The keys are the islands along Florida Bay
There a paradise found for most all.

The locals all live the fine life everyday

Only few still alive may recall.

About the sea and its fury when it was torn by the gales

And how nothing could stand in its way

Saltwater canyons made of 30 feet swales

That came ashore one labor day



The pressure was falling the tides on the move.

It was nothing liked we'd ever seen

Winds from the north waves from the south

And a small piece of land in between.



We boarded up windows, pulled in our boats

Made our havens as safe as could be

We couldn't imagine what was to be

Everything would end up in the sea.



II.The storm started coming the pressure was dropping

Large waves started hitting the beach

Lighting was flashing, timbers were flying

And safety was clear out of reach.

The railroad was sent from south of Miami

To rescue us but to no avail

A wave washed the train cars right off of the track

And it ate 30 miles of the rail



The wind knock me over I grabbed my sister

And she clang to me for her young life

She couldn't hang on despite fear in her eyes

And her fingernails digging like knives



I whispered I love you as she drifted away

Then some sand blasted me in the eye

I found refuge on the top of a tree

placed there by the 20 foot tide.



IIII awoke the next morning after being unconscious

The storm of the century had past

The slow falling rain mixed with tears in my eyes

As I wondered who all didn't last

No blade of grass no tree left standing

Every building was washed out to sea

Dazed and confused I stood comprehending

What my eyes told me to see.



Where is my family, where is my home

They were nowhere in sight, someone said

I sat by the water with my head in my hands

Wondering if I was better off dead?



I had to go on, they needed my help

As we mournfully stacked all the dead

We all said a prayer then we lit them on fire

Its an image that won't leave my head



IV.Great walls of water swallowed some whole

In a battle between God and Man

Four hundred twenty three lives were the toll

And I will never quite understand

An 18-foot monument stands off US 1

With remains of so many who died.

Words of remembrance with the date etched in bronze

September 2nd 1935



I am so lucky that I'm hear to retell

God gave me a final reprieve

Nothing short of a miracle surviving the gales

As I desperately held to a tree



Now I share the memory with family and friends

Sleepless nights sure have riddled my life

Remembering all of the lives lost that day

Is a memory that cuts like a knife.



Artist notes: This song was crafted from 2 accounts of the storm.

J.E. Duane who worked for the weather bureau and was stationed

in the keys and from Bernard Russell who is a life long resident

of the keys. After many weeks of trying to capture the power of

the storm in words, I thought the human element of telling the

story from the perspective of a survivor would yield the most

vivid images of imagination. Only about 10 people still alive could

ever relate to the true horror of this event. In the writing of the song,

it picked up momentum once I read Mr. Duane's log notes.

The details of events. It seemed to give the song the backbone

it needed. The personal side of the song is all Bernard.