Back-Water Blues

Back-Water Blues - Bessie Smith/Henry Whitter/Clayton McMichen

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 threw '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 were 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