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The storm came\r\nwith a name\r\nand a premonition\r\nbut we didn\'t listen, right away\r\ncat 4, cat 5\r\nKat--rina\r\n\r\nAnd we ran so hard and fast\r\nthat our gas tanks, if not our lungs\r\nwere gasping\r\n\r\nAnd at every stop I looked around\r\nand recited my list of belongings -\r\na mantra that offered no comfort:\r\n1 pair of jeans, 4 shirts, 2 socks,\r\ngirlfriend, car,\r\nand one very old cat we refused\r\nto leave behind\r\n\r\nAnd when we stopped for 3 days\r\nand flipped on the news\r\nI sat there with my soul coming undone\r\nas I watched my city fall apart,\r\nand I watched my people die\r\n\r\nNow you look at me and see\r\na white girl bearing no resemblence\r\nto who you see on tv\r\nwaiting, trying and dying\r\nfor the government to end its vacation\r\nto bring help and salvation\r\nbut we are the same, these people\r\nand me\r\n\r\nIn my state there is a kinship.\r\nIf you\'re on the road and meet someone\r\nfrom home\r\nyou hug like old friends\r\nlike family\r\nbecause you share this dark secret\r\nin your blood.\r\nIt flows like water, smells like salt\r\nand clangs like The Rebirth Brass Band\r\nupon recognition.\r\n\r\nThere is no reason\r\nthat I\'m not waiting on a rooftop.\r\nThere is no reason\r\nI\'m not wading through the water\r\nI called home.\r\nAnd really, there\'s no reason at all,\r\nthough I keep searching for it.\r\n\r\nAnd songs keep spiraling\r\nthrough my brain\r\ntaunting me with repetition\r\nand baiting me with their hooks...\r\nThe Pretenders echo, with the lyrics changed:\r\n\r\nI went back to New Orleans\r\nand my city was gone.