Lest We Forget...

Long Black Line

Spencer Bohren

everywhere you look
everywhere you go
you read it like a book
it's the only way to know
how high the water got
august twenty-nine
that hurricane last summer
left a long black line

sometimes it's to your ankles
sometimes to your knees
sometimes it's to your chest or head
or up above the eaves
water filled with chemicals
water filled with gas
water spillin' everywhere
a city under glass
water laced with poison
god knows, of every kind
you don't want to know
what's in the long black line

you can go to church
confessin' all your sins
you can tell your brothers
'bout the shape this world is in
you could tell your sisters
judgement day is come
he's dealin' with the devil
he's thinnin' out the scum
this one it was water
fire comes next time
all of this is written
in the long black line

i will never leave this place
you hear some people say
then there's the ones
who just can't hardly wait to get away
lots of others have no choice
they're livin' in a void
their house is wrecked, their job is gone
their lives have been destroyed
the people comin' back
no tellin' what they'll find
one thing will be waitin' there
the long black line

drivin' on the highway
you go too fast to tell
but get down in the lower nine
it's like a walk through hell
out along the curb
it's everything we own
we sacrificed our every lives
to this mighty storm
beautiful new orleans
oh, she was so fine
now everywhere you go
there's just the long black line

the long black line
the long black line
the long black line
the long black line

some people say the sinners
brought it on themselves
others say the climate change
will send us all to hell
some people blame the government
they speak of genocide
there's some that don't say anything
they just want to hide
even strong men fall apart
they break down and cry
mother mary pray for us
the long black line

every single minute
every single day
you wonder are you doin' right
you wonder should i stay
'cuz everything is broken
all the lines are down
confusion walks down every street
there's rumors all around
the media is black and white
politicians whine
everything is broken
except the long black line

the long black line
the long black line
the long black line
the long black line

god help the lower nine
the long black line

Audio sample here...

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Here's Spencer Bohren's rendition of "Wade In The Water":