Song Stories

#225 / Flood Index

Some fans of the newsletter tell us what they really enjoy is our deep dives into the history of the songs we sing. Yeah, we love telling those stories too. Not every band can boast of introductions that are even longer than the songs themselves!

We have two ways you can delve into these song stories:

• By time period. Click here for our “Tunes on a Timeline” list to locate songs by the years of origin.

• Alphabetically. Below is an alphabetized list of the histories we’ve published so far.

With either index, click a song title to visit (or revisit) that specific song story.

A

• "Abilene"

• “After You’ve Gone”

• “Ain’t the Gravy Good?”

• "Ain't Misbehavin'"

• “Ain’t No Free”

• “Alberta, Let Your Hair Hang Down”

• "All of Me"

• "All Out of Season"

• "Am I Blue?"

• “The Ash Grove”

• “Autumn Leaves”

B

• "Back Up and Push"

• “Barbara Allen”

• “Birth of the Blues”

• "Black Coffee"

• “Blackberry Blossom”

• “Blue Moon”

• "Blue Skies"

• “Buddy Bolden’s Blues”

• “But Not for Me”

• "Bye Bye Blues"

C

• “Can You Run?”

• “Careless Love”

• "Carrickfergus"

• "Come All Ye Fair and Tender Maidens"

• "Corrina, Corrina"

• “Crazy Words, Crazy Tune”

• "Cry Me a River"

D

• "Dead Cat On the Line"

• "Deep Ellum Blues"

• "Deep River Blues"

• “Delia’s Gone”

• “Didn’t He Ramble?”

• "Different Drum"

• "Dinah"

• "Dink's Song (If I Had Wings Like Noah's Dove)"

• “Doctor Jazz”

• “Don’t Get Around Much Anymore”

• "Don't Know Why"

• “Don’t Let Your Deal Go Down”

• “Don’t Think Twice, It’s All Right”

• “Down By the Salley Gardens"

• "Down in The Flood"

• "Drive In"

• “Driving Wheel”

• "Druther Not"

• "Dusty Boxcar Wall"

• "The Dutchman"

F

• "500 Miles Away from Home"

• "Fly Me to the Moon"

• "The 4th Street Mess-Around"

• "Four Strong Winds"

• "France Blues (Hey, Lordy, Mama, Mama, Hey Lordy, Papa, Papa)"

• “Furniture Man”

G

• "Gee, Baby, Ain't I Good to You?"

• “The Gentle Maiden”

• "Georgia on My Mind"

• "Georgie Buck"

• "God Bless the Child"

• "Good as I Been to You (You Gonna Quit Me Blues")

• "Good Time Charlie's Got the Blues"

• “Gotta Shave ‘Em Dry”

• "Greensleeves (What Child Is This?)”

H

• “Handy Man”

• “Hard Times (Who Knows Better Than I)”

• “Harvest Moon”

• “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas”

• “Hey Baby”

• "Honeysuckle Rose"

I

• “I Almost Lost My Mind”

• "I Am a Pilgrim”

• "I Got Mine"

• “I Got a Secret (Shake Sugaree)”

• “I Wonder Where My Easy Rider’s Gone”

• “I’m Beginning to See the Light”

• “I’m Walkin’”

• "If You Lose Your Money"

• "It Had to be You"

J

• "Jamaica Say You Will"

• “Jelly Roll Baker”

• "Jug Band Music"

• “Jug Band Song”

• “July, You’re a Woman”

• “June Apple”

• “Just a Closer Walk with Thee”

• “Just Because”

L

• "The L & N Don't Stop Here Anymore"

• "Lady Be Good"

• "Lazarus"

• “Leaving Home (Frankie and Johnny)”

• “Love Will Keep Us Alive”

• "Loving You Would Be So Good for Me"

• "Lulu's Back In Town"

M

• "Make Me a Pallet on Your Floor"

• “Make You Feel My Love”

• "Makin' Whoopee"

• “Mama, You Been on My Mind"

• "Memphis in June"

• "Midnight Special"

• "Misty"

• "Moondance"

• “Moonglow”

• “Moonshine in The West Virginia Hills”

• "My Blue Heaven"

• “My Dear Companion”

N

• "The Nearness of You"

• “Needed Time”

• "New Orleans"

• “No Ash Will Burn”

• “Nobody Knows You When You’re Down and Out”

O

• "October Winds (The Castle of Dromore)"

• "One Red Rose"

• “One Too Many Mornings”

• “Opus One”

• “Our House”

P

• “Peaceful Easy Feeling”

• "Please Don't Talk About Me When I'm Gone"

• “Pretty Polly”

R

• “Rag Mama / Gimme Dat Dang”

• "Ramblin' Boy"

• “Ready for the Times to Get Better”

• "The Rose"

S

• “St. Louis Blues”

• "San Francisco Bay Blues"

• “Shawneetown”

• "Singing the Blues"

• "Sister Kate (If I Could Shimmy Like My...)"

• "Sittin' On Top of the World"

• "Solid Gone"

• “Somebody Stole My Gal”

• “Somebody's Been Using That Thing”

• "Spoon River"

• 'Suffer to Sing the Blues"

• "Summertime"

• “Sunny”

• "Sunny Side of the Street"

• “Sweet Georgia Brown”

T

• “Tear It Down”

• "That's All Right, Mama"

• "These Boys"

• "These Days"

• “To Love Somebody”

• 'Today (While the Blossoms Still Cling to the Vine)”

• “Tonight I’ll Be Staying Here With You”

• “Too Old to Cut the Mustard”

• “Took My Gal a-Walkin’”

• "Trouble in Mind"

• “Twisted Laurel”

U

• "(Up a) Lazy River"

W

• “Wade in the Water”

• "Walk Right In"

• “Way Downtown”

• "Wayfarin' Stranger"

• "(When She Wants Good Lovin') My Baby Comes to Me"

• "When You Say Nothing at All"

• “Whinin’ Boy”

• "Windy and Warm"

• “Wish I Had a Troubadour”

Y

• "Yas Yas Duck"

• "Yellow Dog Blues"

• “You Ain’t Goin’ Nowhere”

• “You Got Me Slippin’”

• "You're No Good"