Memphis Minnie recorded this blues classic "When The Levee Breaks" in 1929 with her husband Kansas Joe McCoy. They wrote it about the Great Mississippi Flood a couple of years earlier. The flood effected many lives and was the subject matter for many Delta Blues songs for the decade or so after. It was written primarily about the Greenville, Mississippi area, where thousands of people were evacuated to the protection of another levee on higher ground. However, over the years it has become an ode to the Mississippi State and further. A telling reminder of the hardship they have endured. I don't really even need to mention Hurricane Katrina... we know the damage that did to the levees in New Orleans. A topical song that will keep coming back... particularly for those folks along the Mississippi.
Led Zeppelin recorded a version of "When The Levee Breaks" in 1970 for the Led Zeppelin IV album. Unfortunately it may be remembered more for its great drum sound than the origin of the song itself. The opening drum riff has been sampled on dozens of songs by Beastie Boys, Eminem, Bjork and Massive Attack, to name a few.
Led Zeppelin - "When The Levee Breaks"
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