Lyrics

After the flood
After all mud
Has been cleared away
She couldn't stay

The gray skies opened up
And the rain poured down
As the levees were breached
And drowned my small town
I remember the water
As it climbed up our stairs
We sheltered with my grandparents
To my mother's despair

After the flood
After all mud
Has been cleared away
She couldn't stay

My father found his purpose
Joined the call to public service
In a small motorboat
Patrolled the streets of our town
He rescued some neighbors
Mrs. Fuller and her son
He talked down the grocer
Defending his store with a gun

After the flood
After all mud
Has been cleared away
She couldn't stay

The water would not recede
It stayed and it stayed
So pumps were deployed
To pump it away
They dug out some trenches
Along every street
And filled them with flood water
The smell it did reek
An old wooden door
Across the trench for a bridge
My brother on his bicycle
Fell into the ditch.
I watched from the sidewalk
Thought for sure he was dead
As the fast rushing floodwater
Covered his head
But somehow he managed
To pull himself up
He clawed up the trench wall
Scraped and covered in mud

After the flood
After all mud
Has been cleared away
She couldn't stay

The days turned to weeks
As they drained our soaked town
My father worked around the clock
At home was rarely found
So all on her own
She was left to clean up
Our house that was layered
With four inches of mud

After the flood
After all mud
Has been cleared away
She couldn't stay

Chris's most recent album - After The Flood is a collection of songs full of heart from a seasoned and skilled craftsman mining life’s subject matter – family, work, love and love lost, childhood memories, and finding one’s place in the universe.

PRODUCED, ENGINEERED AND MASTERED by Doug Kwartler at Hollow Body Studios
Chelmsford, MA hollowbodystudios.com