• Track: Harlem River Blues
• Artist: Justin Townes Earle
• Album: Harlem River Blues
• Year: 2010

Lyrics:

Lord, I’m going uptown
To the Harlem River to drown
Dirty water gonna cover me over
And I’m not gonna make a sound
I’m on a roll, mama, I gotta go
Gotta get there while I still can
Troubled days are behind me now
And I know they’re gonna let me in
When you see me walking up the FDR
With a-singing and a-clapping my hands
Tell my mama I love her, tell my father I tried
Give my money to my baby to spend
‘Cause Lord, I’m going uptown
To the Harlem River to drown
Dirty water gonna cover me over
And I’m not gonna make a sound
Good times come and they go
Even a good man’ll break
He’ll let his troubles bury him whole
Even though he knows what’s at stake
So I’m taking no chances
Carrying over while I’m still good in His grace

And I’m no fool, mama, I know the difference
Between tempting and choosing my fate

And I’m no fool, mama, I know the difference
Between tempting and choosing my fate
So Lord, I’m going uptown
To the Harlem River to drown
Dirty water gonna cover me over
And I’m not gonna make a sound
Lord, I’m going uptown
To the Harlem River to drown
Dirty water gonna cover me over
And I’m not gonna make a sound
Lord, I’m going uptown
To the Harlem River to drown
Dirty water gonna cover me over

Get It:

Justin Townes Earle’s Harlem River Blues is available at Amazon:

Some of you might remember Steve Earle and his 1988 hit, Copperhead Road. What you might not know is that Justin Townes Earle is Steve Earle’s son, and he is named after Townes Van Zandt (a criminally neglected singer/songwriter).

Earle’s sound is a hard to classify mix of folk, country, and blues. If I had to put a name on it, I’d call it alt-country, but many would argue that’s not the right label, so here at Dances with Bass, we simply classify Earle’s music as “righteous tuneage.”

Harlem River Blues was awarded the Americana Music Award for song of the year in 2011.

Video: 

No official video was made for Harlem River Blues, we’ll have to settle for an audio track:

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