Singer Robert Plant used many of the original lyrics and the songwriting is credited to Memphis Minnie and the individual members of Led Zeppelin. Bonham's drum beat is one of the most widely sampled in popular music. If you’re keen to find out more about this female blues icon, Paul and Beth Garon’s book Woman with Guitar: Memphis Minnie's Blues is a great place to go next. When the Levee Breaks: Mississippi Blues, Rare Cuts 1926-41 ~ Release by Various Artists (see all versions of this release, 1 available) This mix runs 7:09, while the original runs 7:08. "When the Levee Breaks" was re-worked by English rock group Led Zeppelin as the last song on their untitled fourth album. Rainey was renowned for her sexually free songs that include the bisexual anthem "Prove It on Me Blues.". [8] The record was released before record industry publications, such as Billboard began tracking so-called race records, but it has been called a moderate hit. A Binson Echorec, a delay effects unit, was also used. I don't think they ever got their due. The late Chadwick Boseman co-stars in Netflix's Ma Rainey's Black Bottom as Levee, a character who represents the history of Black music appropriation in America — and is inspired by real musicians. [7] Music journalist Charles Shaar Murray identifies Joe McCoy as the actual songwriter. [2] The song's lyrics recount the personal toll on a man who lost his home and family. The “When the Levee Breaks” original was recorded back in 1929 by country blues artists Memphis Minnie and Kansas Joe McCoy. [5], McCoy and Minnie recorded "When the Levee Breaks" during their first session for Columbia Records in New York City on June 18, 1929. Ruben Santiago-Hudson (Lackawanna Blues) wrote the screenplay for the movie that also stars Michael Potts, Colman Domingo, Glynn Turman, Dusan Brown, Johnny Coyne, Jeremy Ramos, and Joshua Harto. [13], A different version of the song can be found on the second disc of the remastered two-disc deluxe edition of Led Zeppelin IV, released in 2014. Mentre la band aspetta nella claustrofobica sala prove dello studio, l’ambizioso trombettista Levee (Chadwick Boseman) – che ha un occhio di riguardo per la ragazza di Ma ed è determinato a rivendicare la propria rivendicazione nell’industria musicale – sprona i suoi colleghi musicisti in un’esplosione di storie che rivelano verità questo cambierà per sempre il corso delle loro vite. Directed by George C. Wolfe. Despite the tragedy, biographers also see in it a statement of rebirth. Gertrude "Ma" Rainey (born Gertrude Pridgett, April 26, 1886 – December 22, 1939) was an influential blues singer and early blues recording artist. "Levee hollers" blues band, Cosenza. "When the Levee Breaks" is a country blues song written and first recorded by Kansas Joe McCoy and Memphis Minnie in 1929. [20] Mick Wall called it a "hypnotic, blues rock mantra. This version, known as "When The Levee Breaks (Alternate UK Mix in Progress)", was recorded on May 19, 1971, at the Rolling Stones Mobile Studio at Headley Grange. With an ensemble of female background vocalists in tow, the album bears a certain gospel charm that some of their other efforts were missing. Tour. Cr. David Lee in Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom (David Lee / Netflix) The composer credits for When The Levee Breaks – the closing track on Led Zeppelin’s multi-platinum fourth album (the rune-y one with Stairway To Heaven on) – read, ‘Jimmy Page, Robert Plant, John Paul Jones, John Bonham & Memphis Minnie’. "When the Levee Breaks" is a country blues song written and first recorded by Kansas Joe McCoy and Memphis Minnie in 1929. Ma Rainey 's Black Bottom takes place during one day in the blues singer's storied life. The lyrics reflect experiences during the upheaval caused by the Great Mississippi Flood of 1927. [12], John Bonham's drumming, played on a Ludwig kit, was recorded in the lobby of Headley Grange using two Beyerdynamic M 160 microphones which were hung up a flight of stairs; output from these were passed to a pair of Helios F760 compressor/limiters. [3] The event is the subject of several blues songs, the most popular being "Backwater Blues" by Bessie Smith (1927) and "Mississippi Heavy Water Blues" by Barbecue Bob (1928). This, their elusive second album, "Levee Blues" is widely considered their artistic peak. That is all it takes for Levee ( Chadwick Boseman ), the trumpeter in Ma Rainey’s band, to disintegrate completely. Many bands milked this genre for all