Levee Camp Blues - Mississippi Fred McDowell

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Levee Camp Blues Lyrics

Well, I worked on the levee
'Till I went stone blind
Well, I worked on the levee, baby
'Till I went stone blind
Well, you can't do me
Like you done po' Shine
Lord, you took his money
I declare, you can't take mine

Captain, come out drive him
And he won't go long all around
How can I drive him, Captain
And he won't go long all around?
He won't eat no oatsmeal or
He won't even eat his corn

I'm a long line skinner
I got the shortest line
I'm a long time skinner
I got the shortest line
I'm a long line skinner
But I've got the shortest line

Well, I worked on levee
Honey, an I worked old Belle
Well, I worked old Lou Captain
Lordy, an I worked old Belle
I couldn't find a mule
Lord, with a shoulder well

Lord, that captain hollerin, 'Hurry'
Boy, you know I'm almost flyin
Well, that captain hollerin, 'Hurry'
Lordy and I'm almost flyin'
Lord, he ain't gotta worry a bit, baby
He won't even keep time.

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Mississippi Fred McDowell was born Fred McDowell in Rossville, Tennessee, January 12, 1904. He died in Memphis,Tennessee on July 3, 1972. He was a blues singer and guitar player in the North Mississippi style.

His parents, who were farmers, died when McDowell was a youth. He started playing guitar at the age of 14 and played at dances around Rossville. Wanting a change from ploughing fields, he moved to Memphis in 1926 where he worked in a number of jobs and played music for tips. He settled in Como, Mississippi, about 40 miles south of Memphis, in 1940 or 1941, and worked steadily as a farmer, continuing to perform music at dances, and picnics. Initially he played slide guitar using a pocket knife and then a slide made from a beef rib bone, later switching to a glass slide for its clearer sound. He played with the slide on his ring finger.

A pure hill country blues musician, he played "just the straight, natural blues," and he "do not play no rock and roll." McDowell initially played the recognizable resonator guitar but, during tours and recordings beginning in the 1960s, he adopted the use of electric guitar and was probably the first original delta- or country blues musician to do so. McDowell's style is distinctive and recognizable; perhaps the dirtiest sounding guitarist ever and one of the most influential. The slide guitar styles of Bonnie Raitt as well as Keith Richards and Ronnie Wood of The Rolling Stones, as well as Dan Auerbach of The Black Keys are all heavily influenced by McDowell's technique.

McDowell died of cancer in 1972 and is buried at Hammond Hill M.B. Church, between Como and Senatobia. On August 6, 1993 a memorial was placed on the gravesite of Mississippi Fred McDowell at the Hammond Hill Baptist Church cemetery by the Mt. Zion Memorial Fund. Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.

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Mississippi Fred McDowell