# Disaster song! **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [February 21, 2007, 6:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/disaster-song/393116 "2007-02-21T18:16:36Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Spoke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e57/32.png) [@Spoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoke)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2007, 7:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/disaster-song/393116/21 "2007-02-21T19:41:43Z")
“[Lava](http://www.lyricsfreak.com/b/b-52%27s/lava_10018649.html)” by the **B-52’s** at least _mentions_ some disasters: _…Krakatoa, east of java, molten bodies, fiery lava…_ and _…Let it flow like Pompeii or Herculaneum…_ (Um… of course the song is not _literally_ about volcanoes…) ---
**Author:** ![St.Urho](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/8e7dd6/32.png) [@St.Urho](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/St.Urho)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2007, 7:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/disaster-song/393116/22 "2007-02-21T19:45:50Z")
Woody Guthrie- [1913 Massacre](http://www.1913massacre.com/song.html). ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2007, 7:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/disaster-song/393116/23 "2007-02-21T19:52:23Z")
[QUOTE=The New and Improved Superman] “When the Levee Breaks” - Big Mama Thornton (oh, and some band called “Led Zeppelin” did a cover of it too.) This song actually _predicted_ a disaster. [/QUOTE] Not entirely – it was written about the Great Mississippi Flood of 1927. “London Calling” by the Clash is definitely post-apocalyptic “God Moved on the Water” is an obscure folk song about the Titanic ---
**Author:** ![Infovore](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/infovore/32/420_2.png) [@Infovore](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Infovore)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2007, 8:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/disaster-song/393116/24 "2007-02-21T20:53:52Z")
Assemblage 23’s \*\*30KFT \*\* is about a plane crash. ---
**Author:** ![whole\_bean](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/96bed5/32.png) [@whole\_bean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/whole_bean)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2007, 9:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/disaster-song/393116/25 "2007-02-21T21:25:08Z")
[QUOTE=The New and Improved Superman] “Where Were You When the World Stopped Turning?” - Alan Jackson (cynical, hateful cash-in on the WTC/pentagon disaster. But a disaster song nonetheless.) [/QUOTE] How do you figure? I think it’s a sensitive, reflective, heartfelt response to the sort of tragedy that leaves you with many more questions than you could possibly find answers for. Maybe you have confused this with another song (perhaps something by Toby Keith), or maybe you would like to quote an offending passage. Are you saying it was wrong to write a song about/in response to the events of September 11? Memeorializing events in song is what folk music is all about. You were really reaching with “Hard Rain” because it’s not a “disaster” song at all, but your description of “Where Were You” is inaccurate. ---
**Author:** ![AtomicDog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ac91a4/32.png) [@AtomicDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AtomicDog)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2007, 9:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/disaster-song/393116/26 "2007-02-21T21:28:44Z")
[Hell No We Ain’t All Right!](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hell_No_We_Ain%27t_All_Right%21), By Public Enemy. ---
**Author:** ![whole\_bean](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/96bed5/32.png) [@whole\_bean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/whole_bean)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2007, 9:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/disaster-song/393116/27 "2007-02-21T21:29:34Z")
[QUOTE=silenus] Folk music is full of disaster songs. My favorite is “Blood On The Coal” by the Folksmen. 😃 [/QUOTE] and don’t forget their song about the Spanish Civil War, _Skeletons of Quinto_ ---
**Author:** ![Wee\_Bairn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/90db22/32.png) [@Wee\_Bairn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wee_Bairn)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2007, 9:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/disaster-song/393116/28 "2007-02-21T21:33:12Z")
[QUOTE=whole bean] How do you figure? I think it’s a sensitive, reflective, heartfelt response to the sort of tragedy that leaves you with many more questions than you could possibly find answers for. Maybe you have confused this with another song (perhaps something by Toby Keith), or maybe you would like to quote an offending passage. Are you saying it was wrong to write a song about/in response to the events of September 11? Memeorializing events in song is what folk music is all about. You were really reaching with “Hard Rain” because it’s not a “disaster” song at all, but your description of “Where Were You” is inaccurate. [/QUOTE] **Superman** called this one correctly- its your typical jingoistic American Conservative Christian bullshit. Pretty much every verse is offensive to me, and I just read the lyrics- without throwing up even- maybe becasue I didn’t eat lunch today. Even the title is stupid- the world stopped turning? Really? What as ass the writer is, but in his defense, I really don’t know if he’s the kind of asshole who wrote this shit as a cash-in, or because he really feels that way. Probably both. ---
