Pop Song 316 of 500 'Black Water' The Doobie Brothers 1973

Pop Song 316 of 500 'Black Water' The Doobie Brothers 1973

Simmons cites the song's opening section as "my childhood imaginings of the South from reading Huckleberry Finn and Tom Sawyer" while the lyrics subsequent to the first chorus draw on his actual experience of New Orleans: "going down to the French Quarter as often as possible and going into the clubs and listening to Dixieland": the lyric Well if it rains, I don't care/ Don't make no difference to me/ Just take that street car that's goin' uptown was jotted down by Simmons while riding through the University District on the St. Charles Streetcar Line en route to the Garden District in Uptown New Orleans to do laundry: "the sun was shining while it was pouring rain the way it does down there sometimes. And the lyrics just came to me there [on the streetcar].

Well, I built me a raft and she's ready for floatin'
Ol' Mississippi, she's callin' my name
Catfish are jumpin', that paddle wheel thumpin'
Black water keep rollin' on past just the same
Old black water, keep on rollin'
Mississippi moon, won't you keep on shinin' on me?
Old black water, keep on rollin'
Mississippi moon, won't you keep on shinin' on me?
Old black water, keep on rollin'
Mississippi moon, won't you keep on shinin' on me?
Yeah, keep on shinin' your light
Gonna make everything, pretty
Mama gonna make everything all right
And I ain't got no worries
'Cause I ain't in no hurry at all
Well, if it rains, I don't care
Don't make no difference to me
Just take that street car that's goin' up town
Yeah, I'd like to hear some funky Dixieland
And dance a honky tonk
And I'll be buyin' ev'rybody drinks all 'roun'
Old black water, keep on rollin'
Mississippi moon, won't you keep on shinin' on me?
Old black water, keep on rollin'
Mississippi moon, won't you keep on shinin' on me?
Old black water, keep on rollin'
Mississippi moon, won't you keep on shinin' on me?
Keep on shinin' your light
Gonna make everything, everything
Gonna make everything all right
And I ain't got no worries
'Cause I ain't in no hurry at all
I'd like to hear some funky Dixieland
Pretty Mama come and take me by the hand
By the hand, take me by the hand pretty Mama
Come and dance with your daddy all night long
I'd like to hear some funky Dixieland
Pretty Mama come and take me by the hand
I want to honky tonk, honky tonk, honky tonk
With you all night long
I'd like to hear some funky Dixieland
Pretty Mama come and take me by the hand
By the hand, take me by the hand pretty Mama
Come and dance with your daddy all night long
I'd like to hear some funky Dixieland
Pretty Mama come and take me by the hand
I want to honky tonk, honky tonk, honky tonk
With you all night long
I'd like to hear some funky Dixieland
Pretty Mama come and take me by the hand
By the hand, take me by the hand pretty Mama
Come and dance with your daddy all night long
I'd like to hear some funky Dixieland
Pretty Mama come and take me by the hand
I want to honky tonk, honky tonk, honky tonk
With you all night long
I'd like to hear some funky Dixieland
Pretty Mama come and take me by the hand
By the hand, take me by the hand pretty Mama