Hell or highwater, Baby Katy Gray.
Hell or highwater done washed her away.
Hell or highwater in the troublesome creek,
Like Baby Moses in the reeds, can't ya see what I mean?
Ya gotta Row, ya gotta Wade, ya gotta give til it bleeds.
'Cause higher Hellwater is the last thing ya need.
Hell or highwater, Speedy's floatin' away.
1937 must be Judgement Day.
Hell or highwater, Holstein on the porch,
And not enough sense to swim the hell on home.
Hell or highwater suckin' down the sink.
Just jiggle on the handle til the guilt goes away.
Ya gotta dive like a duck, dogpaddle or plunge.
Higher Hellwater's got ya on the run.
Hell or highwater or the welfare line.
If the good LORD's willin' and the creek don't rise.
Hell or highwater, three hots and a cot,
Case quarter change and Katrina Cough.
Hell or highwater, it's the sludge o' sin.
A color TV and a bottle o' gin.
He wants your nose in The Book, drop down on your knees.
It's higher Hellwater, honey, if you please.
This one's part murder ballad, part hymn... but all cautionary. Katy Gray was an infant who was drowned in the Massac Creek by her parents, in a fashion not unlike the way baby Moses was abandoned in his little wicker boat/crib thingy.
A cow was also famously stranded on the upper balcony of a Lowertown Paducah building during the 1937 flood. There exists a postcard that actually documents this.
The rest of the song tries to delve into the imagery surrounding the notion that "flooding" is a cleansing judgment against sin.
Hell or highwater done washed her away.
Hell or highwater in the troublesome creek,
Like Baby Moses in the reeds, can't ya see what I mean?
Ya gotta Row, ya gotta Wade, ya gotta give til it bleeds.
'Cause higher Hellwater is the last thing ya need.
Hell or highwater, Speedy's floatin' away.
1937 must be Judgement Day.
Hell or highwater, Holstein on the porch,
And not enough sense to swim the hell on home.
Hell or highwater suckin' down the sink.
Just jiggle on the handle til the guilt goes away.
Ya gotta dive like a duck, dogpaddle or plunge.
Higher Hellwater's got ya on the run.
Hell or highwater or the welfare line.
If the good LORD's willin' and the creek don't rise.
Hell or highwater, three hots and a cot,
Case quarter change and Katrina Cough.
Hell or highwater, it's the sludge o' sin.
A color TV and a bottle o' gin.
He wants your nose in The Book, drop down on your knees.
It's higher Hellwater, honey, if you please.
This one's part murder ballad, part hymn... but all cautionary. Katy Gray was an infant who was drowned in the Massac Creek by her parents, in a fashion not unlike the way baby Moses was abandoned in his little wicker boat/crib thingy.
A cow was also famously stranded on the upper balcony of a Lowertown Paducah building during the 1937 flood. There exists a postcard that actually documents this.
The rest of the song tries to delve into the imagery surrounding the notion that "flooding" is a cleansing judgment against sin.