**Author:** ![Spoke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e57/32.png) [@Spoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoke)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2007, 9:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/disaster-song/393116/29 "2007-02-21T21:37:22Z")
If we’re including a hypothetical nuclear apocalypse, I can add: “[Everyday Is Like Sunday](http://www.lyricsfreak.com/m/morrissey/everyday+is+like+sunday_20096007.html)” by **Morrissey** : _In the seaside town …that they forgot to bomb Come, come, come - nuclear bomb_ And if we get to include a zombie apocalypse, there’s: “[Omegaman](http://www.lyricsfreak.com/p/police/omegaman_20110042.html)” by **The Police** (based on the movie The Omega Man). ---
**Author:** ![Spoke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e57/32.png) [@Spoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoke)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2007, 9:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/disaster-song/393116/30 "2007-02-21T21:45:06Z")
And **Gordon Lightfoot** (the master of maritime disaster) also wrote “[Ghosts of Cape Horn](http://www.lyricsfreak.com/g/gordon+lightfoot/ghosts+of+cape+horn_20061556.html).” It isn’t about any one specific disaster, but is about the ships that have sunk rounding the Horn: _And you read all yer letters From oceans away Then you took them to the bottom of the sea_ And **Johnny Cash** has a flood song entitled “[Five Feet High and Rising](http://www.lyricsfreak.com/j/johnny+cash/five+feet+high+and+rising_20202610.html')”: _Well, the rails are washed out north of town We gotta head for higher ground We can’t come back till the water comes down, Five feet high and risin’_ ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2007, 10:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/disaster-song/393116/31 "2007-02-21T22:02:57Z")
[QUOTE=whole bean] How do you figure? I think it’s a sensitive, reflective, heartfelt response to the sort of tragedy that leaves you with many more questions than you could possibly find answers for. [/QUOTE] I agree. It’s the only one (besides The Rising) I like, since I am knee-jerkingly unpatriotic. (Except of course I would never turn on I Love Lucy reruns.) “Let Her Go Down” by Steeleye Span is an overwrought sinking ship song “Athens Queen” by Stan Rogers is a humorous take on a shipwreck “White Squall” by Stan Rogers is a sad take on the merciless sea ---
**Author:** ![dbygawdcapn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dbygawdcapn/32/3995_2.png) [@dbygawdcapn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dbygawdcapn)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2007, 10:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/disaster-song/393116/32 "2007-02-21T22:11:08Z")
Louisiana 1927 - Randy Newman ---
**Author:** ![whole\_bean](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/96bed5/32.png) [@whole\_bean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/whole_bean)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2007, 10:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/disaster-song/393116/33 "2007-02-21T22:12:07Z")
[QUOTE=Wee Bairn] **Superman** called this one correctly- its your typical jingoistic American Conservative Christian bullshit. Pretty much every verse is offensive to me, and I just read the lyrics- without throwing up even- maybe becasue I didn’t eat lunch today. Even the title is stupid- the world stopped turning? Really? What as ass the writer is, but in his defense, I really don’t know if he’s the kind of asshole who wrote this shit as a cash-in, or because he really feels that way. Probably both. [/QUOTE] I really think your wrong. Not to continue this hijack, but cite one offensive passage. There’s nothing about killing Arabs or blaming the attacks on anyonje else. So what if he references prayer? A Christian singing about a his reaction to an event is no more offensive than a Jew singing about a Jewish reaction to an event. Would you find a Kaddish as offensive? A review of my posts to this board will show that I’m hardly an evangelical fundie, nor I am a huge pop-country fan. Jackson’s song seems to me to be a sincere reflection on the events of Septemebr 11, 2001. I really wish you would back up your accusation with something – some actual pasage that you find jingoistic, or as Superman accuses, “hatefule”. As for the title, I guess you take simmilar issue with [W.H. Auden](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Funeral_Blues) . I am not suggesting that the artstic merit of the two is comparable but they certainly employ a similar metaphor. ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2007, 10:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/disaster-song/393116/34 "2007-02-21T22:21:12Z")
