Lost in the flood

I can't get this song out of my head... and the version I keep hearing, although the original is quite moving itself, is Aaron Neville's haunting cover.

Louisiana, 1927 (Randy Newman)

What has happened down here is the winds have changed
Clouds rolled in from the north and it started to rain
It rained real hard and it rained for a real long time
Six feet of water in the streets of Evangeline

The river rose all day
The river rose all night
Some people got lost in the flood
Some people got away all right
The river have busted through clear down to Plaquemines
Six feet of water in the streets of Evangeline

Louisiana, Louisiana
They're tryin' to wash us away
They're tryin' to wash us away
Louisiana, Louisiana
They're tryin' to wash us away
They're tryin' to wash us away

President Coolidge came down in a railroad train
With a little fat man with a notepad in his hand
The President say, "Little fat man, isn't it a shame
What the river has done to this poor cracker's land."