New Orleans - David Rovics

I wrote this while in a state of sleep deprivation in Beirut, Lebanon, in early September, 2005, and I recorded it at the studios of Amwaj Radio 91.5 in Ramallah, Occupied Palestine. You will find the song at the top of the "MP3 MUSIC" section of www.soundclick.com/davidrovics along with everything else I've recorded since 1998. As with all of my music, lyrics, etc., feel free to use it for any purpose and spread the word about the song if you're so inclined!

--

Everybody knew that it could happen
The likelihood was clear
The future was coming
And now it's here
They had to fix the levees
Because otherwise they'd break
On one side was the city
Above it was the lake
It was in the daily papers
In bold letters was the writ
What would happen
When the Big One hit
But every year they cut the funding
Just a little more
So they could give it to the Army
To fight their oil war

In National Geographic
And the Times-Picayune
They forecast the apocalypse
Said it was coming soon
Preparations must be made, they said
Now is the time
It was years ago they shouted
Inaction was a crime
They said the dikes must be improved
And the wetlands must be saved
But Washington decided
Instead they should be paved
Because malls were more important
Than peoples' lives
So put some gold dust in your eyes
And hope no storm arrives

New Orleans, New Orleans, New Orleans

Years and years of warning
No evacuation plan
It was just if the waters rose
Just get out if you can
There were no buses
No one chartered any trains
There was no plan to rescue
All of those who would remain
All the people with no money
All the people with no wheels
All of those who didn't hotwire
One that they could steal
Thousands and thousands of people
Abandoned by the state
Abandoned by their country
Just left to meet their fate

New Orleans, New Orleans, New Orleans

And the people died
And then they died some more
They drowned inside their attics
An army of the poor
An army of the destitute
Who couldn't get away
And the world will remember
These sad and awful days
When people shouted from their houses
Dying on their roofs
When people came to find them
They were turned back by the troops
They died there with no water
They died there in the heat
They were shot down by the soldiers
For trying to find some food to eat

New Orleans, New Orleans, New Orleans

And now the city is in ruins
A massive toxic sea
Scattered through the nation
Half a million refugees
Here we are
In the richest country on the earth
Where the color of your skin
Determines what your life is worth
Where oil is the king
Where global warming is ignored
Where the very end of life
Is the place we're heading toward
Where it's more than just a metaphor
The flooding of the dike
And if we don't stop this madness
The whole planet will be like

New Orleans, New Orleans, New Orleans

Category:

Music

Tags:

• davidrovics
• neworleans
• katrina
• racism
• hurricane
• fema
• georgebush

[michelle1688]

great song, love how David fits the true story and loads of facts into a short song - often learn more listening than reading a long article. ty Louise for this and other great vids. How any u.s. workers can still believe their govt gives a feck shows how strong their hegemony and brain-washing is.

[nowellian]

Woody Guthry was ridiculed and shunned by his home town. Now he is a national folk hero.

David is another shunned and ridiculed national folk Hero!!

Thanks david and please keep up the good work?

Dennis Kucinich for president for peace and justice in '08!

David puts more historical truth in one song than is in the average high school history book.

[omglollookitsmeh]

What shocks me is that nearly all the people were black. It makes me sick to think that nothing was done. They were just shot to try and survive.

[harriwaltan]

you are the greatest.

greetings from german



[ancestralblue]

@nameofthepen Another Arlo Guthrie!

[nameofthepen]

I thought this was great! Poets talk straight to the heart.

.

And New Orleans was murdered. The levees were blown.

[borbo23]

@ggehri The looting was made up in order to send in the troops to shoot them, liar. Blacks were not allowed to leave! They were turned back with guns and fences, kept in their ghettos.

You are disgusting.

[assssi]

@ggehri: half the netherlands is below sea level - that kind of land is usually well suited for farming, so at some point, people settled there. and their children stayed there. as did their grandchildren, and... ah well, you get the point.

as for the evacuation: in the congress report about the disaster, it says that evacuating a family of 4 cost around 1,000$, IF you have your own car. not everyone can afford that, esp. at the end of the month.

[MrCopperhead1861]

you suck

[dtowngreg]

this fucking SUCKS!!!!!!!!!! hahaha

[TheSyntaxE]

you have to tell that the dutch folks ;)

[BoyWonder012]

Besides, the drug dealers and criminals don't care about being identified. Everyone in the city knows who they are anyway.