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Songs about New Orleans


Rex Kickass

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Gotta have "Louisiana, 1927" by Randy Newman

 

What has happened down here is the wind have changed

Clouds roll in from the north and it started to rain

Rained real hard and rained for a real long time

Six feet of water in the streets of Evangeline

 

The river rose all day

The river rose all night

Some people got lost in the flood

Some people got away alright

The river have busted through cleard down to Plaquemines

Six feet of water in the streets of Evangelne

 

What has happened down here is the wind have changed

Clouds roll in from the north and it started to rain

Rained real hard and rained for a real long time

Six feet of water in the streets of Evangeline

 

The river rose all day

The river rose all night

Some people got lost in the flood

Some people got away alright

The river have busted through cleard down to Plaquemines

Six feet of water in the streets of Evangelne

 

CHORUS

Louisiana, Louisiana

They're tyrin' to wash us away

They're tryin' to wash us away

Louisiana, Louisiana

They're tryin' to wash us away

They're tryin' to wash us away

 

President Coolidge came down in a railroad train

With a little fat man with a note-pad in his hand

The President say, "Little fat man isn't it a shame what the river has

done

To this poor crackers land."

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Obvious choice has to be "House of the Rising Sun," by the Animals

 

There is a house in New Orleans

They call the Rising Sun

And it's been the ruin of many a poor boy

And God I know I'm one

 

My mother was a tailor

She sewed my new bluejeans

My father was a gamblin' man

Down in New Orleans

 

Now the only thing a gambler needs

Is a suitcase and trunk

And the only time he's satisfied

Is when he's on a drunk

 

------ organ solo ------

 

Oh mother tell your children

Not to do what I have done

Spend your lives in sin and misery

In the House of the Rising Sun

 

Well, I got one foot on the platform

The other foot on the train

I'm goin' back to New Orleans

To wear that ball and chain

 

Well, there is a house in New Orleans

They call the Rising Sun

And it's been the ruin of many a poor boy

And God I know I'm one

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From Alabama

 

Chorus

Song, song of the south.

Sweet potato pie and I shut my mouth.

Gone, gone with the wind.

There ain’t nobody looking back again.

 

Cotton on the roadside, cotton in the ditch.

We all picked the cotton but we never got rich.

Daddy was a veteran, a southern democrat.

They oughta get a rich man to vote like that.

 

Sing it...

Chorus

 

Well somebody told us wall street fell

But we were so poor that we couldn’t tell.

Cotton was short and the weeds were tall

But mr. roosevelt’s a gonna save us all.

 

Well momma got sick and daddy got down.

The county got the farm and they moved to town.

Pappa got a job with the tva

He bought a washing machine and then a chevrolet.

 

Sing it...

Chorus

 

Play it...

 

Sing it...

Chorus

 

Song, song of the south...

Gone, gone with the wind...

 

Song, song of the south.

Sweet potato pie and I shut my mouth.

Song, song of the south.

Sweet potato pie and I shut my mouth.

 

Sing it...

Chorus 2x

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The Heart of the Night - Poco

 

In the heart of the

night

  In the cool southern

rain

There's a full moon in

sight

Shining down on the

Pontchartrain

 

And the river she

rises

  Like she used to do

She's so full of

surprises

She reminds me of you

  In the heart of the

night

 

There's a nightbird

singing

  Right on through till

the dawn

And the streets are

still ringing

With people carrying

on

 

  It's been so long

waiting

Just to be here again

  Anticipating

All the time I could

spend

In the heart of the

night down in New Orleans

In the heart of the

night down in New Orleans

 

  And I trust in your

love never falling down

  And I trust in your

love

Just like I do in this

town never falling down

 

And I'm so glad to be

back in New Orleans

  Please don't wake me,

don't shake me,

If this is only just a

dream

It's the only place I

can face that feels so

right

  Below that Dixie moon

and loving you

  In the Heart of the

Night

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One of my favorite songs ever: "The Battle of New Orleans" by Johnny Horton:

 

 

In 1814 we took a little trip

Along with Colonel Jackson down the mighty Mississip.

We took a little bacon and we took a little beans

And we caught the bloody British in the town of New Orleans.

 

[Chorus:]

We fired our guns and the British kept a'comin.

There wasn't nigh as many as there was a while ago.

We fired once more and they began to runnin' on

Down the Mississippi to the Gulf of Mexico.

 

We looked down the river and we see'd the British come.

And there must have been a hundred of'em beatin' on the drum.

They stepped so high and they made the bugles ring.

We stood by our cotton bales and didn't say a thing.

 

[Chorus]

 

Old Hickory said we could take 'em by surprise

If we didn't fire our muskets 'til we looked 'em in the eye

We held our fire 'til we see'd their faces well.

Then we opened up with squirrel guns and really gave 'em ... well

 

[Chorus]

 

Yeah, they ran through the briars and they ran through the brambles

And they ran through the bushes where a rabbit couldn't go.

They ran so fast that the hounds couldn't catch 'em

Down the Mississippi to the Gulf of Mexico.**

 

We fired our cannon 'til the barrel melted down.

So we grabbed an alligator and we fought another round.

We filled his head with cannon balls, and powdered his behind

And when we touched the powder off, the gator lost his mind.

 

[Chorus]

 

Yeah, they ran through the briars and they ran through the brambles

And they ran through the bushes where a rabbit couldn't go.

