Wasn't That a Mighty Storm (Galveston Flood)

[welshTerrier2]

WASN'T THAT A MIGHT STORM

CHORUS:
Wasn't that a mighty storm
Wasn't that a mighty storm in the morning, well
Wasn't that a mighty storm
That blew all the people all away

You know the year of 1900
Children, many years ago
Death came howling on the ocean
Death calls, you got to go
Now Galveston had a seawall
To keep the water down, and a
High tide from the ocean
Spread the water over the town

CHORUS

You know the trumpets give them warning
You'd better leave this place
Now, no one thought of leaving
'til death stared them in the face
And the trains they all were loaded
The people were all leaving town
The trestle gave way to the water
And the trains they went on down

CHORUS

Rain it was a' falling
Thunder began to roll
Lightning flashed like hell fire
The wind began to blow
Death the cruel master
When the wind began to blow
Rode in on a team of horses
I cried, "Death, won't you let me go"

CHORUS

Hey, now trees fell on the island
And the houses give away
Some they strained and drowned
Some died in most every way
And the sea began to rolling
And the ships they could not stand
And I heard a captain crying
"God save a drowning man"

CHORUS

Death your hands are clammy
You got them on my knee
You come and took my mother
Won't you come back after me
And the flood it took my neighbor
Took my brother too
I thought I heard my father calling
And I watched my mother go

CHORUS

You know the year of 1900
Children, many years ago
Death came howling on the ocean
Death calls, you got to go

CHORUS

CHORUS

[chieftain]

1. Great song, I still have the Chad Mitchell Trio rendition.

[peony]

6. Galveston flood

Yes, it was. 8,000 died.

[chieftain]

8. Hi Peony. Welcome to DU.

[welshTerrier2]

9. i read an account that said 8000 also ...

welcome to DU, peony !!

[DemoTex]

2. Read "Isaac's Storm" by Erik Larson (Crown, 1999)

Isaac's Storm is an excellent chronicle of the "Great Galveston Hurricane" of September 8 & 9, 1900, in which over 6000 people died.

[tonkatoy57]

3. Excellent Book

My wife and I both read it several years ago when it was first published.

Great first person accounts about the physical effects of the storm on Galveston. Makes you realize how far the science of weather has come since then. It's almost inconceivable to us today that huge weather systems like hurricanes and blizzards could arrive unnoticed by an unsuspecting population.

[DemoTex]

4. Don't forget the bizarre political overlay too.

The US government and the US Weather Bureau, for whom Isaac Cline worked, ignored scientific evidence (Cuban and US Weather Bureau observations and reports, including Isaac Cline's) that a mighty wind was coming. Sounds all too familiar.

[cranston36]

5. North American Death Care

[Blue_In_AK]

7. That song's been rolling around in my head for days now...

...only the Tom Rush version. At least this time, it looks like almost everyone is out of town.