Percy-L: Literary, Religious, Scientific, and Philosophical Discussion of Walker Percy

["Ken Wilson" <kfw AT ntelos.net>]

Karl M. Terrell wrote:
> I'll just weigh in, amid the charged debate, with a little musical
> relief, and recommend all take a listen to Randy Newman's beautiful,
> mournful song about the 1927 flood, "Louisianna 1927."  The flood, the
> water and the wind (from the "north") are evoked, especially in the
> chorus, as a metaphor for changes forcing the loss of the past.  The
> song ends with a little bittersweet humor.  Here are some of the lyrics:
>
> "What's happened down here is the wind have changed/
> Clouds rolled in from the north and it started to rain/
> ////
> The river rose all day, the river rose all night/
> Some people got lost in the flood, some people got away all right/
> ////
> The river have busted through clear down to Plaquemines/
> Six feet of water in the streets of Evangeline.
>
> Chorus:
>
> Louisianna, Louisianna/
> They're tryin' to wash us away/
> They're tryin' to wash us away.
> /////
>
> President Coolidge came down on a railroad train/
> Had a little fat man with a notepad in his hand/
> President said, "Little fat man, ain't it a shame/
> What the water has done/
> To this poor cracker's land."

Thanks, Karl. Aaron Neville sang this song beautifully on last night's 
NBC/CNBC/MSNBC telethon,and I'm guessing that the latter will keep replaying 
it.

Ken