Going Up the Country Canned Heat

I realize I haven't done an "Exploring the world of music" post in quite a while. Here is a fun song I'm excited to share with you. Being the classic rock and blues fan that I am, I've loved this song since I was a kid. It's called "Going Up the Country". Now, we're going to hear three versions of the song in this post.

The first video here is what appears to be the original version. It was recorded in 1928 in Chicago by a bluesman and songster named Henry Thomas. Born in 1874 in Big Sandy, Texas, Henry Thomas was known by the nickname "Ragtime Texas". It's thought that he died around 1930. His version is known by the title, "Bull Doze Blues". The lyrics in this original version by Thomas are very different from what is perhaps the best-known and most popular version of the song recorded by the blues rock band Canned Heat some 40 years later in 1968. Canned Heat's version will be the second video here. Canned Heat's Alan Wilson, nicknamed "Blind Owl", rewrote the lyrics, but kept the same musical arrangement. Both versions are perhaps famously-loved for their pleasant, calming, cheerful, beautiful panpipe/flute arrangement.

The third video is a live version, based on Canned Heat's lyrics, performed by the Bud Spencer Band, a group I recently discovered for the first time. Instead of a panpipe or flute in this live version, a harmonica is used. I love how much fun they're having with this song on the stage!

Before we get to the first video featuring the original version of the song by Henry "Ragtime Texas" Thomas, here is a story shared in the comments section on the YouTube page for this video by a user named Gareth. As I write this, he shared this story about two years ago, and it has 6.4K thumbs-up likes. Thank you so much for sharing this story with the world, Gareth. I was truly touched by it. That's the power of music. Here's that story:

My great-grandfather fought in WW1 for Great Britain (he was Scottish), in 1918 he befriended an American soldier who offered him work on his family's cattle farm in Huntsville after the war. Great grandad was lost mentally and craved a sea change, so he accepted the offer. In the mid 1920s he wrote in his diary about seeing an amazing black musician called 'Rag Rhyme Texas'. His music reached him in ways no other white music had before, and it transformed his outlook forever.

He returned to Scotland in the Great Depression, and in 1968 his nephew played the Canned Heat version on his record player. Great grandad nearly had a heart attack and broke down in tears, that panpipe chorus was unforgettable he said. After much research my uncle found the record of Henry Thomas in the 70s, and we learned that his nickname was actually 'Ragtime Texas'.

This is a story our family passes down from generation to generation, and we owe Henry Thomas so much in helping our family out of a very dark place.

Finally, here are the lyrics to both versions. First up is the version by Henry Thomas, followed by Canned Heat.

Henry "Ragtime Texas" Thomas - "Bull Doze Blues", 1928

I'm going away, babe, and it won't be long.
I'm going away and it won't be long.
I'm going away and it won't be long.

Just as sure as that train leaves out of that Mobile yard.
Just as sure as that train leaves out of that Mobile yard.
Just as sure as that train leaves out of that Mobile yard.

Come shake your hand, tell your papa goodbye.
Come shake your hand, tell your papa goodbye.
Come shake your hand, tell your papa goodbye.

I'm going back to Tennessee. I'm going back to Memphis, Tennessee.
I'm going back to Memphis, Tennessee.

I'm going where I never get bull-dozed.
I'm going where I never get the bull-doze.
I'm going where I never get bull-dozed.

If you don't believe I'm sinking.
Look what a hole I'm in.
If you don't believe I'm sinking.
Look what a hole I'm in.
If you don't believe I'm sinking.
Look what a fool I've been.

Oh, my babe, take me back.
How in the world...
Lord, take me back.

Canned Heat - "Going Up the Country", 1968

I'm going up the country, babe, don't you wanna go?
I'm going up the country, babe, don't you wanna go?
I'm going to some place where I've never been before.

I'm going, I'm going where the water tastes like wine.
I'm going where the water tastes like wine.
We can jump in the water, stay drunk all the time.

I'm gonna leave this city, got to get away. I'm gonna leave this city, got to get away. All this fussing and fighting, man, you know I sure can't stay.

Now baby, pack your leaving trunk,
you know we've got to leave today.
Just exactly where we're going I cannot say, but we might even leave the USA.
'Cause there's a brand new game that I don't want to play.

No use of you running, or screaming and crying.
'Cause you've got a home as long as I've got mine.