I used to wake up every morning
Saying I must be getting away with something here
Every day was like parole before the levees overflowed;
I refuse to think it could all just disappear (I refuse to think)
How long before the street car rattles down St. Charles Avenue
And beads swing from two hundred year old trees
How long before they walk down long Lake Pontratrain
With the smell of just magnolia on the breeze
Yeah I've seen people laughing all the way down to the cemeteries
Just to send another soul off on its way
Yeah I've seen them dance right up to the edge of it
But this time their gonna dance back from the grave
Dance back
Dance back
Dance back
Dance back from the grave
Well a thousand souls crossed over
And they were greeted by an all-star band
And while the saints go marching in
There's still hell to pay back down in Dixie Land
Yeah the storms are headed south again
And the hour's getting pretty late
Somebody better build that levee
Its already Mardi Gras at heavens gate (yeah)
Dance back
Dance back
Dance back
Dance back from the grave
Dance back
Dance back
Get your tambourines, slide trombones
And dance
Back from the grave
Oh yeah, ooh yeah, ooh yeah
So don't shed a tear for them tonight as they circle
And swoop and promenade
They're just carrying their torches
And marching in a heavenly parade
No don't shed a tear but take their cue
There's only one thing left to do in the name of every soul we didn't save
From the ninth ward to the quarter to the Mississippi border
Dance back from the grave
Dance back
Dance back
Dance back
Dance back from the grave
Dance back
Dance back
Get your tambourines, slide trombones
And dance
Back from the grave
Oh yeah, oh yeah
Get your tambourines, slide trombones
And dance
Back from the grave