go down water
Below are some song lyrics I wrote during the evacuation, probably the first or second week of September 2005, and also some vaguely relevant pictures. I wrote the tune a capella since there was no room in the van for something as trivial as a guitar - with a family of four and eleven animals on board it’s hard to squeeze in anything larger than, say, a carton of smokes and a roll of paper towels. This song was my way of sorting things out in my head at the time, since I really didn’t know what the fuck was going on back home beyond that initial radio message from the Mayor that sounded, to my ear at least, like, “Get the fuck out of the city and don’t come back till Christmas.”
At the time I wrote it, the water was still there. I’m posting it now because, well, metaphorically it sometimes feels like the damn water hasn’t gone down yet. Maybe the summer just puts me on a high tide bender.
I’d post an mp3 but it hasn’t been recorded. I’ve actually played this for very few people. You know who you are.
Go Down Water
Go down water to the other side
Go down water to the other side
Done topped the levee, then you broke on through
I don’t want any more trouble with you
Go down water to the other side
Go down
Go down water and rise no more
Go down water, let me see my floor
Somebody tell me, please, where is my Lord
While the devil’s taking souls from door to door?
Go down water and rise no more
Go down
Go down water - let my children come home
Go down water - now I’m all alone
Go down water - this is all I own
Don’t let the devil take my body to the Superdome
Go down water - let me stay in my home
Go down
Go down water from Gentilly to Chalmette
Go down water - ain’t you finished yet?
Go down water while we still have time
The clock is ticking on the people in the Lower Nine
Go down water while they still have some time
Go down
Go down water for a hundred years
Go down water, wash away my tears
Goddamn water and your crown of fears
And goddamn the Army Corps of Engineers
Go down water for a hundred years
Go down
(words & pictures this page copyright 2006 by Louis Maistros)
***
The Sound of Building Coffins by Louis Maistros is due for publication from The Toby Press in Spring 2009.