Listen, folks, we're bleeding
People can't survive
Levees are seeping
Water's filling up our lives
There's sweeping devastation
And there's rising pain
There's growing hunger
And choking thirst
Makes you wonder what's worse?
Givin' up or hangin' on
Looking on the river
Hundreds waiting to be saved
Families on the rooftops
In bed-linen graves
Listen of the governor
The pleading of the mayor
The politickin' senators
Think nobody cares
Makes you wonder all along
'Bout givin' up or hangin' on
Hey, Mr. Bush have pity
On this forsaken land
Care done forgot us,
Mercy's in your hand
Twenty-four choices of MREs
May get us to tomorrow,
But what about next week
When can we get back
Our beloved city!
Look at us on TV
We're floating away
The tide's at our rooftop
This Labor Day
There's too much a-water
And there's too much sun
Too much o-dor-iferous funk
Makes you want to write a song
About givin' up and hangin' on
How's Bush sends legions of press
Caravaned on in and carried on?
The military made it
Though it took them a week
Now half's the city's looted
The sh**'s piled up high
People better off
If their place caught fire
Hey, Mr. President,
Vacation's gone
There's a million of us down here
With our jones' on
Too many gunshots
And too much dread
Too much time,
Things go to your head
It makes you wonder what's worse?
Givin' up or hangin' on
You wonder what's worse?
Givin' up or hangin' on