News
BBC/London requests hurricane blues song from Hawkeye Herman
"Hawkeye" Herman pens hurricane song
By David Burke
Saturday, September 10, 2005
Quad City Times, Davenport, IA
Michael "Hawkeye" Herman says he works
best under the pressure of a deadline.
It's a good
thing.
The Davenport, IA, native and nationally acclaimed
blues performer was tabbed
by the British Broadcasting Corp., or BBC, to write a song about
Hurricane
Katrina. The request came the day after Katrina hit the Gulf Coast
on Aug. 30 - and his deadline was Sept. 2.
"If I'm given a deadline, it could be a year away and
I'm waiting until
three or four days away anyway," Herman said in a telephone
interview Friday from
Kansas City, Mo. "I work better under a tight deadline."
Herman
was in Kansas City to perform at a blues festival and a "blues
in the
schools" program. He was to debut the song, "Katrina,
Oh Katrina," Friday
night on a KC public radio station.
It is scheduled to
be performed on BBC Radio's "Today" show
sometime next
week. The morning show has an audience of 7 million, Herman has been
told,
including British Prime Minister Tony Blair.
Herman had
written about disasters before, including the Great Flood of '93
that struck the Quad-City (IA & IL) region and beyond.
A BBC producer became acquainted with the musician while researching
a book, "Blue Highway," about the musical legacy of U.S. 61.
That same producer had 20 minutes' notice to pack his bags and
fly from
London to Biloxi, Miss., to cover the Katrina devastation, Herman
said.
"He said it looked like a bomb went off."
The 60-year-old
Herman said he came up with much of the lyrics and the tune
to the blues song while taking his daily bike ride in S. Oregon,
where he now
lives with his family.
"The first thing I thought of was that Katrina was such a beautiful
name to
have that attached to a disaster," he said. "That was
going to be the hook."
Herman said he is very familiar
with Biloxi, including its 14 huge casinos,
all of which were destroyed by the hurricane and its aftermath.
Despite seeing the damage on TV, he said it is hard to comprehend.
"If the land around the Mississippi was flat and, if you could
imagine,
everything all the way up to Locust Street (in Davenport, IA) from
the river wiped
out," he said. And pointing out that it is 70 miles from Biloxi
to New
Orleans, "If you could imagine a line like that from Dubuque,
IA to the Quad-Cities
destroyed."
Herman said he becomes reflective after disasters
like Katrina and looks at
the big picture.
"I have a tendency to say, 'OK, what have we learned
from this? What can we
learn from this? What positive thing can come out of it?' " he
said. "It
seems that no matter what disasters are thrust upon humanity, we
somehow manage to
adapt and adjust and rebuild and eventually put the negative aspects
aside."
Ellis Kell, a veteran Quad-City blues musician
and director of music,
programs and operations for the River Music Experience, said Herman's
background qualified him to write the song.
"Hawkeye's always been sensitive to that because he's
from this area," Kell
said. "We both shared a sensitivity to that, growing up around
the river, and
I think all musicians do."
Herman — whose songs
about the '93 flood were used in several documentaries — said
he hopes the new song can be commercially recorded, either by himself
or someone else, with the profits going to relief efforts.
"My artistic and commercial interests are the same. I would
feel absolutely
guilt-ridden to have a disaster be the result of my seeing profit," he
said. "That's nice, but I couldn't see myself profiting
from it."
---------
Katrina, Oh Katrina (Hurricane Blues)
Words and music
by
Michael "Hawkeye" Herman
©2005 M.Herman/Topaz Productions
www.HawkeyeHerman.com
Katrina, oh Katrina
You have such a lovely name
Katrina, oh Katrina
You have such a lovely name
But since Hurricane Katrina
Things will never be the same
You were born out on the water
But it was land that you would claim
You were born out on the water
But it was the earth that you would claim
Katrina, oh Katrina
You have such a lovely name
Your wind it started rising
Then your mighty waters came
Yes, your wind it started rising
Then your mighty waters came
Katrina, oh Katrina
You have such a lovely name
So many dead, so many homeless
It's a sad and crying shame
So many dead and thousands homeless
Yes, it's a sad and crying shame
But Katrina, oh Katrina
Such a lovely, deadly name
You brought ruin to New Orleans
The land where blues rose up to fame
Yes, you brought your devastation
To where these blues rose up to fame
But Katrina, oh Katrina
You have such a lovely name
The lesson you have taught us
There is no storm that man can tame
Yes, there's a lesson you have taught us
There is no storm that we can tame
Katrina, oh Katrina
You have such a lovely, deadly name
We're going to start all over
All you've destroyed we will reclaim
Yes, we're going to start all over
All you've destroyed we will reclaim
But we won't forget Katrina
Such a lovely, deadly name
Katrina, oh Katrina
You have such a lovely name
Katrina, oh Katrina
You have such a lovely name
But since Hurricane Katrina
Things will never be the same
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