Roots Archives Forum

In another thread Mr. G asked if there was a reggae version of "Down By the Riverside"?

I think that Toots and the Maytals recorded this song early on. So there's a ska version.

There are a few songs titled "Down By The Riverside" listed in the RA, but I don't know if they are gospel tune or covers of the Burning Spear song.

Makes sense that Toots would cover this one. His father was a Baptist preacher was he not?

For me the can't miss version of this spiritual is a live recording of Sister Rosetta Tharpe during the Second World War. She performs with Lucky Millinder's orchestra (I think) in front of crowd of soldiers in 1943 (?) and you should hear them cheer at the end. Study War No More.

There's You Tube video of Sister Tharpe performing "Down By the Riveride" up on teh internets, but it is no where near as electric the the 1940s recording.

I found a pretty interesting PDF about this spiritual.

http://www.fredsakademiet.dk/library/riverside.pdf

Mr. G = Roots Rocker Matt (finally registered a username!)

Thanks for separating this from that 'other' thread, as I am genuinely excited to track down a reggae version of this song. There's something about the gospel version that i think it would sound great in a reggae style. I'm gonna search around for it, I'll start with Toots!

Picaraza, great description, i can picture the scene with the soldiers in my head, very powerful gospel song...

-Matt

There's a very nice version by Max Romeo with the italian group Tribù Acustica

http://cd.ciao.co.uk/In_This_Time_Max_R ... ductdetail