Louisiana 1927 - Randy Newman

Louisiana 1927 - Randy Newman

2:56

The Randy Newman Songbook Vol. 1, 2003

Written by Randy Newman, 1974

This is the stripped-down, piano only version of Newman's 1974 song, originally on his album Good Old Boys.  The original is nice, but it features a string section that I feel isn't necessary to carry the emotional eight of the song.  The lyric tells the story of the Great Mississippi Flood of 1927 and the government response to it.  "President say, "Little fat man, isn't it a shame / What the river has done to this poor cracker's land?'"  But of course it's just as resonant in the Katrina era.  Except, you know, replace the epithet "cracker."