they were worth but few if any did it better. The narrative finds the Mississippi-born Levee hired as a session musician for blues singer Ma Rainey’s latest record, though he longs to play his own tunes with his own band. This article is about the blues song. [4], Ethel Douglas, Minnie's sister-in-law, recalled that Minnie was living with her family near Walls, Mississippi, when the levee broke in 1927. Artists who have sampled the drum beat include Beastie Boys on "Rhymin & Stealin" (Licensed to Ill, 1986);[25] Coldcut on "Beats + Pieces" (What's That Noise?, 1989); Dr. Dre on "Lyrical Gangbang" (The Chronic, 1992);[26] MC Lyte on "Survival of the Fittest" (Eyes on This, 1989); Björk on "Army of Me (Post, 1995)";[27] Eminem on "Kim" (The Marshall Mathers LP, 2000); Massive Attack on "Man Next Door" (Mezzanine, 1998);[28] and Beyoncé on "Don't Hurt Yourself" (Lemonade, 2016). "[22] In The Rolling Stone Album Guide (2004), Greg Kot wrote that the song showed the band's "hard-rock blues" at their most "momentous". Enjoy the videos and music you love, upload original content, and share it all with friends, family, and the world on YouTube. Niente di più, niente di meno. Late to the session, the fearless, fiery Ma engages in a battle of wills with her white manager and producer over control of her music. Singer & Bass Player LEVEE TOWN Oct 2002 - Present 18 years 6 months. Lizzie Douglas was born on June 3, 1897 in Algiers, Louisiana. The song was later re-worked by… Well, you know the rest - and if you don't, click here! [1] However, as with all their Columbia releases, regardless of who sang the song, the record labels list the artist as "Kansas Joe and Memphis Minnie". : Levee Sings the Blues. [8], Columbia issued the song on the then-standard 78 rpm phonograph record, with "That Will Be Alright", another vocal performance by McCoy, on the flip-side in August or June 1929. The official synopsis for the film reads: “Tensions and temperatures rise over the course of an afternoon recording session in 1920s Chicago as a band of musicians await trailblazing performer, the legendary 'Mother of the Blues,' Ma Rainey. 722 likes. "[19] The song was difficult to recreate live; the band only played it a few times in the early stages of their 1975 U.S. When considering material for the group to record, singer Robert Plant suggested the Kansas Joe McCoy and Memphis Minnie song. From the looks of it, with Oscar and Emmy winner Viola Davis as the queer blues legend Ma Rainey and Black Panther star Chadwick Boseman in his final role as the horn player Levee, the film is going to take streaming by storm when it’s released in December. This is what you need to know about the real Ma Rainey before (or after) watching. Michael Potts as Slow Drag, Chadwick Boseman as Levee, and Colman Domingo as Cutler. [1] Many other artists have performed and recorded versions of the song. Levee has, quite without Ma’s permission, prepared an ingenious new version of Black Bottom that downplays her slow, bluesy vocals and gives … [12], Music critic Robert Christgau cited Led Zeppelin's version of "When the Levee Breaks" as their fourth album's greatest achievement. [23] However, group biographer Keith Shadwick notes the song "suffers from too few ideas added to the ingredients as the minutes tick by, compared with 'Black Dog'" and other songs on the first side of the album. [17] It was the only song on the album that was mixed at Sunset Sound in Hollywood, California (the rest being remixed in London). The late Chadwick Boseman plays Levee, a talented trumpet and cornet player looking for his own break, and causing “trouble” for Ma. Una blues band. Helmed by acclaimed theater director George C. Wolfe (Lackawanna Blues, The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lack), the film costars Hit the Floor’s Taylour Paige as Rainey’s girlfriend Dussie Mae. "Levee Blues" is another good southern bar band boogie blues recording by this group. When Chadwick Boseman died this past summer, we heard that he had one performance left in the can, a starring role in a film version of August Wilson’s Tony-winning play Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom. [2] The flooding affected 26,000 square miles of the Mississippi Delta – hundreds were killed and hundreds of thousands of residents were forced to evacuate. Just one afternoon. She co-wrote When The Levee Breaks with her then husband Kansas Joe McCoy in 1929. https://www.distractify.com/p/did-levee-kill-toledo-in-real-life When blues musical duo Kansas Joe McCoy and Memphis Minnie wrote "When the Levee Breaks", the Great Mississippi Flood of 1927 was still fresh in people's memories. A third version is included on 2015 deluxe edition of the album Coda, titled "If It Keeps on Raining (When the Levee Breaks) (Rough Mix)". Hawkins.