Music Tuesday: "Big River" by Johnny Cash

Jan at Runs With Angels...Lives With Saints! has a series of posts on her reading of a funny Mark Twain novel, The Diaries of Adam and Eve: Translated by Mark Twain.  I haven't read that one, and it's tempting me to stick it into my upcoming lists.  But as it turns out, on my current list is a Mark Twain book, and Jan has made me antsy to start it up.  My upcoming read, once I finally complete Dante's Purgatorio, is Mark Twain's Life On the Mississippi. 

So to get ready for Life on the Mississippi, how about Johnny Cash's "Big River" for this week's Music Tuesday selection.  Isn't Johnny Cash about as cool a singer as can be.  Not only is he a fine singer, but he projects so much personality.  He's got the personality you just wish he was your next door neighbor.  The Mississippi River is the heart of America, and I would say Johnny is too.

I'll post a clip with a remix section that adds about half a minute from the original version.  I really like what they did with the remix.

Now I taught the weeping willow how to cry
And I showed the clouds how to cover up a clear blue sky
And the tears that I cried for that woman are gonna flood you Big River
Then I'm gonna sit right here until I die

 

I met her accidentally in St. Paul, Minnesota
And it tore me up every time I heard her drawl, Southern drawl
Then I heard my dream was back downstream Cavortin' in Davenport
And I followed you, Big River, when you called

 

Then you took me to St. Louis later on down the river
A freighter said she's been here but she's gone, boy, she's gone
I found her trail in Memphis but she just walked up the block
Raised a few eyebrows and then she went on down alone

 

Now, won't you batter down by Baton Rouge, River Queen, roll it on
Take that woman on down to New Orleans, New Orleans
Go on, I've had enough, dump my blues down in the gulf
She loves you, Big River, more than me

 

Now I taught the weeping willow how to cry
And I showed the clouds how to cover up a clear blue sky
And the tears that I cried for that woman are gonna flood you Big River
Then I'm gonna sit right here until I die

 

Songwriters
CASH, JOHNNY R.

Lyrics credit to: Johnny Cash - Big River Lyrics | MetroLyrics