I hate to see that evening sun go down,
I hate to see that evening sun go down,
‘Cause my lovin’ baby done left this town.
If I feel tomorrow, like I feel today,
If I feel tomorrow, like I feel today,
I’m gonna pack my trunk and make my getaway.
Yesterday’s avian photos were all my product. Even though Anne accompanied me and took many of the same shots, I just have the better camera for distance photography. Today’s pictures are all Anne’s and plainly show that she has an eye for photography too. I like the way that she has caught these river reflections.
Oh, that St. Louis woman, with her diamond rings,
She pulls my man around by her apron strings.
And if it wasn’t for powder and her store-bought hair,
Oh, that man of mine wouldn’t go nowhere.
It is a blogger’s boon to live next to such a great natural and cultural resource as the Mississippi River. We’ve tried to capture some of the river’s beauty with our photographs, but the influence of this river on American culture cannot be understated. It has affected our art, language and music. The previous post, shows George Bingham’s “Raftsmen Playing Cards”, a perfect example of the river’s influence on art. Saint Louis is a city that has benefited mightily from this river. Colloquial Mississippi language is now part of everyday speech.
I got those St. Louis blues, just as blue as I can be,
Oh, my man’s got a heart like a rock cast in the sea,
Or else he wouldn’t have gone so far from me.
Here are some phrases that are easy to trace:
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“Are you hung up?”
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“Let’s let off some steam.”
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“Their project hit a sang.”
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“He’s working full steam ahead.”
But what about these?
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“They got sold down the river!”
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slave actions on the levees
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“It’s touch and go.”
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A riverboat’s very speedy landing was a “touch and go.”
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“They’re the riffraff.”
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After steamboats, only the poor traveled by riff (paddle) rafts.
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I love my man like a schoolboy loves his pie,
Like a Kentucky colonel loves his rocker and rye
I’ll love my man until the day I die, Lord, Lord.
In the Saint Louis Post-Dispatch this morning, plans for the National Blues Museum were announced. It is scheduled to open on Washington Avenue in 2014. According to the article, this new museum will cover the history of the blues and its influence on rock ‘n’ roll, country, jazz and R&B. Among the areas slated to be included are Evolution of the Blues, Blues Icons & Legends and a Blues Lab.
I got the St. Louis blues,
Just as blue as I can be, Lord, Lord!
That man’s got a heart like a rock cast in the sea,
Or else he wouldn’t have gone so far from me.
Why should Saint Louis be the home for the National Blues Museum? There are other contenders. First, why not? Second, Father of the Blues, W. C. Handy’s 1914, “St. Louis Blues” is still the most recorded blues song of all time. Third, we’re doing it now. Fourth, it looks like we’ll have a St. Louis Blues NHL hockey team again, after all.
I got those St. Louis blues, I got the blues,
I got the blues, I got the blues,
My man’s got a heart like a rock cast in the sea,
Or else he wouldn’t have gone so far from me, Lord, Lord!