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Henry Twain

by Rookin

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about

This is a song about Mark Twain's brother, Henry Clemens (Twain, for our purposes), who died in 1858 after suffering an explosion on the steamboat Pennsylvania. He'd followed his older brother to a job on the river. Mark was kicked off the ship days before the accident. He was at Henry's side when he died seven days later in Memphis, TN.

This is the first single off Rookin's debut LP, 'Unionism.' Out October 2017.

lyrics

How far am I from the steamer now?
Me and Henry were sleeping when the boiler blew.
Now I see him swimming
Like his brother was watching—
By the time he realized he was hurt, there was nothing to do.

A little bit of water never hurt anybody;
A little bit of water's all it takes to drown.
In my dreams I see a scene; all the people sing:
Pennsylvania's going down.

And I was traveling
Port to port, down
Toward Orleans and all the smaller towns;
Henry got a job scrubbing decks down for Mr. Brown.
People talk and things get lost;
Stand up for your brother, they'll throw you off—
That's the last time I'll be listening to Mr. Brown.

A little bit of water never hurt anybody;
A little bit of water's all it takes to drown.
In my dreams I see a scene; all the people sing:
Pennsylvania's going down.

Well the last time I saw Henry,
He was dressed in green and gold.
It took him seven days of dying,
Took him seven days to go.
And he was stretched out on a steamer;
We made our way back to Hannibal—
We used to go everywhere together there,
But it was not my time to go.
We used to go everywhere together there,
But it was not my time go.

A little bit of water never hurt anybody;
A little bit of water's all it takes to down.
In my dreams, I see a scene; all the people sing:
Pennsylvania's going down.
Pennsylvania's going down.
Pennsylvania's going down.
Pennsylvania's going down.
It's going down.

credits

released August 8, 2017
SONG CREDITS:
Produced, recorded & mixed by Alex Allinson & Joseph Dusenbury
Written & performed by Rookin. Rookin is Adam Horn, Ben Naddaff-Hafrey, Ethan Schneider, Socrates Cruz and Parsa Kamali.
Pedal steel by Peter Finney
Piano engineered by Michael Coleman at Figure 8 studios
Mastered by Alex McCollough at True East Mastering

ALBUM ART:
Image from "The Mississippi in Time of War" by Frances Flora Bond Palmer (1862)
Cover design: Elena Lee Gold

RECORDED AT:
Xanadeux (Eastman, NH)
The Bridge Sound and Stage (Cambridge, MA)
The Analog Test Kitchen (Cambridge, MA)
Figure 8 (New York, NY)
The Horn family homestead (Versailles, KY)

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Rookin New York

Rookin is a folk-rock band from Massachusetts and Kentucky, comprised of Adam Horn (vocals), Ben Naddaff-Hafrey (guitar & piano), Parsa Kamali (guitar), Ethan Schneider (drums), and Socrates Cruz (bass). Debut album ‘Unionism’ is due out November 30, 2018 on Medical Records. It speaks to everything from the Battle of Nashville to the atomic bomb to falling in love.

www.wearerookin.com ... more

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