tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5745468497415566726.post2868111374235122556..comments2024-01-30T08:12:55.484-05:00Comments on The Daily Guru: February 25: John Lee Hooker, "Tupelo"The Daily Guruhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05940479265697842772noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5745468497415566726.post-20669737753666667802017-09-10T00:00:07.291-04:002017-09-10T00:00:07.291-04:00Tupelo doesn't flood, but many of the people k...Tupelo doesn't flood, but many of the people killed during the 1936 tornado were African Americans who drowned in Gum Pond, which was in a African American neighborhood--they were apparently blown into the pond by the tornado. We addressed this on the Mississippi Blues Trail marker for the historic "Shake Rag" neighborhood, which sat just below the Gum Pond area.Scott Barrettahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13378248404411999969noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5745468497415566726.post-54789763474114718422015-06-01T19:29:04.697-04:002015-06-01T19:29:04.697-04:00RE: "... a song about the flooding of Tupelo,...RE: "... a song about the flooding of Tupelo, Mississippi, in April 1936."<br />I'm not aware of one and can't find evidence of one. Tupelo is very far from the Mississippi and the Tupelo flood of 1936 referenced here does not appear to exist but to be repeated from similar assertions on the web. There was a major tornado in Tupelo in 1936... but I don't believe there was a flood. The major flood of the Mississippi of 1927 would not, I don't believe, have reached that far. Did Hooker use Tupelo as a stand-in for Galveston Texas, with its horrendous flood in 1900, about which "Sin-Killer" Griffin (allegedly) wrote a song with some similar lyrics to "Tupelo" -- see here:<br />http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wasn%27t_That_a_Mighty_Storm<br />Or maybe he was writing about the 1927 Mississippi flood. But it doesn't seem right that that would have impacted Tupelo.<br />Note this entry discusses a flood, but the actual flooding in 1936 in this case was not in Tupelo.<br />http://dublinlaurenscountygeorgia.blogspot.ca/2011/04/great-flood-of-1936.html<br />"The year 1936 was one of extremes. Eleven states had all time record highs in the hottest year since 1869. The previous winter was one of the coldest in the nation's history. With the extreme temperatures, massive and deadly storms were bound to occur. The apocalypse began on April 6 when multiple tornados slammed into Gainesville, Georgia. The storm has already reeked devastation on Tupelo, Mississippi, killing 213 people just two days before. When the cyclone was over, 203 people were dead and more than 1600 were hurting. The thirteen-million dollar cost included more than 750 damaged or destroyed homes. The cyclone was the fifth deadliest single-day killer in our country's history, just behind the Tupelo tempest."Tyee Bridgehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07621624281919753232noreply@blogger.com