AWAY O' EE

almost-hog-heavenb

Away O'ee I'll go

When the sun sinks down

And the yellow moon is big and round

Away O'ee, I'll go

Away O'ee.

Away O'ee I'll fly

When the honking geese

Are a-sailing through the frozen sky

Away O'ee I'll fly

Away O'ee.

 

Away O'ee I'll sing

A lilting song for my step is light

And my heart has wing

Away O'ee I'll sing

Away O'ee.

Away O'ee I'll love

The earth, the sea The people, and our God above

Away O'ee I'll love

Away O'ee.

When in my final sleep

I trust my soul

Departs into the heavens deep

For I'll have done my best

Away O'ee!
THE BALLAD OF
WILL MCLEAN

Will75d

 

Dark shadow move and the whipporwill calls
Crickets chirp a tune
Wild turkeys fly to the branches high
And frogs do answer the loon.
The sounds of the swamp are mournful and true
And in this natural land
There lives a man—a gentle man
Who sings of the Florida sand, sings of the Florida sand.
They say his name is Will McLean
And he walks in the deep of the night
To the place in the glade where the wild deer wade
And the horned owls dance in delight.
A brute of a man—but a gentle man
Guitar held in his hand
As he goes along he sings him a song
He sings of the Florida Sand, sings of the Florida sand.
He sings of things he's heard and seen
Of the gator and wild hog
In song he'll tell—of old tate's hell
That damnable murky bog.
He sings of the deeds of beast and men
Of Osceola and his band
All through the night—when the stars are bright
He sings of the Florida sand, sings of the Florida sand.
Some day the swamp will be covered and done
Man will spoil this habitat
And all around will be heard the sound
The growl of the big iron cat.
But there is a man—a gentle man
Who'll remember this wonderous land
Will McLean will sing of many things
He'll sing of the Florida sand, sing of the Florida sand.
Lyrics by Jack Turner
Music by Paul Champion and Will McLean
Hold Back the Waters
by Will McLean


Artwork © Guy LaBree

'Twas in the late twenties
that there come a big flood, 
It drownded four thousand,
their graves was the mud. 
'Twas nothing could withstand that tidal wave, 
And the ghosts of the vanished
still cry from grave.

Lord hold back the waters of Lake Okeechobee 
for Lake 0keechobee's blue waters are cold;
When wild winds are blowin across Okeechobee
They're calling and seeking for other poor souls, 
Oh Lake Okeechobee's blue waters are cold.

The Seminole left there 
In haste and with speed;
Their wise words of warning 
Were given no heed. 
When the waters receded, 
Great God, what a sight!

Men, women and children
Turned black as the night. 
Lord hold back the waters of Lake Okeechobee
for Lake Okeechobee's blue waters are cold;
When wild winds are blowin a cross Okeechobee
They're calling and seeking for other poor souls,
Oh Lake Okeechobee's blue waters are cold.

Now Lake Okeechobee
Is calm and serene;
The land all around it
Is fertile and green;
But the people get fearful
When the wild winds do roam; 
They look at the earth dam, 
And they think of their home.

The story of the Florida hurricane of 1928 ....

 

Click here to go back

 


Lake Okeechobee, in South Central Florida just north of
the Everglades, is the second largest freshwater lake wholly within the U. S.  It covers seven hundred fifty square miles.

In early September of 1928, Seminole runners were sent
out by the council to warn the white settlements in the LakeOkeechobee vicinity to leave this area quickly . . ."Bad storm come soon, many big wind, many water, much bad . . . Go !"

But the people did not heed this warning. The Seminole
departed in all haste,  leaving behind dire predictions.

On September 12 17, a hurricane sweeping out of the
West Indies virtually lifted the waters from the lake bed
and sent them swirling down onto the adjacent countryside. Hundreds upon hundreds were drowned.

Now earthen levees surround Lake Okeechobee. But
when the wild winds roam, people look at the earth dams
and think of their home.

Click here to go back