God Save The Rock N Bowl

Here’s a song I wrote in 2005 from a hotel room in Baton Rouge, watching the water on camera on Carrollton Ave creep up to the second story at Tulane Ave. I’m JUST getting around to recording it….

God Save The Rock ‘N’ Bowl
by Chuck Credo IV, written August 29, 2005

It was early one morning when I woke up
and saw the rain come down
Looked out my window and saw the water
all over town.

The people were runnin’, the bells were ringing
The king done lost his crown.
And the people sang, a sad sad song
And cried without a sound

God save the Emperor
God save the Queen
God save all my friends down in New Orleans

Won’t you stop the rain from pourin’
and wash away my soul

Won’t you c’mon and smile on us Jesus,
and save The Rock ‘N’ Bowl.

“Don’t Look Back” I heard Him say,
just try the best you can
And the city streets sang “oh did he ramble”
played by an old brass band

And as I found John Blancher
in a town across the land
He stood up proud and spoke the word
and this is what he sang:

God Save The Emperor
God Save The Queen
God Save all them souls
Down in New Orleans

Won’t you stop all the rain from fallin’
don’t wash away my soul

Won’t you look down and smile on us Jesus
and save the Rock ‘N’ Bowl

Weeks gone by and the sun’s come out
with the water come and gone
and as I go to church on Sunday
to rid me all of wrong

I pray the Lord my soul to keep
and hold my cross so strong
until we can all dance in the second line
and sing them ragtime songs

God save the emperor
God Save the Queen
God Save all them souls
Down In New Orleans

Thank You Lord, for my life
you’ve purified my soul

But Won’t ya come down and smile on us Jesus
and save The Rock N Bowl

Copyright 2005

Katrina, Katrina, where ya been so long?

Four years after Katrina, the anniversary date of Aug 29th is becoming something of a cultural celebration day. A lot of people are ready NOT to remember the date…a lot of people are ready to forget the whole damn thing (and rightfully so).

However, I personally think that a celebration of the date is a very positive thing for our community. Celebrate a hurricane? No. Celebrate the resilience of LIFE in New Orleans! If you read some of my blogs from years ago, I often equate the seasons of Thanksgiving/Christmas/Mardi Gras/Lent/Easter as one big series of events in New Orleans. Unlike the rest of the world, these dates coincide each year to allow us the ability to reflect on our lives and celebrate our reasons for existence… literally starting with Thanksgiving and ending on Easter Sunday. Only here, IN THIS CITY, can you see this reflection of the soul on human culture..and only here can we celebrate life in this way.

August 29th is a reflection of this mentality.

Do we celebrate the hurricane…no.

But, like our tradition of the Second Line played at funerals across the city, we start the day remembering those we lost by playing a slow dirge as we mourn our loss…
But afterwards, it’s time to celebrate our lives and the lives of those who came before us to give us all the incentive to keep going and keep getting better. The band kicks it into high gear and we celebrate life like nowhere else. It’s a reminder to live now because we have no idea what tomorrow brings.

So, in my opinion, let us keep August 29 a memorial of those who died and a celebration of the undying spirit of our awesome culture in New Orleans.

(And as a side note to this….let us ALSO never forget the political nonsense that we went through during that time that led to so much of our problems. Let’s check our short attention spans and LEARN from our mistakes by electing the RIGHT people and HOLDING those accountable that should be).

~Reverend Credo…over and out!
CAN I GET AN AMEN!?