Cripple Creeks

The Band's Robbie Robertson wrote "Up on Cripple Creek" in 1969 for the group's second album. Released as a single, it reached number 24 on the Hot 100. As a Canadian, Robertson evidently had more familiarity with Appalachian folk music than with U.S. geography. The old-time banjo tune "Cripple Creek" (sometimes called "Goin' Up Cripple Creek") is thought to have originated in Virginia, where there is indeed a creek by that name. There is also a better-known Cripple Creek in Colorado, but there isn't one anywhere near Lake Charles, Louisiana. Of course, Levon Helm was from Arkansas, and maybe the mountain was in Colorado . . .

The banjo playing is repetitive, but it's the only clip I've found with an actual creek:

Music begins at :47

 

Comments

[Walter Effross]

Also recorded by The Oak Ridge Boys (1982):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_mGn7Fdkhwk

[April M]

Fun fact: Buffy Sainte-Marie was not Indian; she was Italian-- born Beverly Jean Santamaria in Massachusetts.