Let’s not get political, folks! Let’s keep it cheerful. For instance, there could be a thread just listing songs about the sinking of the Titanic. 😉 _The Titanic_ by Lead Belly, based on the UL that black boxer Jack Johnson was denied passage. Written in 1912 but not recorded until 1948: \*Jack Johnson want to get on board, Captain said, “I ain’t hauling no coal,” Cryin’, “Fare thee, Titanic, fare the well,” \* Then there was _The Great Titanic,_] said to have been written shortly after but the earliest version I’ve heard was recorded by William and Versey Smith in 1927: \*It was on one Monday morning just about one o’clock When that great Titanic began to reel and rock; People began to scream and cry, Saying, “Lord, am I going to die?” Chorus: It was sad when that great ship went down, It was sad when that great ship went down, Husbands and wives and little children lost their lives, It was sad when that great ship went down. \* ---
**Author:** ![Equipoise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/equipoise/32/151_2.png) [@Equipoise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Equipoise)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2007, 10:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/disaster-song/393116/35 "2007-02-21T22:23:19Z")
Oh I wish there were a link button in the quick reply box! Also, [“Breathing”](http://gaffa.org/sensual/l_breath.html) by Kate Bush. It’s from the point of view of a baby in a womb getting ready to be born…right after a nuclear war. Ok, it _sounds_ like it would be silly, but man is it a great song! ---
**Author:** ![Spoke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e57/32.png) [@Spoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoke)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2007, 10:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/disaster-song/393116/36 "2007-02-21T22:27:02Z")
Woody Guthrie - “[Dust Bowl Blues](http://www.geocities.com/nashville/3448/dbblues.html?200721)” And for economic disaster: The Carter Family - “[No Depression In Heaven](http://www.bluegrasslyrics.com/carter_song.cfm-recordID=c163.htm)” And another train disaster: The Carter Family - “[The Wreck of the C and O](http://www.bluegrasslyrics.com/carter_song.cfm-recordID=c247.htm)” ---
**Author:** ![Horatio\_Hellpop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Horatio\_Hellpop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatio_Hellpop)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2007, 10:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/disaster-song/393116/37 "2007-02-21T22:30:28Z")
“The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down” by The Band “I Don’t Know Where I’m a’ Gonna Go when the Volcano Blows” by Jimmy Buffett “Spanish Bombs” by The Clash “Enola Gay” by OMD ---
**Author:** ![Spice\_Weasel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spice_weasel/32/5435_2.png) [@Spice\_Weasel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spice_Weasel)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2007, 11:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/disaster-song/393116/38 "2007-02-21T23:06:36Z")
Live’s “Overcome” – response to 9/11 \*There’s women in the street Pullin’ out their hair My master’s in the yard Givin’ light to the unaware This plastic little place Is just a step amongst the stairs And I am overcome I am overcome, baby Holy water in my lungs I am overcome…\* Do potential disasters count? Weird Al Yankovic has a song called “Christmas at Ground Zero” \*You might hear some reindeer on your rooftop Or Jack Frost on your windowsill But if someone’s climbing down your chimney You better load your gun and shoot to kill It’s Christmas at ground zero And if the radiation level’s okay I’ll go out with you and see all the new Mutations on New Year’s Day\* 🙂😃 ---
**Author:** ![Spice\_Weasel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spice_weasel/32/5435_2.png) [@Spice\_Weasel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spice_Weasel)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2007, 11:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/disaster-song/393116/39 "2007-02-21T23:13:03Z")
Sorry for the DP, but I just did some investigating and “Overcome” was written before 9-11 apparently, but it seemed to fit so well it took on strong 9-11 connotations including a tribute video using the song. Sorry for the misinfo. ---
**Author:** ![OtakuLoki](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/ac8455/32.png) [@OtakuLoki](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OtakuLoki)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2007, 11:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/disaster-song/393116/40 "2007-02-21T23:25:05Z")
Cold Missouri Waters by Cry, Cry, Cry (A song I heard about because of the Dope, actually.) I would also like to nominate most of the songs off the cast recording for the musical Titanic. (Not to be confused with the schmaltz-fest that was the James Cameron Titanic movie.) Timothy by the Buoys (Do I have the band name right?) is both a song about disaster and cannibalism. A two-fer. Bah, have to go make dinner, I’ll remember more later. Okay, I just realized how that’s going to look. For the record, since I’m cooking for my parents, and it’s Ash Wednesday, no people will be served as part of the meal tonight. (Maybe tomorrow.) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/disaster-song/393116.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/disaster-song/393116.md?page=3)