They ran so fast that the hounds couldn't catch 'em

Down the Mississippi to the Gulf of Mexico.**

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I'll take a break from my secular self, and add "Just A Closer Walk With Thee," which is a gospel standard that New Orleans trad jazz musicians have made their own. It's one of those great numbers that old New Orleans city bands would slow down and play as a durge in the classic funeral marches, then kick up and do really joyously and uptempo on the way march back from the cemetary.

 

It seems fitting here.

 

I am weak, but Thou art strong;

Jesus, keep me from all wrong;

I'll be satisfied as long

As I walk, let me walk close to Thee.

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Riding on the City of New Orleans,

Illinois Central Monday morning rail

Fifteen cars and fifteen restless riders,

Three conductors and twenty-five sacks of mail.

All along the southbound odyssey

The train pulls out at Kankakee

Rolls along past houses, farms and fields.

Passin' trains that have no names,

Freight yards full of old black men

And the graveyards of the rusted automobiles.

 

CHORUS:

Good morning America how are you?

Don't you know me I'm your native son,

I'm the train they call The City of New Orleans,

I'll be gone five hundred miles when the day is done.

 

Dealin' card games with the old men in the club car.

Penny a point ain't no one keepin' score.

Pass the paper bag that holds the bottle

Feel the wheels rumblin' 'neath the floor.

And the sons of pullman porters

And the sons of engineers

Ride their father's magic carpets made of steel.

Mothers with their babes asleep,

Are rockin' to the gentle beat

And the rhythm of the rails is all they feel.

 

CHORUS

 

Nighttime on The City of New Orleans,

Changing cars in Memphis, Tennessee.

Half way home, we'll be there by morning

Through the Mississippi darkness

Rolling down to the sea.

And all the towns and people seem

To fade into a bad dream

And the steel rails still ain't heard the news.

The conductor sings his song again,

The passengers will please refrain

This train's got the disappearing railroad blues.

 

Good night, America, how are you?

Don't you know me I'm your native son,

I'm the train they call The City of New Orleans,

I'll be gone five hundred miles when the day is done.

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WHEN THE SAINTS

COME MARCHING IN

 

 

We are trav'ling in the footsteps

Of those who've gone before

And we'll all be reunited,

On a new and sunlit shore,

 

Oh, when the saints go marching in,

Oh, when the saints go marching in

Lord how I want to be in that number

When the saints go marching in

 

And when the sun begins to shine

And when the sun begins to shine

Lord, how I want to be in that number

When the sun begins to shine

 

Oh, when the saints go marching in,

Oh, when the saints go marching in

Lord how I want to be in that number

When the saints go marching in

 

Oh, when the trumpet sounds its call

Oh, when the trumpet sounds its call

Lord, how I want to be in that number

When the trumpet sounds its call

 

Oh, when the saints go marching in,

Oh, when the saints go marching in

Lord how I want to be in that number

When the saints go marching in

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Bob Dylan: Crash On The Levee aka Down In The Flood

 

Crash on the levee, mama

Water's gonna overflow

Swamp's gonna rise

No boat's gonna row

Now, you can train on down

To Williams Point

You can bust your feet

You can rock this joint

But oh mama, ain't you gonna miss your best friend now ?

You're gonna have to find yourself

Another best friend, somehow.

 

Now, don't you try an' move me

You're just gonna lose

There's a crash on the levee

And mama, you've been refused

Well, it's sugar for sugar

And salt for salt

If you go down in the flood

It's gonna be your own fault

Oh mama, ain't you gonna miss your best friend now ?

You're gonna have to find yourself

Another best friend, somehow.

 

Well, that high tide's risin'

Mama, don't you let me down

Pack up your suitcase

Mama, don't you make a sound

Now, it's king for king

Queen for queen

It's gonna be the meanest flood

That anybody's seen

Oh mama, ain't you gonna miss your best friend now ?

You're gonna have to find yourself

Another best friend, somehow.

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Something about Hammerhead's Avatar got me thinking about this song . . .

 

Patrick simmons

 

Well, I built me a raft and she’s ready for floatin’

Ol’ mississippi, she’s callin’ my name

Catfish are jumpin’

That paddle wheel thumpin’

Black water keeps rollin’ on past just the same

 

Old black water, keep on rollin’

Mississippi moon, won’t you keep on shinin’ on me

Old black water, keep on rollin’

Mississippi moon, won’t you keep on shinin’ on me

Old black water, keep on rollin’

Mississippi moon, won’t you keep on shinin’ on me

Yeah, keep on shinin’ your light

Gonna make everything, pretty mama

Gonna make everything all right

And I ain’t got no worries

’cause I ain’t in no hurry at all

 

Well, if it rains, I don’t care

Don’t make no difference to me

Just take that street car thats goin’ up town

Yeah, I’d like to hear some funky dixieland

And dance a honky tonk

And I’ll be buyin’ ev’rybody drinks all ’roun’

 

Old black water, keep on rollin’

Mississippi moon, won’t you keep on shinin’ on me

Old black water, keep on rollin’

Mississippi moon, won’t you keep on shinin’ on me

Old black water, keep on rollin’

Mississippi moon, won’t you keep on shinin’ on me

Yeah, keep on shinin’ your light

Gonna make everything, pretty mama

Gonna make everything all right

And I ain’t got no worries

’cause I ain’t in no hurry at all

 

I’d like to hear some funky dixieland

Pretty mama come and take me by the hand

By the hand, take me by the hand pretty mama

Come and dance with your daddy all night long

I want to honky tonk, honky tonk, honky tonk

With you all night long

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