, here are the words:

High water risin' - risin' night and day
All the gold and silver are being stolen away
Big Joe Turner lookin' East and West
From the dark room of his mind
He made it to Kansas City
Twelfth Street and Vine
Nothing standing there
High water everywhere

High water risin', the shacks are slidin' down
Folks lose their possessions - folks are leaving town
Bertha Mason shook it - broke it
Then she hung it on a wall
Says, "You're dancin' with whom they tell you to
Or you don't dance at all."
It's tough out there
High water everywhere

I got a cravin' love for blazing speed
Got a hopped up Mustang Ford
Jump into the wagon, love, throw your panties overboard
I can write you poems, make a strong man lose his mind
I'm no pig without a wig
I hope you treat me kind
Things are breakin' up out there
High water everywhere

High water risin', six inches 'bove my head
Coffins droppin' in the street
Like balloons made out of lead
Water pourin' into Vicksburg, don't know what I'm going to do
"Don't reach out for me," she said
"Can't you see I'm drownin' too?"
It's rough out there
High water everywhere

Well, George Lewis told the Englishman, the Italian and the Jew
"You can't open your mind, boys
To every conceivable point of view."
They got Charles Darwin trapped out there on Highway Five
Judge says to the High Sheriff,
"I want him dead or alive
Either one, I don't care."
High Water everywhere

The Cuckoo is a pretty bird, she warbles as she flies
I'm preachin' the Word of God
I'm puttin' out your eyes
I asked Fat Nancy for something to eat, she said, "Take it off the shelf -
As great as you are a man,
You'll never be greater than yourself."
I told her I didn't really care
High water everywhere

I'm getting' up in the morning - I believe I'll dust my broom
Keeping away from the women
I'm givin' 'em lots of room
Thunder rolling over Clarksdale, everything is looking blue
I just can't be happy, love
Unless you're happy too
It's bad out there
High water everywhere

Copyright © 2001 Special Rider Music

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