"Louisiana 1927"(jmj) by jmjiloveyou

jmjiloveyou - "Louisiana 1927"(jmj)

jmjiloveyou

Apr 18, 2025 08:39am

"Louisiana 1927" is a 1974 song written and recorded by <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Randy_Newman" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Randy Newman</a> on the album <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Good_Old_Boys_(Randy_Newman_album)" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Good Old Boys</a>. It tells the story of the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Mississippi_Flood_of_1927" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Great Mississippi Flood of 1927</a> which left 700,000 people homeless in <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louisiana" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Louisiana</a> and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mississippi" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Mississippi</a>.<h2>Lyrics</h2>Sung from the perspective of a nameless resident of the area recounting the flooding of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St._Bernard_Parish,_Louisiana" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">St. Bernard</a> and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plaquemines_Parish,_Louisiana" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Plaquemines parishes</a> during the flood, "Louisiana 1927" features lyrics that depict the devastation of the residents of those parishes in the aftermath of the flood. In particular, the narrator lays out the widespread nature of the destruction ("river had busted through clear down to Plaquemines") and the volume of water the flood produced ("six feet of water in the streets of Evangeline"). Also touched upon is the callous response of the federal government, depicted here via a fictional visit from <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Calvin_Coolidge" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">President Calvin Coolidge</a> and "a little fat man," where Coolidge's reaction to the devastation is a detached statement that, "isn't it a shame what the river has done to this poor <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cracker_(pejorative)" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">cracker's</a> land."In 2005, after <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hurricane_Katrina" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Hurricane Katrina</a>, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NPR" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">NPR</a> interviewed Newman about the song. He said "I was born in Los Angeles, but I went to New Orleans when I was, like, a week old. My mother is from there, her family is still there. I lived with her a few years when I was a baby, and I'd go back in the summers. And it was the other place that I knew, and I was interested in the history, and heard about this flood, and I wrote the song."<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louisiana_1927#cite_note-1" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">[1]</a><h2>Music</h2>The song is written in the style of a <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lament" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">lament</a>, and is performed at a slow tempo. Newman's original version on the album Good Old Boys starts out with strings playing the introduction melody, followed by vocals and piano by Newman with the band. Strings are heard throughout the song.Newman's self-cover of the song on <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Randy_Newman_Songbook_Vol._1" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">The Randy Newman Songbook Vol. 1</a> released in 2003 on the other hand is a simple version with Newman on piano and vocals with no accompaniment.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louisiana_1927#cite_note-allmusic-2" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">[2]</a><h2>Other versions</h2>The song became identified with Hurricane Katrina in the public consciousness after being sung by <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aaron_Neville" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Aaron Neville</a> at <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NBC" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">NBC</a>'s "<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Concert_for_Hurricane_Relief" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">A Concert for Hurricane Relief</a>", being sung by Newman at the multi-network television fundraiser <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shelter_from_the_Storm:_A_Concert_for_the_Gulf_Coast" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Shelter from the Storm: A Concert for the Gulf Coast</a>, and a fully orchestrated version of the song performed by Newman during <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saturday_Night_Live" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Saturday Night Live's</a> "<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saturday_Night_Live_(Season_2)" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Mardi Gras Special</a>". A new recording of the orchestrated version is included on the Katrina charity album, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Our_New_Orleans" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Our New Orleans</a>, on <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nonesuch_Records" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Nonesuch Records</a>. In 2007, the song was covered by <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ray_Stevens" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Ray Stevens</a> on his tribute album to New Orleans and Louisiana culture, New Orleans Moon. Singer/pianist <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marcia_Ball" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Marcia Ball</a> also covered the song at several Katrina benefit concerts. The song also appeared in an episode (S03E7) of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HBO" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">HBO</a>'s show <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Treme_(TV_series)" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Treme</a>, sung again by <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aaron_Neville" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Aaron Neville</a>.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jolie_Holland" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Jolie Holland</a> covered "Louisiana 1927" on Hummingbirds & Helicopters Vol 1: A Benefit for South Texas, a <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benefit_album" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">benefit album</a> released after <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hurricane_Harvey" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Hurricane Harvey</a> in 2018.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louisiana_1927#cite_note-3" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">[3]</a>