About The Song
Songs with the names of towns in them have always been big business. The list of songs with city names in the title is in the hundreds, maybe even the thousands, worldwide. Johnny Cash addressed dozens of cities in his rapid-fire hit “I’ve Been Everywhere” in the 1960s, but he visited other towns a little more eloquently in his 1958 classic “Big River.”
A song about a lovesick man following a woman’s trail from the headwaters of the Mississippi River to the ocean, “Big River” has been cut by numerous other influential artists. It’s always been instantly recognizable by Luther Perkins’ iconic guitar riff on the bottom A and E strings, but it’s also known as one of Cash’s great accomplishments as a writer.
As a geography lesson, you could do much worse. People who never knew (or maybe still don’t know) the names of the major port cities on the Mississippi got an education when the song hit the charts. Cash started the song in St. Paul, a few hundred miles south of where the river originates, then traveled a downstream to Davenport, Iowa, the only spot where the river travels from east to west (it’s also the hometown of this writer).
The next major port was St. Louis, then Memphis, where countless people have misheard the line But she just walked up the bluff as She just walked up the block, or even She just walked up the club. Cash used the word “bluff” as a nod to the Memphis nickname of “The Bluff City.” Baton Rouge, New Orleans and the Gulf of Mexico followed. But there was another city between Memphis and Baton Rouge that most people never heard – Natchez, which was mentioned in a verse not included in the original recording for whatever reason. This omitted verse was later sung by Waylon Jennings in the 1985 recording of “Big River” by the supergroup Cash was in, The Highwaymen.
Johnny Cash was featured in a cover performed by The Highwaymen, a country supergroup featuring Cash, Willie Nelson, Waylon Jennings and Kris Kristofferson. This cover is slightly more upbeat, skewing to “Outlaw Country,” and features the verse Cash omitted when he first recorded the song for Sun (Jennings sang the verse on the studio recording and in live performances, which allowed each member of the group to sing a verse).
Video
Lyrics
I taught the weeping willow how to cry, cry, cry
And I showed the clouds how to cover up a clear blue sky
And the tears that I cried for that woman are gonna flood you, big river
And I’m gonna sit right here until I die
I met her accidentally in St. Paul, Minnesota
And it tore me up every time I heard her drawl, Southern drawl
Then I heard my dream was back downstream cavortin’ in Davenport
And I followed you, big river, when she called
Oh, she took me to St. Louis later on, down the river
A freighter said she’s been here, but she’s gone, boy, she’s gone
An’ I found her trail in Memphis, but she just walked up the block
Raised a few eyebrows, and went on down alone
Well, I pulled into Natchez, next day down the river
But there wasn’t much there to make the rounders stay very long
When I left, it was raining, so nobody saw me crying
Big river, why she buried me this way?
Now, won’t you batter down by Baton Rouge?
River Queen, roll it on
Take that woman on down to New Orleans, New Orleans
Go on, I’ve had enough
Dump my blues down in the gulf
She loves you, big river, more than me
I taught the weeping willow how to cry, cry, cry
And I showed the clouds how to cover up a clear blue sky
And the tears I cried for that woman are gonna flood you, big river
Then I’m gonna sit right here until I die
