BLACK WEDNESDAY SONG VERSIONS BY AL BODE

(TORNADO INTERVIEW ON KAAL TV, AUSTIN MINNESOTA)

BLACK WEDNESDAY IN MP3 (for ITunes)

BLACK WEDNESDAY IN MP4 (QuickTime)

BLACK WEDNESDAY IN AIF (MACs)

BLACK WEDNESDAY IN WAVE (PC's)

BLACK WEDNESDAY IN MOV

BLACK WEDNESDAY  (Lyrics)

It happened in Charles City, on the fifteenth day of May.
The black tornado struck the trees and blew them half away.
The houses fell like toothpicks and started to decay,
While families were separated, looking for homes to stay.

The bright red flashing sirens carried people bent with pain.
The silence of the aftermath was followed by the rain.
Those who heard it come and go had thought it was a train.
Now they wondered if they’d ever see the sunny skies again.

But helping hands from strangers, and neighbors no one knew,
Built a human tower of courage to help the homeless,
The injured, and the speechless.
The refugees the black sky left behind,
As its destruction pass on through.

The cars on downtown corners were glassless and obscured.
Discouragement was mumbled, but scarcely ever heard.
People who lost everything were glad to be alive,
While those untouched were hoping that their city could survive.

The search went out for relatives and friends who’d disappeared,
And with the dark of nightfall, the worst was more than feared.
Then faces missed for hours found their way to food and beds,
While visions of the Killer kept churning madly through their heads.

How nice the bridge had looked, when the first cars came across!
Now tangled steel and iron greeted doctors,
And guardsmen, and the curious,
The eyes who saw the vicious path,
And vowed to save the town from further loss.

We’ll rebuild Charles City, this mission we all know.
There is no time to sit around and allow dissent to grow.
The feeling of togetherness, of helping others live
Has brought us all new hope for in some way, we all give.

Give shelter to the homeless, and cure the wounds through time:
Let’s listen to confusion die away now,
Within our city, this very city,
Which learned that it could overcome,
When Black Wednesday visited and ran.
The blackest day of all, my fellow man.

Written by Al Bode, May 17, 1968.

This page was last updated April 25, 2010.