I wasn’t there but this song equals Woodstock to me. Every time I hear this song I think of a field full of hippies with bubbles. Alan “Blind Owl” Wilson wrote this song based on an old blues song called Bull Doze Blues. It peaked at #11 in the Billboard 100 in 1969.
From Songfacts.
Canned Heat’s band members were notoriously avid record collectors; this was derived from an old and obscure Blues song called “Bull Doze Blues” by Henry Thomas. The song caught on in the summer of 1969 and was very popular among Hippies who appreciated the nature theme.
This was written by Alan Wilson, who was Canned Heat’s vocalist, guitarist and primary songwriter. Wilson committed suicide on September 3, 1970, becoming one of the first 27-year-old rock casualties, a group that would soon include Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin and Jim Morrison.
I’m goin’ up the country, baby don’t you want to go?
I’m goin’ up the country, baby don’t you want to go?
I’m goin’ to some place, I’ve never been before
I’m goin’ I’m goin’ where the water tastes like wine
I’m goin’ 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 fussin’ and fightin’ man, you know I sure can’t stay
So baby pack your leavin’ trunk
You know we’ve got to leave today
Just exactly where we’re goin’ I cannot say
But we might even leave the U.S.A.
It’s a brand new game, that I want to play
I’m goin’ up the country, baby don’t you want to go?
I’m goin’ to some place, I’ve never been before
I’m goin’ I’m goin’ where the water tastes like wine
I’m goin’ 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 fussin’ and fightin’ man, you know I sure can’t stay
So baby pack your leavin’ trunk
You know we’ve got to leave today
Just exactly where we’re goin’ I cannot say
But we might even leave the U.S.A.
It’s a brand new game, that I want to play
No use in your runnin’, or screamin’ and cryin’
‘Cause you got a home as long as I’ve got mine
‘Cause you got a home as long as I’ve got mine
I can’t sing well at all but once in a while I will break into my Blind Owl Wilson imitation of Going Up The Country- which is half decent as far as sounding like him. I can’t do Little Richard though…
LikeLiked by 2 people
Hey that is good enough! A little Kermit in there and you will have it…
I started a blog about him but havent finished. He was a great musician.
LikeLiked by 2 people
Dodgers one win away! Counsell really has me rooting hard against the Brewers. Overmanaging 101. Maybe I am wrong.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Yes it was over managing… I can understand later in the game… but he is really burning his pen.
LikeLiked by 2 people
I agree going to the pen too early and too often. Kershaw was brilliant yesterday!
LikeLiked by 1 person
it’s almost like winning with a gimmick….The funny thing is their starting pitching has done well….
He was great yesterday
LikeLiked by 1 person
Hopefully the series ends on Friday in Milwaukee. . Red Sox are looking tough.
LikeLiked by 1 person
The Sox are surprising me…I really hope it ends Friday
LikeLiked by 1 person
I don’t know if you’ve got a chance to see any of the AL but Bregman is remarkable at third base-reminds me of Brooks Robinson- Nettles with the glove….and for the Sox Andrew Benitendi is looking like a future superstar…
LikeLiked by 2 people
No I only saw parts of it but not by choice. I did see that catch this morning by Benitendi…just incredible especially under the circumstances.
LikeLiked by 1 person
He just looks like a great all around player- glove, bat- I can’t get over all the young- home grown talent the Red Sox- Yankees- Astros and Dodgers all have- all those teams are going to be trouble for the rest of the league for a long time.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I know now is the best time to be a Dodger fan since the seventies era of the home grown Cey, Lopes, Garvey etc… All of those teams are stacked…
LikeLiked by 2 people
I saw someone the other day on FB comparing Bellinger to Ted Williams.. Bellinger is a fine young ballplayer but I thought that comparison was a bit of a stretch. I can’t get over the bench the Dodgers have. It seems endless.
LikeLiked by 2 people
Bellinger looks like him a little and the comparison should stop there. When he hits 400 then they can talk.