[25]. Prior to relocating to Headley Grange, they tried unsuccessfully to record it at Island Studios at the beginning of the recording sessions for their fourth album. ", "Memphis Minnie: When The Levee Breaks – Appears on", "Andy Johns on the secrets behind the Led Zeppelin IV sessions", "Recreating The Drum Sounds of "When the Levee Breaks, "These are the breaks: The most sampled drum beats in music history", "The Life of a Song: 'When the Levee Breaks, When Giants Walked the Earth: A Biography of Led Zeppelin, The Girl I Love She Got Long Black Wavy Hair, Led Zeppelin songs written or inspired by others, Hammer of the Gods: The Led Zeppelin Saga, Stairway to Heaven: Led Zeppelin Uncensored, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=When_the_Levee_Breaks&oldid=1008331611, Songs written by John Paul Jones (musician), Short description is different from Wikidata, Articles with unsourced statements from August 2018, Wikipedia articles with MusicBrainz work identifiers, Wikipedia articles with multiple identifiers, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License, This page was last edited on 22 February 2021, at 19:40. He argued that, because it plays like an authentic blues song and "has the grandeur of a symphonic crescendo", their version both transcends and dignifies "the quasi-parodic overstatement and oddly cerebral mood of" their past blues songs. The lyrics reflect experiences during the upheaval caused by the Great Mississippi Flood of 1927. [18] Page identifies the panning on the song's ending as one of his favourite mixes "when everything starts moving around except for the voice, which remains stationary. It was later released as "If It Keeps On Raining" on the 2015 reissue of Coda. ‘Ma Rainey's Black Bottom’ Is More Than Just a Celebration of the Blues Singer’s Life Mekeisha Madden Toby 12/17/2020 Calif. man charged with attacking officer with stun weapon in Capitol riot Ma Rainey. Viola Davis also stars as the titular Gertrude "Ma" Rainey, an icon remembered for her pioneering role in the world of blues. [6] Minnie, the more accomplished guitarist of the two, provided the embellishments using a finger picked-style in a Spanish or open G tuning. [citation needed]. [13] However, they did not follow its twelve-bar blues I–IV–V–I structure, but instead used a one-chord or modal approach to give it a droning sound. The usually optimistic yet supremely naive man is quite determined to become a successful musician, but the recording session on that fateful day in 1927 forever hinders these plans. The original dates back to 1929, and Minnie’s first-ever recording session. [11][24] According to Esquire magazine's Miles Raymer: The two-bar break that opens "When the Levee Breaks" is one of the most monumental pieces of rock drumming ever recorded, and one of the most widely sampled pieces of music ever, having appeared in songs by everyone from Eminem and Dr. Dre to New Age artist Mike Oldfield and Sophie B. Musica, whyskey, cenere ed anima. [10], Led Zeppelin recorded "When the Levee Breaks" for their untitled fourth album. They recorded an early version of the song in December 1970 at Headley Grange, using the Rolling Stones Mobile Studio. [1] Plant used many of the lyrics, but took a different melodic approach. [14] He also added a harmonica part; during mixing, a reverse echo effect was created, whereby the echo is heard ahead of the source. [12], Before the released version, Led Zeppelin attempted the song twice. Robert Brown (July 15, 1910 - November 6, 1966) known professionally as Washboard Sam, was an American blues singer and musician. During a recording session, tensions rise between Ma Rainey, her ambitious horn player and the white management determined to control the uncontrollable "Mother of the Blues". Featuring John Bonham’s iconic drumming, “When the Levee Breaks” is considered on par with Led Zeppelin’s seminal rock anthem, “Stairway to Heaven”, which appeared on the same album. The first images for the anticipated Netflix film Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, based on August Wilson’s play, have dropped. American country blues singer and 