When the Levee Breaks
| "When the Levee Breaks" | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
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| Single by Kansas Joe McCoy & Memphis Minnie | ||||
| B-side | "That Will Be Alright" | |||
| Released | 1929 | |||
| Format | 10-inch 78 rpm | |||
| Recorded | June 18, 1929 | |||
| Genre | Country blues | |||
| Length | 3:11 | |||
| Label | Columbia (14439D) | |||
| Writer(s) | Kansas Joe McCoy, Minnie Lawlers a.k.a. Memphis Minnie | |||
| Kansas Joe McCoy & Memphis Minnie singles chronology | ||||
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| "When the Levee Breaks" | |
|---|---|
| Song by Led Zeppelin from the album Led Zeppelin IV | |
| Released | November 8, 1971 |
| Recorded | Headley Grange, Headley, England, 1971 |
| Genre | |
| Length | 7:08 |
| Label | Atlantic |
| Writer(s) | |
| Producer(s) | Jimmy Page |
| ISWC | T-914.640.308-9 |
"When the Levee Breaks" is a blues song written and first recorded by husband and wife Kansas Joe McCoy and Memphis Minnie in 1929. The song is in reaction to the upheaval caused by the Great Mississippi Flood of 1927.
"When the Levee Breaks" was re-worked by English rock group Led Zeppelin as the last song on Led Zeppelin IV, released in 1971. The lyrics in Led Zeppelin's version, credited to Memphis Minnie and the individual members of Led Zeppelin, were partially based on the original recording. Many other artists have also recorded versions of the song or played it live.
"When the Levee Breaks" was originally recorded by the blues musical duo Kansas Joe McCoy and Memphis Minnie. In the first half of 1927, the Great Mississippi Flood ravaged the state of Mississippi and surrounding areas. It destroyed many homes and devastated the agricultural economy of the Mississippi Basin. Many people were forced to flee to the cities of the Midwest in search of work, contributing to the "Great Migration" of African Americans in the first half of the 20th century. During the flood and the years after it subsided, it became the subject of numerous Delta blues songs, including "When the Levee Breaks", hence the lyrics, "I works on the levee, mama both night and day, I works so hard, to keep the water away" and "It's a mean old levee, cause me to weep and moan, gonna leave my baby, and my happy home". The song focused mainly on when more than 13,000 residents in and near Greenville, Mississippi evacuated to a nearby, unaffected levee for its shelter at high ground. The tumult that would have been caused if this and other levees had broken was the song's underlying theme.
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