# When the Levee Breaks
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-the-levee-breaks/319730
**Category:** Cafe Society
**Created:** [September 2, 2005, 1:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-the-levee-breaks/319730 "2005-09-02T13:25:44Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@phungi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/phungi)
#### Post date: [September 2, 2005, 1:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-the-levee-breaks/319730/1 "2005-09-02T13:25:44Z")
_prophetic?_
If it keeps on rainin’, levee’s goin’ to break,
If it keeps on rainin’, levee’s goin’ to break,
When the levee breaks I’ll have no place to stay.
Mean old levee taught me to weep and moan,
Lord, mean old levee taught me to weep and moan,
Got what it takes to make a mountain man leave his home,
Oh, well, oh, well, oh, well.
Don’t it make you feel bad
When you’re tryin’ to find your way home,
You don’t know which way to go?
If you’re goin’ down south
They go no work to do,
If you don’t know about chicago.
Cryin’ won’t help you, prayin’ won’t do you no good,
Now, cryin’ won’t help you, prayin’ won’t do you no good,
When the levee breaks, mama, you got to move.
All last night sat on the levee and moaned,
All last night sat on the levee and moaned,
Thinkin’ ’bout me baby and my happy home.
Going, go’n’ to chicago,
Go’n’ to chicago,
Sorry but I can’t take you.
Going down, going down now, going down.
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### Author:  [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)
#### Post date: [September 2, 2005, 1:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-the-levee-breaks/319730/2 "2005-09-02T13:33:24Z")
Absolutely awesome song but Levee’s have been breaking since before the Blues were around, so hardly prophetic.
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### Author:  [@Nutty\_Bunny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nutty_Bunny)
#### Post date: [September 2, 2005, 1:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-the-levee-breaks/319730/3 "2005-09-02T13:37:23Z")
It’s funny you should mention that.
\ ***New Orleans is Sinking** \* by The Tragically Hip has been in my head for 3 days now. Gord Downie is a prophet, I tells ya!
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### Author:  [@Nutty\_Bunny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nutty_Bunny)
#### Post date: [September 2, 2005, 1:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-the-levee-breaks/319730/4 "2005-09-02T13:40:10Z")
I didn’t mean for that post to sound as flip as it does. Sorry about that. :o
[sub]Next thing I know, Tom Cruise will pop in here and tell me I’m being glib.[/sub]
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### Author:  [@Small\_Clanger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Small_Clanger)
#### Post date: [September 2, 2005, 1:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-the-levee-breaks/319730/5 "2005-09-02T13:47:07Z")
Why a _mountain man_? No levees in mountains.
A bit of Googling turns up:
> [@](#):
>
> Great Mississippi flood of 1927 – which inspired Memphis Minnie to write one of Led Zeppelin’s best songs
From [here](http://billmon.org/archives/002120.html)
So the song was written a long while ago. I don’t know if Minnie or Robert wrote the mountain man line.
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### Author:  [@thwartme](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thwartme)
#### Post date: [September 2, 2005, 3:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-the-levee-breaks/319730/6 "2005-09-02T15:32:35Z")
> [@Nutty Bunny](#):
>
> It’s funny you should mention that.
>
> \ ***New Orleans is Sinking** \* by The Tragically Hip has been in my head for 3 days now. Gord Downie is a prophet, I tells ya!
Hamilton, Ontario radio station Y108 read a letter from their station manager on air this morning, instructing them that they are not to play The Hip’s _New Orleans Is Sinking_, _Rock You Like A Hurrican_ by Helix or Zeppelin’s _When The Levee Breaks._ This was probably in response to the DJ the previous day that had played all three, and made snide little ‘no pun intended’ comments.
thwartme
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### Author:  [@Trunk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trunk)
#### Post date: [September 2, 2005, 3:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-the-levee-breaks/319730/7 "2005-09-02T15:45:02Z")
“Rock You Like a Hurricane” is the Scorpions.
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### Author:  [@thwartme](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thwartme)
#### Post date: [September 2, 2005, 3:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-the-levee-breaks/319730/8 "2005-09-02T15:59:40Z")
> [@Trunk](#):
>
> “Rock You Like a Hurricane” is the Scorpions.
Crap.
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### Author:  [@Trunk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trunk)
#### Post date: [September 2, 2005, 4:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-the-levee-breaks/319730/9 "2005-09-02T16:10:52Z")
> [@thwartme](#):
>
> Crap.
You can remember it this way: Helix didn’t have ANY hits.
😃😃
Silly prideful Canadian.
In the Great Northern pantheon, they’re somewhere beneath Bryan Adams, Barenaked Ladies. . .but somewhere above Celien Dion.
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### Author:  [@Nutty\_Bunny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nutty_Bunny)
#### Post date: [September 2, 2005, 4:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-the-levee-breaks/319730/10 "2005-09-02T16:15:52Z")
> [@thwartme](#):
>
> Hamilton, Ontario radio station Y108 read a letter from their station manager on air this morning, instructing them that they are not to play The Hip’s _New Orleans Is Sinking_, _Rock You Like A Hurrican_ by Helix or Zeppelin’s _When The Levee Breaks._ This was probably in response to the DJ the previous day that had played all three, and made snide little ‘no pun intended’ comments.
