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#79- The Rosa Lee (1986)
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Single   $0.5
I always thought this one would have fit nicely in an early 1950's musical about the Mississippi.
folk funny political sixties novelty gentle prolific idiosyncratic lehrer jefferson airplane ochs paxton steve goodman
Artist picture
Tom Paxton meets Jefferson Airplane. Extremely prolific singer songwriter with a wide range of styles from bizarre novelty tunes and surrealistic poetic songs t
With more than 300 songs and counting and for more than 30 years, I have written in a variety of acoustic styles from novelty tunes to love songs to historical ballads to poetic surrealistic songs to retro-acoustic pop. From bizarre to traditional from funny to poignant, whatever style the song is in, the melodies are usually memorable and the lyrics unpredictable. This site will eventually contain rough often first take demos of my entire song catalogue. Many of the earliest songs when I first started writing will of course be shaky. So expect the songs to get better as time goes on. Feel free to come back and browse often as I will constantly be adding songs, one by one in chronological order, starting in 1974. If you are looking for some unusual songs to cover from a little known but unique artist, you have come to the right place. Just e-mail me. If you find a song here that intrigues you, but you don't like a line or two, or you think it needs a bridge, drop me an e-mail and maybe you can earn writer's credit if it gets that song to be recorded or performed.... otherwise just enjoy. You can become a Rob Lincoln fan at no cost to you. I promise that if you keep coming back there will be some real surprises along the way. While mostly acoustic, some original material will veer into folk rock and even 60's pop, but the garage rock and loudest material will also be found in full band arrangement at soundclick.com/abrasiveflowers Eventually some of these 300+ tunes may be rerecorded and make it on to CD, including a novelty CD that would be suitable for Dr. Demento or an historical ballad CD or a political song CD--but until then, this is the only site you can hear most of these songs. (A few of my songs CAN be found on songramp.com/RobLincoln and myspace.com/lessickandlincoln)
Song Info
Author
Rob Lincoln
Rights
1986
Uploaded
August 12, 2007
Track Files
MP3
MP3 3.5 MB 128 kbps 3:48
Story behind the song
This was inspired by a book I read on river boats and it references a somewhat obscure earthquake that occurred in 1811 in the Missouri Territory (which caused the Mississippi River to actually change its course and wipe out the small town of New Lisbon). Still its a happy tune...go figure. Note my poetic license...1822 sounds better than 1811. Also note I think I invented a new expression in the second to the last verse meaning "really deep in the water." This one rated a 4.4 out of 5.0...It also ran the distinction of receiving the most "5's" of any song thus far, though it also received a 2 and a 3. And it got some valuable feedback from a number of professional singer/songwriter friends along with other folks. Comments included: "Not one of my favorites" "Love it" "This is a real good one. My two centavos: I'd trim it down some...I'd get to that DYNAMITE chorus quicker, and trim up the verses...verse, chorus, verse, chorus, verse, chorus, chorus. You could deep six the quake in the song...it's incidental, and never gives enough info to be integral to the song. This is a song about a disappearing American lifestyle. I love the "sights no longer seen" bridges after the verses...really sets the chorus up nice!" "This one is a keeper!" "Not one of my favorites...a bit muddy" "I downloaded The Rosa Lee and waited until I had a quiet moment to listen to it. Nice job! I really enjoy it when a writer can convey a sort of mental canvas to the listener. I could almost hear the steamboat whistle as The Rosa Lee signaled it's way upstream. This song needs to be seriously recorded. I'm hearing a harmonica and slide acoustic." "nice song... 4 "One thing again... "...been" sounding like "bean" --- adjusted pronunciation to fit rhyme. The words scan really nicely otherwise." "I hear a bit of Gordon Lightfoot"
Lyrics
My name's Steamboat Jim I sailed on the Mississippi If you ask me where I've been I'll tell you I've seen pretty Sites no longer seen Seems like its a dream But my memories still keen For all the places I have been In 1822 I left my home in old St Louis With a sack upon my back Walked through them morning glories Sites no longer seen Seems like its a dream But my memories still keen For all the places I have been Look here comes the Rosa Lee Ain't she picking up steam Careful boys don't burst her boilers Paddles turning Water churning And she keeps on steaming along When the great quake came The banks they were overflowing The river changed its course All the townspeople were a rowing Sites no longer seen Seems like its a dream But my memories still keen For all the places I have been We steamed over New Lisbon I tell you the whole town was a missin' Where was good ole Main Street Gone to where the fish go fishing Sites no longer seen Seems like it's a dream But my memories still keen For all the places I have been Look here comes the Rosa Lee Ain't she picking up steam Careful boys don't burst her boilers Paddles turning Water churning And she keeps on steaming along Now by the flowery hills I still see the people waving And by Ole' Missy's banks I still hear the people saying Look here comes the Rosa Lee Ain't she picking up steam Careful boys don't burst her boilers Paddles turning Water churning And she keeps on steaming along
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