When the Floods Come

Night sky deep blue, not a star in sight
As the cloud in the sky reflect back the light
Of street lamps and headlights, pinpricks of brilliance
To mimic the stars that they’ve hidden as the resilience
Of the natural world is stretched past breaking
And when I touch the ground I feel the earth shaking
We’re riding the whirlwind, reaping devastation
And how much longer can we stay complacent?
It’s one thing to sell ourselves out of fear
And another to sell the whole world, didn’t you hear?
The ice caps are melting, the oceans are rising
And as I look at this mess ya’ll, I’m realizing
It won’t be long till we’re living underwater
And you’d think that we hated our sons and daughters
Cuz we’re selling their future to the money machine
It’s just the tip of the iceberg in New Orleans

When the floods come…
…Where you gon’ run? What you doin?
When the floods come…
…How you gonna cope with the ruin?
When the floods come …
… how you gonna feed your children?
When the floods come…
… assuming that the waters haven’t drowned them..

this ain’t exaggeration, it’s cold hard reality
the way that we’re livin’ causes these fatalities
and I mean here and now, I’ve lived in these streets
where poor people freeze to death, and the beat
that I’m hearing in my sleep is a war drum pounding
we’re at war with the earth and it’s simply astounding
we’re drowning in luxury, financed on debt
enslaving the nations around us – and yet
over half of americans say they’re depressed
sick of their meaningless lives and the quest
for conspicuous consumption, bulimic brutality
that would eat the whole earth if we let it, in reality
most of us would rather have time for our families
then spend our whole lives tryna earn a salary
but the rat race we’re livin in won’t let us relax
until the floods wash it all away in a flash

When the floods come…
… and the clocks all stop
When the floods come…
…and you can’t rely on the cops
When the floods come…
…and wash away the lies you believed
When the floods come…
… will you be scared or relieved?

Do you know you’re neighbors? Do they got your back?
Will you work together when you’re under attack?
Or will it all dissolve into each for themselves?
Murder and rape, and gods know what else?
Will you fight for each other like Anarchists?
Or will you prey on each other, like Capitalists?
It’s up to you, up to me, up to all of us together
when the floods come it’s more then just bad weather
It’s the direct result of the lives that we’re livin
Of the way that we treat poor people with derision
How we allow corporation to pollute with impunity
Clear-cut the forests, and colonize communities
A culture that would rather drive fancy cars
Than breath clean air or look at the stars
Of a global empire, built on destruction
And the way we consume like we had no other function

When the floods come…
… and all that we can trust is each other
When the floods come…
… we’d better learn to share with one another
When the floods come…
… it’s up to us to set right this evil
When the floods come…
… so I’ll be in the streets with my people