LADIES FIRST: "When the Levee Breaks!" - Memphis Minnie > Led Zeppelin

Ladies First = She Did It First

LADIES FIRST is about to weep and moan.

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Memphis Minnie was a ferocious guitarist in the early decades of Blues music. She could hold her own in any guitar dual, and if you got out of bounds she whipped out her knife.

While she sang most of her recorded songs, on this occasion the vocal was done by her then husband, Kansas Joe McCoy.

This song laments the terrible Mississippi River flood of 1927.

MEMPHIS MINNIE -"When the Levee Breaks" (1929)



Like the tremendous inspiration that they had from Joni Mitchell and Sandy Denny, Led Zeppelin likewise canonized Memphis Minnie's song with this evergreen...

LED ZEPPELIN -"When the Levee Breaks" (1971)



So tell your rockboy friends that "she did it first".


© Tym Stevens

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See Also:

• LADIES FIRST: "Hound Dog" - Big Mama Thornton > Elvis > Jimi Hendrix

• LADIES FIRST: "Piece Of My Heart" - Erma Franklin > Janis Joplin > Mondo Kozmo

• LADIES FIRST: "See See Rider" - Ma Rainey > Janis Joplin > Mitch Ryder


• "Whole Lotta Love" - Muddy Waters > Led Zeppelin > Funkadelic > Tina Turner

• "For What It's Worth": - Buffalo Springfield > Led Zeppelin > Public Enemy

• "PHYSICAL GRAFFITI" - Led Zeppelin > Branford Marsalis > Rolling Stones


• The Real History of Rock and Soul!: The Music Player Checklist

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