on the day that the levee broke the water did rise and the flowers did choke i sat in my living room took one last toke then i watched it all drift away my credit cards ringing up at 30 theres a man in india wondring where the money went but i cant pay so i sat on my roof in lake pontchartrain singing woe to my children singing woe to the rain a stranger came by i never caught his name said hes rowing to the rio grande air force one a blue streak in the sky mr president you can afford to lie cause i cant afford to pay hurricane angel i m lifting my eyes over baton rouge lift up your wings let me hear your voice singing can you turn these black skies to blue again oh im laying on the floor of a trailer at night with sixteen refugees waiting on the daylight but i still cant pay caught a flat bed ford up to baton rouge four worn out souls and one old corkscrew you can drown new orleans but you cant drown the blues so bartender just pour away exxons having one helluva year three bucks a gallon man theyre making it clear that i cant pay lord lord we havent spoken in many a day i got myself in trouble downin the ninth ward thought id send a prayer your way on my window sills a stack of insurance bills theres a man in delaware who says i can t have the pills until i can pay somebody should pay on the day that the levee broke the water did rise and the flowers did choke i sat in my living room took one last toke then i watched it all drift away