12-string guitarist. [15][16], Portions of the song were recorded at a different tempo, then slowed down, explaining the "sludgy" sound, particularly on the harmonica and guitar solos. After he loses an argument with his boss, blues singer Ma Rainey (a fierce, engrossing performance from Viola Davis), the future that Levee once saw for himself — as an adroit trumpeter and bandleader in 1920s Chicago — starts to fade. Ruben Santiago-Hudson (Lackawanna Blues)  wrote the screenplay for the movie that also stars Michael Potts, Colman Domingo, Glynn Turman, Dusan Brown, Johnny Coyne, Jeremy Ramos, and Joshua Harto. "When the Levee Breaks" was re-worked by English rock group Led Zeppelin as the last song on their untitled fourth album. Work on Levee Blues began in February 1971 at Deep South Recording Studio, and even though it had been planned for release in May, the band did not complete recording until August 1971 with … While the film is based on the real-life Rainey, it is a work of fiction that explores the Great Migration when Black people left the South for the North, according to a fact sheet from Netflix. Urban listeners, meanwhile, were abandoning blues for the faster, more sophisticated sound of swing, represented in Ma Rainey's Black Bottom by Chadwick Boseman's young, impatient Levee. "[21] AllMusic critic Stephen Thomas Erlewine, in a retrospective review, commented that the song was the only piece on their fourth album on par with "Stairway to Heaven" and called it "an apocalyptic slice of urban blues ... as forceful and frightening as Zeppelin ever got, and its seismic rhythms and layered dynamics illustrate why none of their imitators could ever equal them. [9] "When the Levee Breaks" is included on several Memphis Minnie compilation albums and blues roots albums featuring various artists. Paese: United States of America View: 159 Sometimes they had a Foghat vibe goin on and to me that is a good thing. They were a tight band with some good material. [11] Jimmy Page commented that while Plant's lyrics identified with the original, he developed a new guitar riff that set it apart. [12], Page and John Paul Jones based their guitar and bass lines on the original song. [1] The song features McCoy on vocals and rhythm guitar. For the Spike Lee film, see, 1929 blues song adapted by Led Zeppelin in 1971, List of Led Zeppelin songs written or inspired by others, "Led Zeppelin Vs Memphis Minnie: Whose version of When The Levee Breaks is better? With a powerful singer in George Ratzlaff, Potliquor were able to muster some pretty inspired moments on vinyl. Born: September 11, 1902 in Walnut Grove, Walton County, Georgia Died: October 21, 1931 in Lithonia, DeKalb County, Georgia (pneumonia) He recorded for Columbia 1927-1930 and sometimes performed with his … What it was like to watch ambitions flounder simply because of the color of your skin, through the character of Levee (Chadwick Boseman's final role). In December 2020, Netflix unveiled Ma Rainey's Black Bottom, one of the most acclaimed films of the year and with Oscar buzz already swirling for Viola Davis, who stars as legendary blues singer and musical pioneer Ma Rainey, and the late Chadwick Boseman, in his final role as an ambitious trumpet player named Levee Green. As the band waits in the studio’s claustrophobic rehearsal room, ambitious horn player Levee (Chadwick Boseman) — who has an eye for Ma’s girlfriend and is determined to stake his own claim on the music industry — spurs his fellow musicians into an eruption of stories revealing truths that will forever change the course of their lives.”. With Viola Davis, Chadwick Boseman, Glynn Turman, Colman Domingo. Singer Ma Rainey was the first popular stage entertainer to incorporate authentic blues into her song repertoire and became known as the "Mother of the Blues." Memphis Minnie (born Lizzie Douglas in Algiers, Louisiana, June 3, 1897 – August 6, 1973) was an American blues guitarist, singer, and songwriter from the late 1920s to the 1950s, one of the most influential country blues musicians to have ever recorded. Levee Blues is the second album from American band Potliquor released in 1972. [11] However, it is John Bonham's drumming that is usually noted as the defining characteristic of the song. Ma Rainey is portrayed by Viola Davis in the 2020 biopic about the blues singer. Michael Potts, Chadwick Boseman, and Colman Domingo prepare to make music in "Ma Rainey's Black Bottom." Memphis Minnie (Image credit: Getty).