Digital Tradition Mirror

Galveston Flood

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Pennywhistle notation and Dulcimer tab for this song is also available

Galveston Flood

It was a September evening when the sky was dark and grey
Raging wind and water battled Hell in its sway
The rich folk in the mansions and the poor ones in the dell
Were swept into eternity the story left to tell

  Wasn't that a mighty time
  Wasn't that a mighty time that evening
  Wasn't that a mighty time
  When the storm winds struck our town

The men left home that morning with hearts cheerful and bright
With hopes of home returning, but their hopes weren't raised that
  night
They kissed their wives that morning ands their little ones  so
dear
And  the  skies were cloudy that morning, but no other  grief  or
  care
It was a September evening when the storm clouds struck our town
It seemed like God up in the Heavens above looked down at us  and
  frowned
The town was all in a motion, the men with hearts so brave
Prayed to God to have mercy their helpless lives to save

There's an engineer and a fireman, engineer had a heart so brave
He thought about his wife and his little child
  and their helpless lives to save
Says Jack, the tide is rising and we must get across
So they drove the train on over and both those men were lost

It was a September evening when the storm was a raging wild
I saw a woman clinging, Lord, to her husband and her child
The man he battled faithful their helpless lives to save
But they soon were beneath that rolling tide
  They had met a watery grave

Well they had a sea wall at Galveston to hold those waters down
But the high tide from the ocean, Lord, put water onto the town
The trumpets gave them warning, they had better quit that place
But  they  weren't meant to leave their homes till  death  stared
  them in the face

Now the year was nineteen and hundred, just sixteen years ago
Death throwed a stone at my mother, Lord, and with death she  had
  to go
The cruel sea was a raging and the ships they could not land
I heard a captain crying, Lord, won't you save this dying man

Now death, the cruel master, when the winds began to blow
Came  down on a train of horses, I cried, Death won't you let  me
  go
The town was all in a motion and the houses gave away
And  the  people they strived and drowned, Lord, they  died  most
every way

Now the storm was over next morning and when the waters  backward
  rolled
A  thousand  souls  were drowned, Lord, What a sight  it  was  to
behold
You can talk about your Brazos and your Johnstown flood of old
But the story of the Galveston flood will never, ever be told

recorded by Golden Ring
SOF

Thanks to Mudcat for the Digital Tradition!