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/
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The river rose all day, the river rose all night/
Some people got lost in the flood, some people got away all right/
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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."
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