Lola and I have attended about eight Marsha Ball shows, and Marsha often plays a Randy Newman song called Louisiana 1927 * This evening Fox News plays the song during the coverage of the Gulf Coast tragedy and Lola asks me to post the lyrics. The link goes to a sample MP3 file and the lyrics are as follows.
What has happened down here
is the wind has changed
Clouds rolled in from the north
and it started to rain
It rained real heard and it rained
for a real long time
There was 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 all right
Well, the river broke through
down in Plaquemine
There was 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
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 a little man with a notepad
in his hand
President said, “Little man,
ain’t it a shame
What the river has done to this
poor cracker’s land.”
The river rose all day,
The river rose all night
Some people got lost in the flood,
some people got away all right
Well, the river broke through
down in Plaquemine
There was 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
*copyright Randy Newman, Warner-Tamerlane Pub. Corp. BMI
All day long the debate about the future of New Orleans has been kicked around. There is a great deal of talk about what the government should or should not do for the city, but I believe the citizens of New Orleans will ultimately determine the future of the Crescent City. Sooner or later, property tax bills will be sent out and the land owners will decide to pay for the right to claim the land, or they will walk away.
