Song Lyrics

It was the year of 1900 that was 60 years ago
Death come'd a howling on the ocean and when death calls you've got to go
Galveston had a sea wall just to keep the water down
But a high tide from the ocean blew the water all over the town.

Wasn't that a mighty storm
Wasn't that a mighty storm in the morning
Wasn't that a mighty storm
It blew all the people away.

The sea began to rolling the ships they could not land
I heard a captain crying Oh God save a drowning man
The rain it was a falling and the thunder began to roll
The lightning flashed like Hell-fire and the wind began to blow

The trees fell on the island and the houses gave away
Some they strived and drownded others died every way.

The trains at the station were loaded with the people all leaving town
But the trestle gave way with the water and the trains they went on down
Old death the cruel master when the winds began to blow
Rode in on a team of horses and cried death won't you let me go.

The flood it took my mother it took my brother too
I thought I heard my father cry as I watched my mother go
Old death your hands are clammy when you've got them on my knee
You come and took my mother won't you come back after me?


Wasn't that a mighty storm
Wasn't that a mighty storm in the morning
Wasn't that a mighty storm
It blew all the people away.

Traditional, John Duffey, Tom Rush