Randy Newman's song about the flood of 1927

[Lifelong Protester]

I posted this elsewhere but I wanted to share it with you all. This song is about the Mississippi river flood of 1927. The song makes it pretty clear that the government wanted to 'wash them away' meaning the poor folks. In this flood, levees had to be broken to aleviate pressure on other levees, a lesser of two evils scenario. There was a choice, break the levee that will wash out the rich part of the area or break the levee that will wash out the poor part. Which do you think the government went with? Poor folks, black and white, were promised they would be compensated for their loss of property. They never were. And this started a great migration of African Americans to the north.
And please note how in the song, Coolidge blames the river, not any government actions.


"Louisiana 1927"
What has happened down here is the wind have changed
Clouds roll in from the north and it started to rain
Rained real hard and 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 have busted through cleard down to Plaquemines
Six feet of water in the streets of Evangelne

CHORUS
Louisiana, Louisiana
They're tyrin' to wash us away
They're tryin' to wash us away
Louisiana, Louisiana
They're tryin' to wash us away
They're tryin' to wash us away

President Coolidge came down in a railroad train
With a little fat man with a note-pad in his hand
The President say, "Little fat man isn't it a shame what the river has
done
To this poor crackers land."

CHORUS

[KamaAina]

1. Aaron Neville just did a righteous version of it

on the NBC concert Friday night. Wow!

[Lifelong Protester]

2. excellent as it is a powerful message..

[malaise]

4. It was beautiful

I love Aaron's voice.

[hiaasenrocks]

6. I saw that. Loved his version of it! n/t

[blitzen]

3. my wife and i have been listening to, playing, singing

that song for the past few days...i downloaded 3 versions (Randy Newman, Aaron Neville, and Marcia Ball) from the net, and I'm learning it on the guitar (not easy--lots of chords). anyway, it is uncannily contemporary

[Lifelong Protester]

5. yep it is

My version came from a CD from the Oxford Reader. Many critics in the mag said it was one of the most beautiful songs ever written. Good luck on the guitar chords.
The song is very contemporary, that is for sure.

[blitzen]

8. i found the guitar chords...

by downloading some sheet music for 5 bucks...There's lots of 'em and there a little bit unusual (for me, at least)...but i'm having fun learning it (good therapy for us here in Baton Rouge)

[Journeyman]

7. I've posted before about this song that 1927 was the true start. . .

. . .of the Great Depression. 1929 brought financial ruin to the bankers and investor classes, but 1927 brought economic collapse to the Mississippi Valley, a tragedy from which they never recovered. From the ruins of the lower Mississippi a voice arose the very next year, and Huey Long went on to challenge much of the conventional political power structure of the day, threatening -- some say -- to bring dictatorship to the land.

Let's hope those who find history cyclical don't prevail this time.

[Carolab]

9. And Sean Penn was just there, after filming "All the King's Men"...

prophetic, isn't it?

[Journeyman]

11. Very interesting. I hadn't heard it was being filmed. . .

It'll be a good story to come out at this time, to caution people about falling for seductive ideologues who only have their interests at heart.

[Rowdyboy]

10. IThe song has broken my heart several times this week...