Origin: Sittin' By the River / Noah Built the Ark

Subject: RE: Origin: Noah Built the Ark (from Josephine Douglas
From: Charley Noble
Date: 06 Mar 24 - 10:53 AM

Thanks for the notes!

There's a verse of a related song titled "I am Waiting' on the Levee" in STEAMBOATIN' DAYS by collector and singer Mary Wheeler, ©1944, p. 58. The verse runs:

I am waiting' on the levee,
Waiting' of' the steam boat to come down;
I hope she's loaded pretty heavy,
I hope she's loaded to the groun';
I think I hear her whistle blowing',
Blowin' so loud an' clear,
Ah-oo! Ah-oo, Och, Och
It must' be the Natchez or the Robert Lee.

Subject: RE: Sittin' By the River on the Levee: info?
From: Desert Dancer
Date: 02 Jun 01 - 02:40 AM

Came upon this thread in sorting thru the innumerable "Two Little Boys" threads in an attempt to see if there's anything new to contribute..., so I have the cassette notes in front of me. Jeff and Jeff say:

Noah Built the Ark -- Collected from Josephine Douglas in 1939 at the Parchman Farm Women's Correctional Farm in Mississippi by Herbert Halpert. We learned it from the Washington, D.C. based Double Decker String Band.

~ Becky in Tucson

Subject: RE: Sittin' By the River on the Levee: info?
From: GUEST,Pelrad
Date: 07 Jun 00 - 11:42 AM

Sandy, thanks for the info. Sounds fascinating. I wonder where it came from before the prison...Thanks!

Subject: RE: Sittin' By the River on the Levee: info?
From: Sandy Paton
Date: 06 Jun 00 - 12:15 AM

Collected from women prisoners in the women's section of Parchman in Mississippi (I think I've got the right prison here; I'm too weary tonight to go hunt up the field recording or the Jeff & Jeff record to check on the notes). That would have been in the '30s. I read somewhere that they've done away with the women's section now, giving the women a prison of their very own.

Caroline and I learned the song from Craig Johnson and the Double Decker String Band.

Sandy

Subject: Sittin' By the River on the Levee: info?
From: GUEST,Pelrad
Date: 05 Jun 00 - 11:25 PM

CH: Sittin' by the river on the levee,
Waiting till the steamboat come down
Them cotton bales are rolling mighty heavy
Miles and miles around.
Thought I heard the steamboat when she landed
Landed on the levee below
I'm sittin by the river on the levee
Waiting till the steamboat come down.


This is from Jeff Warner and Jeff Davis' album Two Little Boys. I know the song by heart, don't need lyrics. I do not, however, have the jacket notes or any background to the song. Any wizards out there who can help? :-)