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Everybody knew that it could happen |
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The likelihood was clear |
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The future was coming |
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And now it's here |
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They had to fix the levees |
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Because otherwise they'd break |
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On one side was the city |
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Above it was the lake |
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It was in the daily papers |
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In bold letters was the writ |
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What would happen |
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When the Big One hit |
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But every year they cut the funding |
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Just a little more |
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So they could give it to the Army |
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To fight their oil war |
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In National Geographic |
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And the Times-Picayune |
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They forecast the apocalypse |
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Said it was coming soon |
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Preparations must be made, they said |
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Now is the time |
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It was years ago they shouted |
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Inaction was a crime |
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They said the dikes must be improved |
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And the wetlands must be saved |
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But Washington decided |
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Instead they should be paved |
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Because malls were more important |
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Than peoples' lives |
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So put some gold dust in your eyes |
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And hope no storm arrives |
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New Orleans, New Orleans, New Orleans |
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Years and years of warning |
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No evacuation plan |
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It was just if the waters rose |
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Just get out if you can |
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There were no buses |
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No one chartered any trains |
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There was no plan to rescue |
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All of those who would remain |
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All the people with no money |
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All the people with no wheels |
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All of those who didn't hotwire |
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One that they could steal |
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Thousands and thousands of people |
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Abandoned by the state |
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Abandoned by their country |
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Just left to meet their fate |
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New Orleans, New Orleans, New Orleans |
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And the people died |
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And then they died some more |
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They drowned inside their attics |
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An army of the poor |
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An army of the destitute |
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Who couldn't get away |
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And the world will remember |
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These sad and awful days |
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When people shouted from their houses |
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Dying on their roofs |
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When people came to find them |
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They were turned back by the troops |
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They died there with no water |
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They died there in the heat |
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They were shot down by the soldiers |
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For trying to find some food to eat |
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New Orleans, New Orleans, New Orleans |
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And now the city is in ruins |
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A massive toxic sea |
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Scattered through the nation |
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Half a million refugees |
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Here we are |
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In the richest country on the earth |
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Where the color of your skin |
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Determines what your life is worth |
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Where oil is the king |
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Where global warming is ignored |
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Where the very end of life |
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Is the place we're heading toward |
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Where it's more than just a metaphor |
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The flooding of the dike |
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And if we don't stop this madness |
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The whole planet will be like |
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New Orleans, New Orleans, New Orleans |