Black Water (song)
| "Black Water" | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Single by The Doobie Brothers | ||||
| from the album What Were Once Vices Are Now Habits | ||||
| B-side | "Song to See You Through" | |||
| Released | November 15, 1974 | |||
| Format | 7" single | |||
| Recorded | 1973 | |||
| Genre | Roots rock | |||
| Length | 4:18 | |||
| Label | Warner Bros. Records | |||
| Writer(s) | Patrick Simmons | |||
| Producer(s) | Ted Templeman | |||
| The Doobie Brothers singles chronology | ||||
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"Black Water" is a song by the American music group The Doobie Brothers from the album What Were Once Vices Are Now Habits. Released in 1974, it features its composer Patrick Simmons on lead vocals.
Simmons would credit his writing the song to making his first visit to New Orleans when the Doobie Brothers toured the southern states in the early 1970s: a lifelong aficionado of Delta blues, Simmons would state: "When I got down there [to New Orleans] it was everything I had hoped it would be...The way of life and vibe really connected with me and the roots of my music." Having earlier constructed the song's basic guitar lick, he completed "Black Water" on the basis of the experience of his introduction to New Orleans: the lyrics Well if it rains, I don't care - Don't make no difference to me/ Just take that street car that's goin' uptown specifically reference a streetcar journey Simmons made on a rainy day to the Garden District in Uptown New Orleans to do his laundry.[1]
Introducing a bluegrass sound to traditional rock, "Black Water" hit #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 on March 15, 1975. The song was originally released in early 1974 as the B-side to "Another Park, Another Sunday" but according to Tom Johnston in the Live at Wolftrap DVD, radio stations withdrew "Another Park, Another Sunday" from airplay because of the words ".. radio brings me down .. ", and "Black Water" ultimately became the more popular song.[2]
The song is characterized by the melodious a cappella section, with lyrics that are perhaps the most well known in the entire song: "I'd like to hear some funky Dixieland/Pretty mama, come and take me by the hand." These lines are also featured in the Train song, "I Got You" (from Save Me San Francisco) on which Simmons received a co-writing credit. The a cappella idea came from producer, Ted Templeman, the former lead singer of Harpers Bizarre, whose 1967 hit, "The 59th Street Bridge Song (Feelin' Groovy)," featured an a cappella section with harmonies. The song "Black Water" is also noted for its instrumental violin section.
The song is one of several performed by the Doobie Brothers during the band's two episode appearance in 1978 on the ABC sitcom What's Happening!![3]
A Finnish rendering "Lauantaisin" was recorded by Reijo Karvonen on his 1975 album Tulossa.
References
- ↑ "Doobie Brothers Keep on Rolling Down the Highway". NaplesNews.com. Retrieved accessdate=August 21 2013.
- ↑ Morse, Tim. Classic Rock Stories: The Stories Behind the Greatest Songs of All Time. St. Martin's Griffin, New York. p. 19. ISBN 0-312-18067-5.
- ↑ Sally Wade (writer); Mark Warren (director) (1978-01-28 & 1978-02-04). "Doobie or Not Doobie (Parts 1 and 2)". What's Happening!!. Season 2. Episode 16 & 17. ABC.
External links
| Preceded by "Have You Never Been Mellow" by Olivia Newton-John |
Billboard Hot 100 number one single March 15, 1975 |
Succeeded by "My Eyes Adored You" by Frankie Valli |
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