‘Black Water’ is a song recorded by the American music group the Doobie Brothers from their 1974 album What Were Once Vices Are Now Habits. The track features its composer Patrick Simmons on lead vocals and, in mid-March 1975, became the first of the Doobie Brothers' two No. 1 hit singles. ‘Black Water’ wasn't seen as having hit potential, so it was relegated to the B-side of ‘Another Park, Another Sunday’ in March 1974. The track wasn't issued as an A-side until November, and it didn't reach #1 until March 15, 1975.
Patrick Simmons recalled that he chanced on the basic guitar lick for ‘Black Water’ while at Warner Bros. Recording Studio for the recording sessions for the Doobie Brothers' 1973 album The Captain and Me: "I was sitting out in the studio waiting between takes and I played that part. All the sudden I heard the talk-back go on and [producer] Ted Templeman says: 'What is that?' I said: 'It’s just a little riff that I came up with that I’ve been tweaking with.' He goes: 'I love that. You really should write a song using that riff.'"
Simmons completed ‘Black Water’ during a subsequent Doobie Brothers' sojourn in New Orleans; a lifelong aficionado of Delta blues, Simmons had first visited New Orleans for a 1971 Doobie Brothers gig: "When I got down there 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." Simmons cites the song's opening section - see Quote Box to the right - as "my childhood imaginings of the South from reading Huckleberry Finn and Tom Sawyer" while the lyrics subsequent to the first chorus draw on his actual experience of New Orleans: "going down to the French Quarter as often as possible and going into the clubs and listening to Dixieland": the lyric Well if it rains, I don't care/ Don't make no difference to me/ Just take that street car that's goin' uptown was jotted down by Simmons while riding through the University District on the St. Charles Streetcar Line en route to the Garden District in Uptown New Orleans to do laundry: "the sun was shining while it was pouring rain the way it does down there sometimes. And the lyrics just came to me there [on the streetcar]."
In a Songfacts interview with Tom Johnston, the Doobie Brothers frontman explained how the song became an unlikely hit. Said Johnston: "That's a story that could have happened back then, but never would ever ever happen now: Roanoke, Virginia picked that tune up and started playing it in heavy rotation, and somebody in Minneapolis who I guess knew somebody in Roanoke heard the song and decided to follow suit, and it ended up becoming our first #1 single. That was Pat's first single. And oddly enough, it was never looked at as a single by the record company. I remember when I first heard it was #1, we were in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, and we were just getting ready to go on stage, and then I guess Bruce [their manager Bruce Cohn] must have told us. I think we were already aware of the fact that it was getting airplay, but nobody was really paying a lot of attention. And then all of a sudden it became #1 and we were paying attention. I remember I went in and congratulated Pat backstage, and we've been playing it ever since."
Label – Warner Bros.
Songwriter – Patrick Simmons
Producer – Ted Templeman
SONG LYRICS
[Verse 1]Well, I built me a raft and she's ready for floating
Old Mississippi, she's calling my name
Catfish are jumping, that paddle wheel thumping
Black water keeps rolling on past just the same
[Chorus]
Old black water, keep on rolling
Mississippi moon, won't you keep on shining on me?
Old black water, keep on rolling
Mississippi moon, won't you keep on shining on me?
Old black water, keep on rolling
Mississippi moon, won't you keep on shining on me?
Yeah, keep on shining your light
Gonna make everything, pretty mama
Gonna make everything alright
And I ain't got no worries cause I ain't in no hurry at all
[Verse 2]
Well, if it rains, I don't care!
Don't make no difference to me
Just take that street car that's going up town
Yeah, I'd like to hear some funky Dixieland
And dance the honky tonk
And I'll be buying everybody drinks all round
[Chorus]
Old black water, keep on rolling
Mississippi moon, won't you keep on shining on me?
Old black water, keep on rolling
Mississippi moon, won't you keep on shining on me?
Old black water, keep on rolling
Mississippi moon, won't you keep on shining on me?
Keep on shining your light
Gonna make everything, everything
Gonna make everything alright
And I ain't got no worries cause I ain't in no hurry at all
[Breakdown]
I'd like to hear some funky Dixieland
Pretty mama, come and take me by the hand
By the hand, hand, take me by the hand, pretty mama
Come and dance with your daddy all night long
I'd like to hear some funky Dixieland
Pretty mama, come and take me by the hand
By the hand, hand, take me by the hand, pretty mama
Come and dance with your daddy all night long
I'd like to hear some funky Dixieland
Pretty mama, come and take me by the hand
By the hand, hand, take me by the hand, pretty mama
Come and dance with your daddy all night long
I'd like to hear some funky Dixieland
Pretty mama, come and take me by the hand
By the hand, hand, take me by the hand, pretty mama
Come and dance with your daddy all night long
I'd like to hear some funky Dixieland
Pretty mama, come and take me by the hand
By the hand, hand, take me by the hand, pretty mama
Come and dance with your daddy all night long
I'd like to hear some funky Dixieland
Pretty mama, come and take me by the hand