Collaborative folk song? New Orleans

[rogerashton]

Steve Goodman's "City of New Orleans" is an old favorite of mine. Might have to do with the years I spent in Baton Rouge.

http://www.folkblues.com/goodman/cono.htm

Here are some words I worked up that could be sung to the chorus. Any contributions?

Good morning, America, how are you?
Please forgive these tears I can't keep in --
I'm weeping for the City of New Orleans,
Battered by the water and the wind.

[Bluerthanblue]

1. odd-

i was singing 'trouble will find you' non-stop the last few days-
great start- need to clear my mind and hope to join in.
Goodman was a treasure.

[ET Awful]

2. I'd be more inclined to base it around Woody Guthrie's

"Dustbowl Disaster" . . . maybe something along the lines of . . .


On the 30th day of August, in the year 2005
There was the worst storm ever, no one knows how many died.
The storm destroyed the levees, the water it ran down.
The flooding from that great storm erased entire towns.

The poor folks in New Orleans who couldn't afford to leave
Were trapped in that poor city, while the nation watched and grieved.
The word was spreading slowly that shelter could be found,
Some survivors joined together and made their way to higher ground.

(I could go on . . . just need some time to think)

For reference, here are Woody's original lyrics:

On the 14th day of April of 1935,
There struck the worst of dust storms that ever filled the sky.
You could see that dust storm comin', the cloud looked deathlike black,
And through our mighty nation, it left a dreadful track.

From Oklahoma City to the Arizona line,
Dakota and Nebraska to the lazy Rio Grande,
It fell across our city like a curtain of black rolled down,
We thought it was our judgement, we thought it was our doom.

The radio reported, we listened with alarm,
The wild and windy actions of this great mysterious storm;
From Albuquerque and Clovis, and all New Mexico,
They said it was the blackest that ever they had saw.

From old Dodge City, Kansas, the dust had rung their knell,
And a few more comrades sleeping on top of old Boot Hill.
From Denver, Colorado, they said it blew so strong,
They thought that they could hold out, but they didn't know how long.

Our relatives were huddled into their oil boom shacks,
And the children they was cryin' as it whistled through the cracks.
And the family it was crowded into their little room,
They thought the world had ended, and they thought it was their doom.

The storm took place at sundown, it lasted through the night,
When we looked out next morning, we saw a terrible sight.
We saw outside our window where wheat fields they had grown
Was now a rippling ocean of dust the wind had blown.

It covered up our fences, it covered up our barns,
It covered up our tractors in this wild and dusty storm.
We loaded our jalopies and piled our families in,
We rattled down that highway to never come back again.

For further reference, here is a song that Dan Bern did to the same tune to commemorate the Oklahoma City Bombing:

On the 19th day of April
In 1995
There was the worst car bombing
Near 200 people died

In Oklahoma City
On Wednesday nine o'clock
They struck the federal building
Took out near half the block

They thought it was an earthquake
Made trees and lightpoles bend
And folks thought they were seeing
The world about to end

It blew the building open
It lay there like a wound
Twisted pipes and wires
Silent like a tomb

Yeah, they blew the building open
And blew folks lives apart
Firefighters mumbling
And wondering where to start

They rushed out some survivors
But soon could only cry
And place the dead in caskets
And ask the dear lord why

Prayer for the missing
For daughters and for sons
Prayers for the souls of those
Who'd never heard a one

Kevin Small was lucky
His clock needed repair
He overslept an hour
His three-year old son was spared

But for too many others
The news was not so bright
One baby got her picture in the paper
Then she died

The President, he promised
They'd pay dearly for the blast
and all across the country
Flags were flying at half mast

Shock soon turned to anger
"Who would do this?" people said
And everyone suspicious
Had a price upon their head

They thought it was some Arabs
And folks began ton scream
"First tighten up the borders
Then hang 'em from a tree

This proves what we've been saying
'Bout our fair and gentle land
Nobody who did this
Could be an American"

The FBI got busy
Some drawings and some names
And everyone was looking
For someone else to blame

Some 50 hours later
Early Friday day
They found the man they wanted
In jail ten miles away

A so-called right extremist
A patriot government foe
An expert on explosions
And white as drive snow

When people heard the news they found it
Hard to understand
How could such a murderer
Come from our own land

But when we build walls and borders
From fear and hate and guns
The hatred turns around and
Strikes at everyone

Maybe now we'll understand
Maybe now we'll see
Superpatriots are seldom
Friends of you and me

They're scared and weak and cowards
And they think that with their guns
The ones they're most afraid of
Will turn around and run

But when we stand strong together
And let love enjoy its will
Misfortune can't defeat us
It makes us stronger still

Like on the 19th day of April
In 1995
A day all Oklahomans will
Remember all their lives