A squirrels story

In case you missed the Hurricane concert last night on NBC (aka-George Bush doesn't like black people concert), you missed Aaron Neville sing the song "Louisiana 1927".  The lyrics sound like they were written for the current disaster, but they were not.  This song was part of a concept album put out by Randy Newman back in 1974 called "Good Old Boys".  The album talks a lot about te South and Louisiana in particular.  You can find songs about Huey Long, the Kingfish along with songs about Rednecks and not so veiled references to then President Richard Nixon. I have had this CD for awhile and had totally fogot about it until I heard "1927" last night.  Both Aaron Neville's version and Randy Newman's version are great, very heartfelt, but last night Neville pushed his live version over the top. 

Anyway, here are the lyrics in case you missed it. Just insert the name New Orleans instead of Evangaline and Bush for Coolidge and it fits......

What has happened down here, is the winds have changed
Clouds roll in from the north and it started to rain
It rained real hard, and it rained for a real long time
Six feet of water in the streets of Evangeline
The river rose all day, the river rose all night
Some people got lost in the flood, some people got away alright
The river had busted through clear down to Placker Mine
Six feet of water in the streets of Evangeline
Louisiana, Louisiana
They`re trying to wash us away, they`re trying to wash us away
Oh Louisiana, Louisiana
They`re trying to wash us away, they`re trying to wash us away
President Coolidge come down, in a railroad train
With his little fat man with a note pad in his hand
President say "little fat man, oh isn`t it a shame,
What the river has done to this poor farmer`s land"
Oh Louisiana, Louisiana
They`re trying to wash us away, you`re trying to wash us away
Oh Louisiana, oh Louisiana
They`re trying to wash us away, oh Lord, they`re trying to wash us away
They`re trying to wash us away, they`re trying to wash us away

CNN Had a story on it today as well:

Land along the river flooded from Illinois on south. Memphis was overrun in the fall of 1926; the waters covered western Mississippi and eastern Louisiana in the months following. Seven hundred thousand people were evacuated or left homeless.

What has happened down here is the wind have changed
Clouds roll in from the north and it start to rain ...

New Orleans watched the Mississippi Valley floodwaters nervously. On a single day in April the city had received 14 inches of rain, which put parts of it were under more than six feet of water; the French Quarter had two feet. If a levee broke, the city would be doomed.

Eventually, fearful townspeople prompted the governor to dynamite a levee south of town to relieve the pressure on New Orleans. The city was spared. Others in the state weren't so lucky.

Rained real hard and it rained for a real long time
Six feet of water in the streets of Evangeline ...

The flood, as chronicled in John M. Barry's book "Rising Tide," led to dramatic changes in the United States. It was a factor in the Great Migration of African-Americans to northern industrial cities, and many of the migrants wrote songs and tales about the Great Flood.

Louisiana, Louisiana, they're tryin' to wash us 'way, they're tryin' to wash us 'way
Louisiana, Louisiana, they're trying to wash us 'way, they're tryin' to wash us 'way. ...

I first heard Randy Newman's "Louisiana 1927" while growing up in New Orleans. The local radio stations always liked playing songs with Louisiana references: Gary U.S. Bonds' "New Orleans," Creedence Clearwater Revival's "Born on the Bayou," Arlo Guthrie's "City of New Orleans," Louisiana LeRoux's "New Orleans Ladies." I don't now if the radio stations knew the history documented in the song or were completely ignorant of it and just liked the title. Whatever they thought, "Louisiana 1927" created its own mesmerizing power.

The song starts with plaintive strings, something out of the 19th century. Then Newman's humble voice comes on, singing lyrics at once as basic as a newsreel and as majestic as Homer.

The river rose all day, the river rose all night
Some people got lost in the flood, some people got away all right

New Orleans and I didn't fit; I left as soon as I could. But my heart breaks as I view the floodwaters lapping at building roofs, the city submerged as far as the eye can see.

The river has busted through clear down to Plaquemines
Six feet of water in the streets of Evangeline

My mother drove up ahead of the storm Saturday night. She's OK. But I worry about the house she left behind, about my old high school friends, about the avenues and architecture, about the people missing and homeless all along the devastated Gulf Coast. And my mind can't stop playing "Louisiana 1927."

Louisiana, Louisiana ...

Godspeed.

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• #1 Comment from lfiler6860 
  10/8/05 7:22 PM | Permalink

  Mr Neville,
         please  record  this song soon , soon!!  It  touched all hearts.
     God richly Bless You & Yours!
                  Laura