Sonya Headlam, soprano;
Alteouise DeVaughan, alto;
Clinton Ingram, tenor;
Steve Butler, bass;

KATRINA: VOICES OF THE LOST - Margaret Yard

Part 1
Chorus
Lord keep us from harm
Saves us from these torrents
Save us from this deadly wind
Winds of terror, winds of might
Winds which tear our children from our arms
Winds which smack us down and under
Under and under the waters that cover our homes

Lord keep us from harm
Waters rising, rising
Rising over our heads
All the animals are dead
The infants cold and blue
No life breath left
No place to bury the bodies
No where to go with our grief

Fisherman
I don't deserve to drown, Lord
You know that.
Why did You bring this on?
When You know You got Your due?
What have we done in this city against You,
That You should smite us so?
To open up the flood and break the levies
Fill our earthbound bowl with water
Destroying all our souls.


I'm just a poor day laborer
Pullin' up crabs and fish
And the waters turn against us
Extinguishing all that exists
I ain't had no part of that
tourist city of sin
Just sing and play for Your glory, Lord
Now even my horn and my banjo's washed away

And the water's has parted the joints of the Churches
And the bones float up from the sepulchres
There goes grandma's rockin' chair and Betsy's boots
Into the dark muddy waters

Alto solo
Dark and deadly twigs and branches
Feet and arms and torsos humped over
Doing the eternal jelly fish crawl
Why do You send us back to the sea?
Is it 'cause science says that we're monkeys?
Does that disturb You and get on Your nerves?
So with Your mighty fury, You wipe us away
Making us pay

Chorus
Damn You God,
Heartless and cold,
You destroy like itÕs a joy
You blow us away while watching us panic
Polluting our lives
Erasing our pasts
Separating all the families


Edging us onward to insanity
Is that what You want, God?
Is that what You want, God?
Is that what You want?

See the city is destroyed!
See, Your servants are dispersed
By the Government of the cursed!

[End Part 1]


Part 2

Soprano:
café café café café
sweet cakes and beignets
hot steaming at three a m

down by the river
sun soon coming up
café café café

in between moondown and sunrise
limbo space between the dark and the light
café café café

mulatto morning
cream sweet cream
between café legs


café café café

smooth buzz of jazz
mumbling stumbling
replete with gin fizz
so life gurgles
fuzzy, muddled
fancy steps and tripping falls
café café café

we weave we verve
arm in arm
longing to settle down
into the Big Easy

all voices in canon [repeat]:
café café café café
sweet cakes and beignets
hot steaming at three a m

Alto & Tenor:
Oh Mr. Rain Mr. Rain won't you go away
And don't you please come back til Election Day
'cause we want to party and we want to play
and let the good times roll!

Tenor:
Oh your mama says what if the sky falls down
And the mayor says what if the bomb goes off
And your lover says what if I don't love you
In a hafta do hafta do life!


Alto:
Oh you wall yourself off from your mother and your father
And you wall yourself off from feeling and sense
You defend against exposure of yourself to yourself
In a hafta do hafta do life!
Chorus/Both: Oh Mr. Rain..etc.
Tenor:
As you crumble in the dust make a great big fuss
Alto:
Jump and join the surge of matter pushing frantically pulsating
Tenor:
And defiant with the fire of the force of desire
Both:
In a haft dance hafta dance life!
Alto:
Oh what is the dance but the dance
Tenor:
the useles non-profitable foolish dance
Alto:
leave the stangulating hold of the status and money concerns
Tenor:
that leave you dying on the vine
Alto:
cause the vine dessicates
tenor: dessicates
Alto: Jump the live fruit off
Tenor: dance hollering
Alto: hollering
Both: wild source truth feed
Messy passionate
Lifeblood thing


In a hafta dance hafta dance life!

Chorus/both: Oh Mr. Rain etc.


Soprano:
Hold onto me these may be our last moments
Water surrounds us, water engulfs us
It may wash us away- hold onto me for dear life
Don't let me go down!

Baritone: I'll hold onto you- my darling- forever
Our legs entwined and our arms surrounding
I hold you so hard that there's no space between us
I blow on you the breath of life!


Both:
Love- breath of life, my incredible love-
Let the ocean come wash us away-
Let me die in your arms loving you-
There is no other thing left to do!

