“We got about a thousand people, no supplies, no electricity, no toilet facilities”
“While officials think they’re doing all they can, but the response should have been much greater”
“The way you knew life, will change. This will change everybody. Everything you knew, everything you thought was important, this is gone.
“The recovery is going to be a long process. We all know this is an agonizing time.”
“Where is the federal government?”
Summer has come and passed
The innocent can never last
Wake me up when September ends
“I ask our continued patience as recovery operations unfold”
Like my fathers come to pass
Seven years has gone so fast
Wake me up when September ends
“Don’t tell me 40,000 people are coming here, they’re not here!”
Here comes the rain again
Falling from the stars
“I’m looking for my family member”
Drenched in my pain again
Becoming who we are
“We’re looking for our family”
As my memory rests
Bet never forgets what I lost
Wake me up when September ends
“Who was at your house with you?”
“My wife”
“And where is she now”
“Can’t find anybody. She’s gone.”
“You can’t find your wife?”
“No, she said take care of the kids, and the grandkid”
“Where are you guys going?”
“I’m lost, that’s all I had, that’s all I had”
Summer has come and passed
The innocent can never last
Wake me up when September ends
“The mayor said we are not even dealing with dead bodies”
Ring out the bills again
Like we did when spring began
Wake me up when September ends
“People for one reason or another, just couldn’t get out of their homes”
Here comes the rain again
Falling from the stars
“The vast majority of New Orleans is underwater”
Drenched in my pain again
Becoming who we are
“New Orleans, Louisiana is completely destroyed”
As my memory rests
But never forget what I lost
Wake me up when September ends
“We are all citizens that pay taxes”
“And we deserve to get something better treatment than this”
“You can go in Iraq and gun them big helicopters, and set stuff up for people, but you can’t do that for us? Come on, Bush. You can do better than that!”
“The problem is that the federal government doesn’t do anything quickly. The hospital said comfort, for example, mobilized today, isn’t expected in New Orleans for about two weeks”
“New Orleans police chief sent 88 officers to investigate reports of beatings and rapes, and said the cops were forced to flee the violence, and the National Guard feared no better”
“For a bottle of water someone would hurt you. Or even kill you”
Summer has come and passed
The innocent can never last
Wake me up when September ends
“But it’s part of the reality on the ground, across the Gulf Coast, and in New Orleans”
Like my fathers come to pass
20 years has gone so fast
Wake me up when September ends
“Nearly a million without power”
“And the body count is simply rising”
Wake me up when September ends
“Well, I was still reluctant to leave”
Wake me up when September ends
“Just over there was the I-10 span, which eventually takes you to Mississippi. It’s gone. These are refugees over here who are eventually making their way to the Superdome. It’s about five miles. This is the road refugees have taken trying to make their way back into the center of the city and the Superdome. So many did not make it. Whether New Orleans can rebuild is very much a matter for future reporters. New Orleans today is dead.”
