Lyr Req: Marie Laveau (Cathy Winter)

Subject: Marie Laveau
From: GUEST,Holly Tannen
Date: 16 Mar 01 - 07:20 PM

Yo mudcats!

I've been singing a song about Marie Laveau the voodoo queen. Chorus: "Marie Laveau, Marie Laveau, vou êtes la reine, la reine, la reine suprême du voodoo." I'm thinking of recording it, but I can't remember the name of the author - Betsy Rose maybe?

Thanks for any and all help.

Holly

Subject: RE: Marie Laveau
From: GUEST,Paddy(1)
Date: 16 Mar 01 - 08:06 PM

Never hard the French version but the English language version is credited to Shel Silverstein on Bobby Bare's Lullabys, Legends and Lies

Paddy(1)

Subject: RE: Marie Laveau
From: Francy
Date: 16 Mar 01 - 08:14 PM

And she went .....wooooooweeeeeee Another Man done gone...

Subject: RE: Marie Laveau
From: wildlone
Date: 17 Mar 01 - 02:03 PM

from what I can remember of the dr hook song and my limited french I think this could be another song.
I did a search for Marie Laveau and came up with this site "here" that gives some info on the real person.
dave

Subject: RE: Marie Laveau
From: Gary T
Date: 17 Mar 01 - 09:55 PM

There are several songs with "Marie Laveau" in, or as, the title. The one Holly has been singing is not the one Bobby Bare recorded. I believe that in English, part of that French phrase is "the voodoo queen of New Orleans," and I recall hearing a Marie L. song (in English) with that line in it. I'm sorry I have no clue who wrote it.

Holly, the search engine Google (www.google.com) might help.

Subject: RE: Marie Laveau
From: georgeward
Date: 18 Mar 01 - 03:42 AM

Holly, you were close. The song is, I believe, by Betsy Rose's old singing partner Cathy Winter, who now lives in Schenectady, NY. If you don't have her address or #, let me know. I'll send them to you. -George ::-.--O

Subject: RE: Marie Laveau
From: GUEST
Date: 07 Sep 01 - 12:18 PM

Dear George:

That's it! Thank you! yes, I'd appreciate knowing how to contact Cathy. Other folks are wanting to sing the song, and I'm considering recording it.

Best,

Holly

Subject: RE: Marie Laveau
From: GUEST,Holly Tannen
Date: 07 Sep 01 - 12:18 PM

Dear George:

That's it! Thank you! yes, I'd appreciate knowing how to contact Cathy. Other folks are wanting to sing the song, and I'm considering recording it.

Best,

Holly

Subject: RE: Marie Laveau
From:
Date: 07 Sep 01 - 04:01 PM

Holly, if you get a chance, we'd love to have the words, and a tune, if possible. Words at the very least. Thanks. Or should that be Merci!

Subject: RE: Marie Laveau
From: georgeward
Date: 08 Sep 01 - 02:15 AM

Holly, I'm not comfortable posting Cathy's address on even this bbs. Can you give me an address, e-mail addy or something I could pass on to Cathy ? You can use the personal msg. feature of Mudcat, or my usual e-mail: [e-mail]. -George ::-.--O

Subject: RE: lyr req: Marie Laveau (Cathy Winter)
From: Joe Offer
Date: 26 Sep 09 - 02:59 AM

Well, Let's see what I can glean from the online recording at last.fm. It's a great song. I wonder if Holly ever got around to recording it. It would suit her well.
It's a great song, but I'm having trouble transcribing it. I hope somebody can help.
-Joe-


MARIE LE VEAU

Now, there ain't too many women in this Creole town
Born and lived and died black and free;
But I know one who rules the rich and the poor,
Ain't nobody tellin' her what to do.

CHORUS:
Marie Laveau, Marie Laveau,
vou êtes la reine, la reine,
la reine suprême du voodoo.


Now she can make a snake stand up straight
When she dance beneath the moon's bright light;
All the rich ladies come to feel the call the call of the drum
Dancin' barefoot in the deep of the night

Ginny Davison, well, she come to see you,
She say she feeling poorly in the head,
You take all her money,


What a strong-headed woman,
You know she gets what she wants,


Well, nobody's come to her rescue yet
For the death of .....John

....dawn


There was a sunny day, they tried to hang your friends,
Poor Adam and .......


French verse...


Nobody knows but everybody says just what kind of woman you are
Some folks, they seen you in the cemetary

Well you give more advice to them judges and lawyers
Than they're ever gonna give to you.

---

Well, that as far as I got. I ran out of free plays for this song. I ordered the CD, but it won't come until after I get back from Sandy Paton's memorial service.
-Joe-

Subject: RE: lyr req: Marie Laveau (Cathy Winter)
From: Joe Offer
Date: 26 Sep 09 - 11:10 PM

Anybody?