Soprano:
Helicopters flew over while we were loving
But they went away- they must have been shy to see us
Even if you laugh at us
Don't you know that we, too,
We don't want to drown!

Soprano: "Love, breath of life etc." [as before]


Baritone: [under her]
Baby, baby, baby
Girl of my heart
Don't you worry my dear
Daddy's here!
I'll jump in the water
And I'll go swim like a fish for you-
I'll get a boat, a saving boat
To come and pick up my babykins and me-
Then we'll be happy together!


Baritone:
Bye bye, baby
See you soon
I'll get a boat out there
I'll catch it
I'll catch it
I'll catch it
I'll catch it- I'll- [Soprano screams]

[end part 2]


Part 3
Ensemble:
Forever over the gulf
We form miasmas
Weaving over the terrain
Rising from the drenched belly of the bowl
Of what will always be New Orleans
Rising from the planes and coasts
Of Mississippi, Louisiana, Alabama

Rising up out of the muck

Fluid fetid warmth
Breeding and bleeding and breathing
Into your necrotic lungs

Oh government of excess and neglect
Oh American culture of acquisition
Look now on us
And think twice of your idols of ownership
Of celebrity
At what you call the meaning of existence!

Soprano:
Forever [repeated]

Baritone:
The first necessity of an organized state [repeated]

Soprano:
Drowned- through negligence
Of a non-responsive disorganized state of the union
Destroying the union of states


Tenor & Bass :
Reliant

Soprano & Alto:
Upon leadership


T&B:
Reliant

S&A:
Upon structure

T&B:
Reliant

S&A:
Upon meaning

T&B:
Reliant

S&A:
Upon care

T&B:
Reliant

S&A:
On good common sense

T&B:
Reliant

S&A:
On the value of the public good
The protection of the public
The good of the protection


Ensemble: [repeat in canon]
The first necessity of an organized state

Alto:
A country so worried 'bout salutin' its flag
That we have forgotten its founding beliefs
Its meaning and mission leached off into silence
Into the utility of the rich

Oil-dependent we forget who governs us
Oil rich and oil friendly
We are beginning to glide and slide
On our greasy oil base
Like the birds and water mammals
Our survival threatened
[joined by Soprano] our survival threatened
[joined by Bass] our survival threatened
[joined by Tenor] OUR SURVIVAL THREATENED!!

Ensemble:
Forever we will lodge ourselves in your history
Forever we will accuse you of desertion under fire
Forever we will exist to testify
To the sham parading on the surface of business as usual

As ghosts we will fly through your electronic entertainment
And rise above the banter
The diversion and the lies
As ghosts you will attempt to erase us
Decapitating what once was freedom of speech
The beleaguered and tattered constitution



Tenor:
I wander in your states
From Mississippi to Michigan
Colder parts and temporary places
Still shuddering from the memory of my home
My relatives call me
Corrupting in the waters
Spirits from days of love and comfort
My soul disintegrates
Into shreds of painful remembrance

Ensemble:
Help me! Help me!
Help me! Help me!
They are all calling me
And like a child impotent and lost
I implore this place, this country
To help, to help
To help me find dry safety
Safe haven
Home and sanctuary
Sanctuary
Sacred sanctuary
Where no harm can come after me
And nature is contained




Ensemble:
America! America! Where is your soul?
Where are the kind hands that do not hurt?
Where are your eyes of tears of acknowledgement?
What has become of the trust?
I am a citizen!
A refugee in my own country!
Not in the country I know!
My America!
What has become of you?

[end]

Live at The Cell Theatre 4/27/2008

Mark Phaneuf, soprano sax;
Jonathan Greenberg, bass trombone;
Dominic Derasse, trumpet;
Charles Pillow, tenor sax;
Jeff Carney, string bass;
Dorothy Lawson, cello;
Geoffrey Burleson, piano;
Neil Dufallo & John Benthal, electric guitar;
Mary Rowell, conductor & solo violin;

Serenades:
Joseph Kubera, piano;

Jungles:
Mary Rowell, electric violin;
Eric Liljestrand, electric guitar;
William Sloat, bass;
Kevin Norton, drums;
Philip Bush, piano;

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