>
> thwartme
And I was just joking last night that I wondered if Clear Channel was going to have a “no play” list like they did after 9/11 (yes, I know this was debunked by [snopes.com](http://snopes.com)).
Of course, Clear Channel stations don’t play The Hip anyway. :rolleyes:
Funny you should (mistakenly) mention Helix. My brother recently burned a bunch of CDs for me with all Canadian Top 40 from the 80s and “Rock You” was on it. The bastard didn’t give me a playlist, so I had to look up who did that song.
So, if Ottawa and Montreal stations follow suit, I guess I won’t hear any NOIS on the radio when I’m up north next weekend. Dang.
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### Author:  [@Nutty\_Bunny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nutty_Bunny)
#### Post date: [September 2, 2005, 4:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-the-levee-breaks/319730/11 "2005-09-02T16:18:39Z")
> [@Trunk](#):
>
> . . .but somewhere above Celien Dion.
**Trunk** , even Gowan and Kim Mitchell are above that screeching, chest-thumping bitch.
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### Author:  [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)
#### Post date: [September 2, 2005, 4:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-the-levee-breaks/319730/12 "2005-09-02T16:22:01Z")
> [@thwartme](#):
>
> Hamilton, Ontario radio station Y108 read a letter from their station manager on air this morning, instructing them that they are not to play The Hip’s _New Orleans Is Sinking_, _Rock You Like A Hurrican_ by Helix or Zeppelin’s _When The Levee Breaks._
That’s funny. Since a little while after this happened, I’ve been wondering if stations were passing around lists of “insensitive” songs, and if _When the Levee Breaks_ and _Rock You Like a Hurricane_ were on them.
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### Author:  [@Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biffy_the_Elephant_Shrew)
#### Post date: [September 2, 2005, 4:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-the-levee-breaks/319730/13 "2005-09-02T16:42:45Z")
> [@Small Clanger](#):
>
> So the song was written a long while ago. I don’t know if Minnie or Robert wrote the mountain man line.
That line is not in the Memphis Minnie recording. She sings “Thinking about my baby and my happy home” in that verse. (Later in the song, where Plant does sing that line, the original has “_Gonna leave_ my baby and my happy home.”)
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### Author:  [@kelly5078](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kelly5078)
#### Post date: [September 2, 2005, 4:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-the-levee-breaks/319730/14 "2005-09-02T16:47:19Z")
Damned if I can see how these songs are insensitive. They’re written to help people come to grips with tragedies, not to celebrate them.
Any prohibition on Dylan’s “Down in the Flood” yet?
Crash on the levee mama, water’s gonna overflow
Swamps gonna rise, no boats gonna row
Now you can train on down to William’s point
You can bust your feet, you can rock this joint
But oh mama, ain’t you gonna miss your best friend now
You gonna have to find yourself another good friend somehow.
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### Author:  [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)
#### Post date: [September 2, 2005, 5:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-the-levee-breaks/319730/15 "2005-09-02T17:01:51Z")
> [@kelly5078](#):
>
> Damned if I can see how these songs are insensitive. They’re written to help people come to grips with tragedies, not to celebrate them.
>
> Any prohibition on Dylan’s “Down in the Flood” yet?
I’ve had “The Hurricane” in my head for days, I’m sure that’s not allowed. It’d be better if I knew more of the words; I may have to buy the disc.
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### Author:  [@Amok](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amok)
#### Post date: [September 2, 2005, 5:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-the-levee-breaks/319730/16 "2005-09-02T17:24:12Z")
Not to be all junior mod and what not, but… I don’t know if the lyrics for “When the Levee Breaks” are still under copyright, but I’m sure the Dylan song is.
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### Author:  [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)
#### Post date: [September 2, 2005, 5:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-the-levee-breaks/319730/17 "2005-09-02T17:54:13Z")
> [@Amok](#):
>
> Not to be all junior mod and what not, but… I don’t know if the lyrics for “When the Levee Breaks” are still under copyright, but I’m sure the Dylan song is.
If you think it need correction then hit the report button. I understand the Mods & Admin’s may be a little overworked today do to volume and holiday weekend.
I was told yesterday not to post copyright material, So I will click and let them know it needs attn. (not to get someone in trouble, to protect the board itself from copyright problems)
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### Author:  [@Amok](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amok)
#### Post date: [September 2, 2005, 6:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-the-levee-breaks/319730/18 "2005-09-02T18:03:20Z")
> [@jrfranchi](#):
>
> If you think it need correction then hit the report button.
I have.
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### Author:  [@kelly5078](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kelly5078)
#### Post date: [September 2, 2005, 7:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-the-levee-breaks/319730/19 "2005-09-02T19:13:02Z")
> [@Amok](#):
>
> Not to be all junior mod and what not, but… I don’t know if the lyrics for “When the Levee Breaks” are still under copyright, but I’m sure the Dylan song is.
IANAL, but I thought if I wasn’t making any money off it, it was okay. Moderator: feel free to delete.
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### Author:  [@kelly5078](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kelly5078)
#### Post date: [September 2, 2005, 7:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-the-levee-breaks/319730/20 "2005-09-02T19:17:18Z")
Guess I should have read the forum rules. My apologies.
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