Subject: RE: lyr req: Marie Laveau (Cathy Winter)
From: GUEST,Bobby Bob, Ellan Vannin
Date: 27 Sep 09 - 04:30 PM

Not the song you want, I realise, but what was the name of the band that made the record, 'Witch Queen of New Orleans'?

Marie Marie Lavoodoo Laveau
She'll put a spell on you
Marie Marie Lavoodo Laveau -
The Witch Queen of New Orleans.

I have it on a 45rpm vinyl (not bought, but inherited amongst a scutch of other pieces) which now reside somewhere in the attic - ust dig them out and digitize them.

Bobby Bob

Subject: RE: lyr req: Marie Laveau (Cathy Winter)
From: GUEST,Bobby Bob, Ellan Vannin
Date: 27 Sep 09 - 04:39 PM

I think I've just answered my own question from dredging in the murk of my remaining memory!

I think - in fact, I'm pretty sure - the band was called Redbone. Possibly an Indian band, but Native American rather than New Orleans type.

I'm going to assume that's right. Saves me hobbling up to the attic and trying a left-handed search of the old stuff! If Marie Laveau has indeed fixed the memory for me, perhaps she can have a go at the body next.

However, if anyone would like to disappoint me with better information, I'm actually content to receive it, even if it shows that I'm cracking up after all.

Lhiats,

Bobby Bob

Subject: RE: lyr req: Marie Laveau (Cathy Winter)
From: Joe Offer
Date: 27 Sep 09 - 10:44 PM

Bobby Bob, that's the Bobby Bare song you're talking about. Don't know who wrote it, but it is apparently the best-known Marie Laveau song.

But I've heard the Cathy Winter song, and it's terrific. Can anybody transcribe it before I get the CD in three weeks when I get back from New England?

-Joe-

P.S. There's a fascinating video here (click).

Subject: RE: lyr req: Marie Laveau (Cathy Winter)
From: GUEST,Bobby Bob, Ellan Vannin
Date: 28 Sep 09 - 04:51 AM

Thanks for the blue clicky thing, Joe, but no, the Redbone song was a different one.

Having remembered the name, I did a search for Redbone and found them on YouTube as well. This is a live version of their song about Marie Laveau, and they're playing up the Native Americana here (but note some of the comments). There's another YouTube entry with just the recording playing over some still images which perhaps gives a better indication of why the record became popular!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eE3djrVLto0&feature=related


Bobby Bob

Subject: RE: lyr req: Marie Laveau (Cathy Winter)
From: Joe Offer
Date: 28 Sep 09 - 05:19 AM

So we have THREE "Marie Laveau" songs? Can we get the words to all of them posted here in this thread?
-Joe-

Subject: Lyr Add: MARIE LAVEAU (S Silverstein, B Taylor)
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 29 Sep 09 - 10:55 AM

I decided to post the Dr. Hook version because I figured it would be closer to what Silverstein actually wrote. (Silverstone wrote many songs for Dr. Hook.)

Lyrics found at LPDiscography.com and checked against the video at YouTube:


MARIE LAVEAU
(Shel Silverstein - Baxter Taylor)
« © '71 Evil Eye Music, BMI »

Down in Lou'siana where the black tree grow
Live a voodoo lady name Marie Laveau.
She got a black-cat tooth and a mojo bone,
And anyone wouldn't leave her alone,
She go wheeeeee, another man done gone.

She live in a swamp in a hollow log,
With a one-eyed snake, a three-legged dog.
Got a thin bony body, lot o' snaky(?) hair.
If she ever see you messin' round there,
She go wheeeeee, another man done gone, gone.

Then one night when the moon was black,
Into the swamp came a Handsome Jack,
A no-good man that you all know,
An' he was lookin' around for Marie Laveau.

He said, "Marie Laveau, you lovely witch,
Why don't you gimme little charm gonna make me rich?"
He said, "Now, gimme million dollars. I'm 'o' tell you what I'll do:
This very night I'm gonna marry you."
Be wheeeeee, another man done gone.

So Marie did some magic and she shook a little sand.
She made a million dollars and she put it in his hand.
Then she looked and she said, "Hey, hey!
I'm gettin' ready for my wedding day."

Then ol' Handsome Jack said, "Goodbye, Marie.
You're too damn ugly for a man like me."
So Marie started cryin', her fangs started shakin',
Her body started turnin', she started quakin',
She said, "Wheeeeee." Another man done gone.

