When it rained five days   And the skies turned dark at night   When it rained five days   And the skies turned dark at night   There was trouble takin' place   In the lowland at night      I woke up this mornin'   Couldn't even get out of my door   I woke up this mornin'   Couldn't even get out of my door   Enough trouble to make a poor woman   Wonder where she's gonna go      They rowed a little boat   About five miles across the farm   Said they rowed a little boat   About five miles across the farm   I packed up all of my clothes, trowed them in   And they rowed me along      Where it thundered and lightnin'   And the wind began to blow   Said it thundered and lightnin'   And the wind began to blow   There was thousands of people   They had no place to go      I went out and stood up   On a high old lonesome hill   I went out and stood up   On a high old lonesome hill   I looked down on the house   Where I used to live      Back water blues that calls me   To pack my things and go   Back water blues that calls me   To pack my things and go   'Cause my house fell down   And I can't live there no more      Ooh, I can't live there no more   Ooh, I can't live there no more   There ain't no place for a poor woman to go