Randy Newman's song about the flood of 1927 [View All]

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