Black Gold is in the Water: a song for the gulf

Like most everyone I’ve been following the story of the catastrophe in the Gulf of Mexico.  My friend Tania posted this link on facebook and it really struck home.  At the same time I was looking at pictures from high-school friends back home in the Bahamas, including the other much better off dolphin to the right.

Basically it pisses me off.

I know we are all complicit.  I drove my car to work burning oil today, but BP and Halliburton (really these guys again?!?) should make no profits at all until this mess is cleaned up, every cent devoted to environmental and social restitution.  I’m pretty sure that’s not how it's gonna go down though.

Reading that article, and realizing that there is an underwater channel 7 miles long (more dirt moved than for the Panama Canal) leading into the river (MRGO – Mississippi River Gulf Outlet) freaked me out a bit.  Then reading that the drill on Deepwater Horizon went 35,000 feet deep really slapped me stunned.  Don’t airplanes fly at 35,000 feet?

So I wrote a song, and Anne helped me edit it.  You can listen to a rough recording HERE.  I would love some feedback, if people relate to it, I will do a proper recording and release.  If that happens we are going to donate all (any?) profits to GulfAid.Org.  If you want to cover it – just send me a link to your version and any money goes to the gulf please.

Black Gold Is in the Water (copyright Julian Martlew & Anne Curtis 2010)

This morning’s tide was black and blue, Black Gold is in the water

On Interstate 10 you can smell the smoke, from Biloxi to Pensacola

The fiendish schemes of countless fools, now twisted steel and wreckage

Eleven men died on that rig, their fire was extinguished.

The deepest hole they ever drilled, Black Gold is in the water

35 thousand feet straight down, straight south of Pascagoula

April 20, 2010, the gas caused the explosion

That rig sure lived up to its name, Deepwater Horizon

36 hours that fire burned, Black Gold is in the water

42 gallons in a barrel of oil, half million barrels squandered

That black blood still flows from the vein, that geyser in the ocean

Those fiendish fools they all forgot, Black Gold is also poison

The beaten bruised and burning sky, South of Mississippi!

Bears witness to the costs of pride and profits without Mercy.

Mississippi, Louisiane, Black Gold is in the water

No gold or silver in your hand, no music in the Quarter

America’s two poorest shills, have more Black Gold than Texas

But working folks can’t pay their bills, the deck is stacked against us.

Now bruises fade o’er broken bones, Black Gold is in the water

Clear ocean smells like diesel fumes, that crude hid undercover

If you make your living from the sea, your livelihood is stolen

No you can’t swim and you can’t fish, they stole the whole damn ocean.

The beaten bruised and burning sky, south of Mississippi!

Bears witness to the costs of pride and profits without Mercy.

September when the storm-winds sing, Black Gold is in the water

White lab coats with smart machines, cannot control the weather.

Katrina, Dennis, Dean, and Ike, rushed up through MR GO

And Hurricanes as yet Un-named, won’t tell which way they’ll blow

Men in pride who face their gods, have never learned their lesson

And you and I will pay the cost, of Deepwater Horizon.

This morning’s tide was black and blue, Black Gold is in the water (repeat)