Is Help Really on the Way?

I believe that “Help is on the Way” by Rise Against has multiple themes focused around New Orleans and the two largest disasters in its history: Hurricane Katrina of 2005 and the infamous BP Oil Spill of 2010. My hypothesis is strengthened by the line in the chorus “one by land, two by sea”. I think this line is referring to both unfortunate events. “Two by sea”, obviously, references the disasters’ origin, the ocean. “One by land” represents the landfall of Hurricane Katrina in 2005.

"Help is on the way (They said they said)
Help is on the way (They said they said)
One by land, two by sea, right there in front of me
Help is on the way"

Hurricane Katrina is defiantly the worst natural disaster to ever hit the gulf shores. It is referenced in Stanzas two and three, shown below. The “Crescent City” is a common nickname for New Orleans. The city is personified as sleeping because the people of New Orleans did not expect the storm to be as detrimental as it was. “Giants… preparing to unleash refers to the colossal hurricane that hit the Gulf Shore on Aug. 23^rd, 2005. “The bayou is burning, the cypress has died” refers to the fires that broke out in local terrain after the hurricane hit (the bayou is the local terrain and a cypress tree is an indigenous tree to the region).

"The crescent city sleeps
while giants in the sky
preparing to unleash
Let loose a mighty cry

Can nobody save us?
Will anyone try?
The bayou is burning
the cypress has died"

In 2001, The Deepwater Horizon Oil rig was installed in the Gulf of Mexico. Three years later, this rig combusted and spilled oil across the gulf, creating a five-mile long oil slick and killing thousands of organisms. Stanza 5’s significance is quite obvious as it outlines the events that occurred the day of the spill. “Five thousand feet below as black smoke engulfs the sky the ocean floor explodes” signifies the initial oilrig fire and deep ocean spill. “Eleven mothers cry” refers to the eleven oil rig workers reported missing and later pronounced dead. Their bodies were never found.

“Five thousand feet below
As black smoke engulfs the sky
The ocean floor explodes
Eleven mothers cry”

Although the song is centered around these two disasters, they are not the central theme of the message. The writer’s behavior and tone shows that he is angry at the unnamed entity referenced in the chorus, “they”, which is the United States Government. Although the government may not have been able to prevent either disaster, the writer believes that the people in trouble were deceived by the government. “Help is on the way, they said they said” and “We were told, just to sit tight 'Cause somebody will soon arrive” and the repition of these lines show that the members of Rise Against believe that the clean up effort, recovery effort, and rescue took too long; the government was dishonest with their publicity about both issues and could have done much more.