So if you ever get down where the black tree grow
An' meet a voodoo lady named Marie Laveau,
You better look out.
And if she ever asks you to make her your wife,
Man, you better stay with her for the rest of your life,
Or it'll be wheeeeee-hee-hee-hee.

Subject: RE: lyr req: Marie Laveau (Cathy Winter)
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 29 Sep 09 - 11:26 AM

Holly Tannen, who started this thread, actually did record MARIE LAVEAU on her album "Crazy Laughter," 2007. There is a sound sample on CDBaby:

Ain't too many women in this Creole town
Born and live and die black and free,
But I know one rules the rich and the poor.
Ain't nobody tellin' her what to do.

CHORUS: Marie Laveau, vous êtes la reine,
La reine, la reine ...

Subject: RE: lyr req: Marie Laveau (Cathy Winter)
From: autoharper
Date: 29 Sep 09 - 02:59 PM

Holly Tannen made an excellent recording of Cathy Winter's Marie Laveau song on her "Crazy Laughter" CD (2007). The arrangement features banjo, trumpet, tenor horn, tuba, clarinet, soprano sax, and voice. It's has a true Preservation Jazz Hall Band feeling and is one of my favorite cuts on the CD:

   http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/hollytannen

-Adam Miller

(in the interests of full disclosure, I play an autoharp accompaniment on one track on this CD, but this hasn't kept me from enjoying the album. Please check it out.)

Subject: RE: lyr req: Marie Laveau (Cathy Winter)
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 29 Sep 09 - 09:05 PM

By the way, in case there is any doubt, Marie Laveau was a real person. See Wikipedia.

Subject: Lyr Add: MARIE LAVEAU (from Dr. John)
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 01 Oct 09 - 01:08 PM

Here's my transcription from a recording by Dr. John on YouTube. Dr. John sings only the choruses; he recites the rest to a musical accompaniment. (The parts in parentheses are sung by backup singers.)

Nearly the same text is called a "recitation" in Classic Jazz: A Personal View of the Music and the Musicians by Floyd Levin (Berkeley, Calif.; London: University of California Press, 2002), page 187. The author says Papa Celestin recited it in 1951.

That must be the same work that is referred to in this entry in the Catalog of Copyright Entries by the Library of Congress Copyright Office from 1946, under "unpublished music":

CELESTIN, OSCAR P., 1884- Marie Laveau the voodoo queen in New Orleans; words by Robert L. Gurley, arranged by Leonard Mitchell, © 8-22-46; O. P. Celestin and R. L. Gurley, New Orleans; EU34892.

Dr. John recorded a version of MARIE LAVEAU on his 1983 LP "The Brightest Smile in Town" but the "video" version seems to come from a later recording. Dr. John credits Gurley but not Celestin. I don't know why.


MARIE LAVEAU
As sung by Dr. John

Now there lived a conjure lady not long ago
In New Orleans Lou'siana named Marie Laveau.
Believe it or not, strange as it seems,
She made a fortune selling voodoo and interpretin' dreams.
She was known throughout the nation as the voodoo queen.
Folks come to her from miles and miles around.
She'd show 'em how to put that voodoo down.
To the voodoo lady they all would go,
The rich, the educated, the ign'ant, and the po'.
She'd snap her fingers and shake her head.
She'd tell 'em 'bout they lovers livin' or dead.
Now a old, old lady named Widow Brown
Asked why her lover stopped comin' around.
The voodoo gazed at her and squawk:
"I seen him kissin' on a young girl up in Shakespeare's Park
Hangin' round an oak tree in the dark."

CHORUS: Oh, Marie Laveau (Oh, Marie Laveau)
Oh, Marie Laveau (Oh, Marie Laveau)
Marie Laveau, the voodoo queen
From away down yonder in New Orleans.

(Ya-ya-ya, ya-ya-ya, ya-ya-ya, ya.)

Now old, old lady she lost her speech.
Tears start to rollin' down her cheeks.
Voodoo say: "Hush, my darlin'. Don't you cry.
I'll make him come back by and by.
Just sprinkle this snake dust all over your flo'.
I'll make him come back Friday morning when the rooster crow."
Now Marie Laveau, she held 'em in her hand.
New Orleans Lou'siana was her promised land.
Quality folks come from far and near
This wonder woman for to hear.
They was afraid to be seen at her gate.
They'd creep through the dark just to hear they fate.
Holdin' dark veils over they head,
It was troublin' [or "They was tremblin'"?] to hear what Marie Laveau said.

CHORUS: Oh, Marie Laveau (Oh, Marie Laveau)
Oh, Marie Laveau (Oh, Marie Laveau)
Marie Laveau, the voodoo queen
From away down yonder in New Orleans.

(Ya-ya-ya, ya-ya-ya, ya-ya-ya, ya.)

