Everybody knew that it could happen    The likelihood was clear    The future was coming And now it's here    They had to fix the levees Because otherwise they'd break    On one side was the city    Above it was the lake    It was in the daily papers In bold letters was the writ    What would happen When the Big One hit    But every year they cut the funding Just a little more    So they could give it to the Army To fight their oil war    In National Geographic And the Times-Picayune They forecast the apocalypse    Said it was coming soon    Preparations must be made, they said Now is the time    It was years ago they shouted    Inaction was a crime    They said the dikes must be improved    And the wetlands must be saved    But Washington decided Instead they should be paved    Because malls were more important Than peoples' lives    So put some gold dust in your eyes    And hope no storm arrives       New Orleans, New Orleans, New Orleans       Years and years of warning    No evacuation plan    It was just if the waters rose   Just get out if you can    There were no buses No one chartered any trains    There was no plan to rescue All of those who would remain    All the people with no money    All the people with no wheels   All of those who didn't hotwire One that they could steal    Thousands and thousands of people Abandoned by the state   Abandoned by their country    Just left to meet their fate       New Orleans, New Orleans, New Orleans       And the people died    And then they died some more    They drowned inside their attics    An army of the poor    An army of the destitute    Who couldn't get away    And the world will remember These sad and awful days    When people shouted from their houses Dying on their roofs    When people came to find them They were turned back by the troops    They died there with no water    They died there in the heat   They were shot down by the soldiers    For trying to find some food to eat       New Orleans, New Orleans, New Orleans       And now the city is in ruins    A massive toxic sea Scattered through the nation Half a million refugees    Here we are In the richest country on the earth Where the color of your skin Determines what your life is worth   Where oil is the king    Where global warming is ignored    Where the very end of life Is the place we're heading toward    Where it's more than just a metaphor   The flooding of the dike And if we don't stop this madness The whole planet will be like       New Orleans, New Orleans, New Orleans