BE "behind the sun" = down South

Wilson Gray hwgray at GMAIL.COM
Wed Jan 10 06:09:17 UTC 2007


SONG TITLE: Louisiana Blues

SINGER: Muddy Waters (McKinley Morganfield)
COMPOSER(S): McKinley Morganfield, Arc Music
DATE OF REC.: _1950_, Chicago, Illinois
ORIGINAL ISSUE: Chess 1441

LOUISIANA BLUES
by Muddy Waters

I'm going down in Louisiana, baby, _behind the sun_
I'm going down in Louisiana, honey, _behind the sun_
Well, you know I just found out, my troubles done just begun

This phrase is traditional; hence, its use predates 1950. But, as is
so often the case, finding  documentation of these terms is a matter
of luck. There exists an instrumental whose title is "Behind The Sun"
and there are recordings of it that I've heard by at least two
different bands. But I can't supply more information than that, even
from memory. And, unfortunately, Eric Clapton recorded an album
entitled "Behind The Sun" in 2001. As a consequence, the tens of
thousands of Google hits for the phrase refer overwhelmigly to
Clapton's work.

-Wilson
--
All say, "How hard it is that we have to die"---a strange complaint to
come from the mouths of people who have had to live.
-----
-Sam'l Clemens

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