First recorded in 1935 by Big Joe Williams, the song has its beginnings in the mid 19th century. This recording from 1964 features a 19-year-old Van Morrison, and the arrangement is from a John Lee Hooker version recorded in 1949.

Morrison would later team up with Hooker to record a version of the song on their 1992 duet album, Together. Hooker’s posthumously released DVD Come See About Me also includes footage from that year of the pair performing the song together out on a river dock.

But that’s just the timeline. What’s important is the emotion you hear in the song. This is a classic.