Lyrics

Well the levee broke, the flood came down and washed away our little town
Grandma floated out to sea, I saw her lookin' back at me
So I swam down to Second Street, I touched the trees beneath my feet
There was nothing I could do but float away into the blue

Floating over trees, face up to the sky
Hoping desperately to be high and dry
To be high and dry

With nothing I could hold onto, all I could do was think of you
Safe and warm, so far away, perhaps we'll meet again someday
I could not sleep as it grew dark, alligators, rats, and sharks
But that was oh so long ago, oh where did everybody go

See me driftin' by, wishin' I could fly
I'd do anything to be high and dry
To be high and dry

I fantasized a higher ground, I felt that soon I'd proudly drown
The water rose, for sure I'd sink, I only wanted one last drink
The bar was somewhere under me, as I became one with the sea
That's not the way I planned to die, I took one last look at the sky

Sweet oxygen, dear old friend of mine
I can make amends and be high and dry
And be high and dry

I closed my eyes and held my breath, thought what the hell I'll put off death
And just as I thought life was lost, my shoelace snagged a big old cross
I balanced there upon the steeple, searching for the rescue people
I heard of bein' saved by the church, man how could things get much worse

Then the sun came up, split the black cloud sky
The reservoir filled up, and the flood began to subside
I was hung out to dry, a tear fallin' from my eye
Way up in the air, hangin' on for dear life
Lookin' for the rescue squad I was high and dry
I was high and dry

Appearances

• On the album Slowly But Shirley.