This song is structured in the AAB blues pattern using 12 bars, a very common structure in blues music. Many Blues songs are structured using the AAB format.
Canned Heat, who were early blues enthusiasts, based "Going Up the Country" on "Bull Doze Blues", recorded in 1928 by Texas bluesman Henry Thomas.
Lyrical inspiration came possibly from Texas Alexander's "Farm Hand Blues" (1927), Blind Willie McTell's "Statesboro Blues" (1928) and maybe Sippie Wallace's "Up the Country Blues" (1923), all three consisting of the complete first line from Canned Heat's "Going Up the Country".
Joe "Wingy" Mannone's "Up the Country Blues" (1927) and Barbecue Bob's "Goin' Up The Country" (1928) might also be lyrical inspiration for Canned Heat.
As I just said for "Going Up the Country", Canned Heat's Alan Wilson copied Henry Thomas' melody on the quills (an early Afro-American wind instrument similar to panpipes) and his basic rhythm, but arranged it for a rock setting and rewrote the lyrics and multi-instrumentalist Jim Horn reproduced Thomas' quill parts on the flute.
(c) Henry Thomas (1928) (as "Bull Doze Blues")
Recorded June 13, 1928 in Chicago
Released on Vocalion 1230
I'm going away, babe, and it won't be long (3x)
Just as sure as that train leaves out of that Mobile yard (3x)
Come shake your hand, tell your papa goodbye (3x)
I'm going back to Tennessee (3x)
I'm going where I never get bull-dozed (3x)
If you don't believe I'm sinking look what a hole I'm in (2x)
If you don't believe I'm sinking look what a fool I've been
Oh, my babe, take me back how in the world Lord, take me back
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(c) Canned Heat (1968) (as "Going Up The Country")
Recorded August 7, 1968 in Hollywood, CA
Listen here:
As I said above lyrical inspiration for Canned Heat's "Going Up the Country" came possibly from 5 versions listed below, 3 of them also containing the complete first line from Canned Heat's "Going Up the Country".
Sippie Wallace's "Up the Country Blues" was the first song containing the complete first line from Canned Heat's "Going Up the Country".
(c) Sippie Wallace (1923) (as "Up the Country Blues")
Recorded October 26, 1923 in Chicago
Released on Okeh 8106
Hey hey mama
Run tell your papa
Go tell your sister
Run tell your auntie
That I'm going up the country
Don't you want to go
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(c) Joe Mannone's Harmony Kings (1927) (as "Up the Country Blues")
Recorded April 11, 1927 in New Orleans
Released on Columbia 1044-D
Babe, I'm going up the country and I can't take you, oh you (2x)
There ain't nothing up there, that a ugly gal can do
I was born in Texas, raised in Tennessee (2x)
I ain't gonna let no woman, make a fat mouse out of me
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(c) Texas Alexander (1927) (as "Farm Hand Blues")
Recorded August 16, 1927 in New York City
Released on Okeh 8528
If I leave here runnin', mama, don't you follow me (2x)
If I leave here walking, you can go with me
Sally went to cookin', man, but she didn't know how (2x)
Says, she put cayenne pepper, mama, in my hot bow-wow
Says, I'm goin' up the country, mama, don't you want to go? (2x)
Said I need another dozen, right on my right side, sho'
If I'm get lucky, mama, should happen to work (2x)
I'm gonna carry my money right on back home again
'D'rather see my coffin easin' through the world (2x)
Than to see my woman do me like she does
Mmmmm, mmmmm w/piano soloing, 8 bars
Than to see my woman do me like she does
I'm scared to go down that big road by myself (2x)
'Fore I go, baby, I'll carry me someone else
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(c) Blind Willie McTell (1928) (as "Statesboro Blues")
Recorded October 17, 1928 in Atlanta, GA
Released on Victor V38001
Wake up mama, turn your lamp down low (2x)
Have you got the nerve to drive Papa McTell from your door?
My mother died and left me reckless, my daddy died and left me wild, wild, wild (2x)
No, I'm not good lookin' but I'm some sweet woman's angel child
She's a mighty mean woman, to do me this a-way (2x)
When I leave this town, pretty mama, I'm going away to stay
I once loved a woman, better than any I'd ever seen (2x)
Treat me like I was a king and she was a dog-gone queen
Sister, tell your Brother, Brother tell your Auntie, now Auntie, tell your Uncle,
Uncle tell my Cousin, now Cousin tell my friend
Goin' up the country, Mama, don't you want to go?
May take me a fair brown, may take one or two more
Big Eighty left Savannah, Lord, and did not stop
You ought to saw that colored fireman when he got them boiler hot
You can reach over in the corner, Mama, and hand me my travelin' shoes
You know by that, I've got them Statesboro blues
Mama, Sister got 'em, Auntie got 'em
Brother got 'em, friends got 'em, I got 'em
Woke up this morning, we had them Statesboro blues
I looked over in the corner, Grandma and Grandpa had 'em too
Listen here:
(c) Barbecue Bob (1928) (as "Goin' Up the Country")
Recorded April 13, 1928 in Atlanta , GA
Released on Columbia 14316-D
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Charley Patton used the melody of Henry Thomas' "Bull Doze Blues" for "Green River Blues".
(c) Charley Patton (1929) (as "Green River Blues")
Recorded October 1929 in Grafton, WIS
Released on Paramount 12972
I went up to Green River rolling like a log (2x)
I went up to Green River, Lord, rolling like a log
Think I heard that Marion whistle blow (2x)
And it blew just like my baby getting on board
I'm going where the Southern cross the Dog (2x)
I'm going where the Southern cross the Dog
Some people say the Green River blues ain't bad (2x)
Then it must not have been them Green River blues I had
It was late one night, everything was still (2x)
I could see my baby upon a lonesome hill
How long evening train been gone (2x)
You know I'm worried now but I won't be worried long
I'm going away to make it lonesome here (2x)
Yes, I'm goin' away, baby, to make it lonesome here
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In 1946 Bill Monroe used the melody of Henry Thomas' "Bull Doze Blues" for "Rocky Road Blues", which itself is lyrically based on Kokomo Arnold's "Rocky Road Blues".
(c) Bill Monroe and his Blue Grass Boys (1946) (as "Rocky Road Blues")
Recorded February 13, 1945 in Chicago, Il.
Released on Columbia 36907
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