I enjoy some oldies. A couple are:
Memphis Minnie & Kansas Joe - "When the Levee Breaks" Most people know the Led Zeppelin version, but this is the original from 1929. It was written about The Great Mississippi River Flood of 1927.
The Winter of 26 - 27 there was an incredible amount of rain. The Army Corps of Engineers said the levees would hold. After all, they built them. A 100 foot wide breech occurred. Water poured through, more than double the amount of Niagara Falls, more than the entire upper river ever. In 10 days it covered one million acres with water 10 feet deep--and the crevasse continued to pour water for months. Twenty-seven thousand square miles were inundated. This was about equal to the combined size of Massachusetts, Connecticut, New Hampshire, and Vermont. By July 1, even as the flood began to recede, 1.5 million acres were under water. The river was 70 miles wide.
The U.S. Federal Government sent in boats to rescue people. The rescuers would cruise right past black people in search of white people to save. After saving as many whites as possible they went back to see if there were any black people left to save and brought out those they could find.
It was sort of like the Hurricane Katrina rescue efforts, in a way, but actually worse.
It inspired a great song.
http://v.youku.com/v_show/id_XMjY0Nzg0Njg=.html
Then there is the original "Baby Please Don't Go" written and performed by Big Joe Williams in 1935. Later versions were done by people like Muddy Waters, Bob Dylan, Them (with Van Morrison), AC/DC, Aerosmith, but the version that might be most widely known is The Amboy Dukes (with Ted nugent) version. It was their debut single.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g22l1hnAnlA