Friedman believes in depth and that is what his goal was… you don’t have to have one superstar…you have a lot of good players. Of course they got Manny because Seager is hurt. I doubt if they resign him.
LikeLiked by 2 people
I see no reason to keep Manny for the money he will want- better to spend some of that money elsewhere- like nailing down those young stars for the future. I look at the Astros and wonder how they are going to be able to keep all of those guys. Same with Dodgers. I like having veteran types on the bench- a guy like Freese is a perfect guy to have around.
LikeLiked by 2 people
Freese has been a great addition. Turner was talking about him teaching the young guys. They might resign Freese now that Utley has retired.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Freese is a manager for someone after he retires I believe. Great professional.
LikeLiked by 1 person
That is a good point. I really hope they resign him… I knew Alex Cora would be one when he played for the Dodgers.
Freese is one of the most important pickups they did…It didn’t get my attention at the time…I thought another 3rd baseman? I’m happy now.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I hated to see the Pirates trade him but I can see why they did. He would certainly be more valuable elsewhere and being in the last year of his contract- get something in return.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Yes it made total sense for The Pirates. I looked at his numbers a little after the trade…his numbers were really good this year.
LikeLiked by 1 person
He is one of those guys who will accept his role-and never be a problem. He was an excellent signing for the Pirates a few years back- I think they got more out of him than they expected.
LikeLiked by 1 person
If there is such a thing as being clutch…while I think there is… he is clutch. Uribe…the old third baseman for the Giants and Dodgers was like that…you want them up in those tight spots..more than the stars of the teams.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Maybe with stars there is so much pressure to deliver in the key spots- it gets to some of them.. the fringe kind of players if they make an out no one is going to probably remember. Some guys just seem to thrive on the pressure.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Yea nothing to lose I guess…they can relax and focus.
LikeLiked by 1 person
yikes! all I’ve heard from my end is Bellinger is talented, no doubt, but nothing TOO special and rather lazy right now. Reminds me of young Brett Lawrie when he came up with toronto about 2011…first month in bigs, a Jays TV broadcaster said he’d played with Brett and Molitor and Lawrie was better! Was one of the stupidest things I’d ever heard in baseball…and of course, he couldn’t live up to that hype.About 6 years on– think he quit the game already
LikeLiked by 2 people
I think if he keeps improving I would say… Shawn Green would be a more appropriate comparison.
LikeLiked by 1 person
There are so many ‘great can’t miss prospects that for whatever reason miss and miss big. I don’t think the big build up ever helps anyone… yes that sounds pretty silly comparing Lawrie to a Brett or Molitor..
LikeLiked by 2 people
Some of them get build up so much…I’ve seen now though that the experts are getting a better read on prospects… or maybe it’s just me
LikeLiked by 2 people
I think you are right- today they know so much more on these guys.. of course there are the ones that will always be hard to figure- high school pitchers- and maybe pitchers in general.
LikeLiked by 1 person
That is what I was thinking… all the info they have now on them helps. That is why teams won’t let them go as easy now.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Yeah, I love this song but he does sound a little like Kermit the Frog.
LikeLiked by 1 person
When I hear this song, I too think of Woodstock. I never knew Alan Wilson had passed away the next year. That’s such a tragedy. He made the band memorable.
LikeLiked by 1 person
He is very interesting…I have an unfinished blog on him that I was trying for today but that didn’t work…hoping for tomorrow.
He has been forgotten…He died then Jimi Hendrix and then Janis within a month or so
LikeLiked by 1 person
I’ll stay tuned.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Reading your comments I thought I’d landed in your other blog by mistake! 😉
This song takes me back to a free open-air gig in Hyde Park, London that Canned Heat played at. It was a very windy day and I had to keep running in a zig-zag way to catch the music on the wind! I felt like a demented rabbit!
LikeLiked by 1 person
LOL… yes Hans and I are big baseball fans and we will start talking about it at the drop of the hat.
Oh I would have loved to see this band live. It’s sad what happened to Alan Wilson…and they were on their way up at the time.
LikeLiked by 1 person