The Deepwater Horizon continues to spew oil into the ocean, endangering life on land, air, and sea. There are people calling for President Obama to “do more,” but when I ask those people what specific things he should be doing they mostly mumble and change the subject. On the rare occasions when they cite specific actions that Obama should be doing, it’s usually things that he has already done. When I point that out they complain that he should be doing more photo-ops.

The sad fact is that the federal government doesn’t have a whole lot of experience or expertise cleaning up oil spills in the deep ocean. That has made us all dependent on British Petroleum to clean up its own mess, but I have no doubt that the folks running BP have nobody’s interests in mind but their own. Yes, brothers and sisters, the water is indeed troubled.

Andre Crouch “Wade In The Water” (Fisk Jubilee Singers)
This traditional spiritual has several meanings. It refers to the flight of the Israelites from Egypt as well as a passage from the Gospel of John where an angel troubles the waters of a pool and the next person to enter the pool is cured of all ailments. I don’t think that anybody’s going to be cured by the troubled waters of the Gulf of Mexico any time soon.

Some folks also say that this song is also a set of instructions for fugitive slaves making their way to freedom. The song supposedly advises the escaped slaves to leave dry land and take to the water to throw pursuing bloodhounds off their scent.

Wilson Pickett “Fire And Water” (Free)
This whole mess started with a fire aboard the drilling rig and BP has tried setting fire to the oil slick in order to try to contain it. This song not only has an appropriate title, it’s a great funky horn-drenched take on the classic rock staple.

Señor Coconut “Smoke On The Water” (Deep Purple)
Señor Coconut is really German electronic musician Uwe Schmidt, who seems to collect aliases like some people collect comic books. In this guise he delivers a very nice Latin take on this old warhorse.

Aretha Franklin “Bridge Over Troubled Water” (Simon And Garfunkle)
The troubled waters of the Gulf probably wouldn’t be helped by a bridge. But I still like listening to this mighty gospel version of Simon and Garfunkle’s hit.

Sold Out “Something In The Water (Does Not Compute)” (Prince)
I’ve heard that Kevin Costner has some sort of centrifuge-based machine that can remove the oil from the water. Apparently that’s what he spent his “Waterworld” money on. Which makes that incredibly silly movie just a little more justifiable.

I just love this cover because it takes a funky electronic song and completely recasts it as a raw delta blues tune. That kind of creativity is what Cover Freak is all about.