New Orleans is real quiet
The seabirds all are gone
Even folks on Bourbon Street
Don’t party all night long
Idle shrimp boats drift in rows
Like lambs led to slaughter
The fallin’ tide just leaves a residue
Of oil and water.

A camera crew’s in Florida
The President is there
He’s kneelin’ on an empty beach
With black mud everywhere.
There’s guilt for every creature lost
The blame game’s gettin’ hotter
Tragedy and politics, they mix…
Like oil and water.

We survived Katrina
And we’ll endure this too
It’s just one more disaster
That we’ll find our way through…

The mighty Mississippi
Keeps flowing to the sea
It’ll keep on rollin’ there
Long after you and me.
It’s a living legacy
For wayward sons and daughters
Healing all our self-inflicted wounds
From oil and water…oil and water.