To kick off a week of disaster songs, may I present Wilmoth Houdini, the Calyspo King of New York, and his "Trinidad Hurricane". The song seems to be recorded in the days surrounding a big storm's arrival on the Caribbean Island Nation just as we, in Star Maker Machine land, anticipate the onslaught of the US East Coast Frankenstorm "Sandy". While we all hope for the best, there is a certain charm in a calypso song that almost cheerfully recounts the 1933 storm that destroyed hundreds of houses and killed 13 people:
My sympathies to those that are going to eternity
"Trinidad Hurricane" can be found on Roosevelt In Trinidad, a collection of reportorial calypso songs from the 1930's that includes "FDR in Trinidad", a song famously covered by Ry Cooder and Van Dyke Parks.
