High Water (For Charley Patton)
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| “High Water (For Charley Patton)” | |||||
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Album cover
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| Song by Bob Dylan | |||||
| Album | "Love and Theft" | ||||
| Released | September 11, 2001 | ||||
| Recorded | May 2001 | ||||
| Genre | Folk | ||||
| Length | 4:04 | ||||
| Label | Columbia | ||||
| Writer | Bob Dylan | ||||
| "Love and Theft" track listing | |||||
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"High Water (For Charley Patton)" is a song by Bob Dylan, released on his 31st studio album "Love and Theft" in 2001. The song draws its title from the Charley Patton song "High Water Rising", which is one of many songs based on the 1927 Louisiana flood. Other songs about the event include Memphis Minnie's "When the Levee Breaks" (later recorded by Led Zeppelin), and Randy Newman's Louisiana 1927.
The song directly quotes two classic American songs in the last two verses, first the traditional ballad "The Cuckoo" with the line:
"The cuckoo is a pretty bird
She warbles as she flies."
As well as Robert Johnson's "Dust My Broom" with the line:
"I'm getting up in the morning
I believe I'll dust my broom."
