WASN'T THAT A MIGHTY STORM

#LaBelleEpoque #6

"Lightening Bolts"

©2007 Charles Burns

Cover illustration for the Believer #45

We had a foretaste of the storm when we were in Le Mans.  We had to take refuge in the Dallas Diner and sip the worst margarita ever concocted.  But the heavens really cracked open as we visited Phil in his troglo.  Great sheets of lightening lit up the sky like 14 Juillet.  There was some rain too but it cleared for us to be able to walk home.

I had been asleep for about an hour when the canon-claps of thunder woke me.  The rain poured down in buckets and lightening streaked the sky.
Today, the muggy days of 90°F+ weather are over and a cooler 75°F seems refreshing.

Wasn't That A Mighty Storm on Wikipedia
Wasn't That A Mighty Storm on YouTube

Playlist:
Wasn't That a Mighty Storm
Nanci Griffith and friends


WASN'T THAT A MIGHTY STORM

Traditional

Chorus:
Wasn't that a mighty storm
Wasn't that a mighty storm in the morning, well
Wasn't that a mighty storm
That blew all the people all away.


You know, the year of 1900, children,
Many years ago
Death came howling on the ocean
Death calls, you got to go
Now Galveston had a seawall
To keep the water down,
And a high tide from the ocean
Spread the water all over the town.

You know the trumpets give them warning
You'd better leave this place
Now, no one thought of leaving
'til death stared them in the face
And the trains they all were loaded
The people were all leaving town
The trestle gave way to the water
And the trains they went on down.

Rain it was a-falling
thunder began to roll
Lightning flashed like hellfire
The wind began to blow
Death, the cruel master
When the wind began to blow
Rode in on a team of horses
I cried, "Death, won't you let me go"

Hey, now trees fell on the island
And the houses give away
Some they strained and drowned
Some died in most every way
And the sea began to rolling
And the ships they could not stand
And I heard a captain crying
"God save a drowning man."

Death, your hands are clammy
You got them on my knee
You come and took my mother
Won't you come back after me
And the flood it took my neighbor
Took my brother, too
I thought I heard my father calling
And I watched my mother go.

You know, the year of 1900, children,
Many years ago
Death came howling on the ocean
Death calls, you got to go