Now she made gris-gris with a ol' ram horn,
Stuck with feathers, shuck from a corn,
Big black candle an' a catfish fin
To make a man get religion, give up his sin.
Sad news got out one mornin' at the break o' day.
Marie Laveau had done passed away.
In Saint Louis cemetery she lay in a tomb.
She was buried one night on the waste of the moon.

CHORUS: Marie Laveau (Oh, Marie Laveau),
Oh, Marie Laveau (Oh, Marie Laveau),
Her folks still believe in the voodoo queen
From way down yonder in New Orleans.

CHORUS: Oh, Marie Laveau (Oh, Marie Laveau),
Oh, Marie Laveau (Oh, Marie Laveau),
Marie Laveau, the voodoo queen
From away down yonder in New Orleans.

Subject: Lyr Add: WITCH QUEEN OF NEW ORLEANS (Redbone)
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 05 Oct 09 - 11:26 AM

Found at several lyrics web sites, and compared with the video at YouTube:


WITCH QUEEN OF NEW ORLEANS
Pat Vegas & Dolly Vegas (members of Redbone), 1971

CHORUS: Marie, Marie, da voodoo veau*, she'll put a spell on you
Marie, Marie, da voodoo veau*, she'll put a spell on you
Marie, Marie, da voodoo veau*
She's the witch queen of New Orleans, of New Orleans.

1. I'm gonna tell you a story, strange as it now seems,
Of zombie voodoo gris-gris and the witch queen of New Orleans.
She lived in a world of magic, possessed by the devil's crew(?),
From a shack near the swamplands made of mud-pie brick, Marie stirred a witch's brew. CHORUS

2. Dime or a nickel, anyone could buy voodoo of any kind.
She had potions and lotions, herbs and tanna leaves guaranteed to blow your mind.
Early one morning into mucky swamp dew, vanished Marie with hate in her eyes.
Though she never returned, all the Cajuns knew, a witch queen never dies. CHORUS

[* "da voodoo veau"—This is the phrase I found at several lyrics web sites, but I'm not convinced this is what Redbone really sings, and anyway, I can't make any sense of it. Tom Jones seems to sing "my voodoo woman." You could, with some justification, sing "Marie, Marie Paris-Laveau," since Marie was married to a man named Paris—presumably pronounced "paree".

[Recorded by Redbone, 1971; and Tom Jones, 1972.]

Subject: Lyr Add: MARIE LAVEAU (Cathy Winter)
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 07 Oct 09 - 08:08 PM

Here's my completion of Joe's partial transcription from the recording at last.fm (see his link above):


MARIE LAVEAU
Cathy Winter

1. Now, there ain't too many women in this Creole town
Born and lived and died black and free;
But I know one who rules the rich and the poor,
Ain't nobody tellin' her what to do.

CHORUS: Marie Laveau, Marie Laveau,
Vous êtes la reine, la reine,
La reine suprême du voudou.

2. Now she can make a snake stand up straight
When she dance beneath the moon's bright light.
All the rich ladies come to feel the call of the drum,
Dancin' barefoot in the deep of the night.

3. Ginny Jamieson, when she come to see you,
She say she feeling poorly in the head.
You take all her money, and you give her a bag
To put below the floorboards under the bed.

4. What a strong-headed woman, now she gets what she wants,
With snakes, hot peppers and prayers.
I heard her call down to Papa là-bas* [*down there]
Then up to the Father above.

5. Well, nobody's come to arrest you yet
For the death of Brother John,
But everybody knows that his wife she come to see you,
And, whoa, she stay right up till dawn.

6. There was a sunny day, they tried to hang your friends,
Poor Adams and handsome Delille.
You made the sky go black and the rope go slack
Just as the rain poured down.

7. Personne ne sait mais tout le monde dit
Quelle sorte de femme vous êtes.
Des gens vous ont vu dans le cimetière
Bien après minuit.

8. I said, nobody knows, but everybody says,
Just what kind of woman you are.
Some folks, they seen you in the cemetery
Way after the midnight hour.

9. Now you give more advice to them lawyers and judges
Than they're ever gonna give to you.
Free woman, black woman, powerful healer,
Nobody walks as tall as you do.


[Verse 8 is a pretty straightforward translation of verse 7, with "I said" added. Once I figured that out, I was able to reconstruct verse 7 using my translation skills plus the Internet. In other words, I did not, strictly speaking, transcribe it, and it might differ a bit from what she actually sings. At least I'm pretty sure it's grammatical and spelled correctly.]

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Marie Laveau (Cathy Winter)
From: Joe Offer
Date: 08 Oct 09 - 10:34 AM

Thanks, Jim. Great song, isn't it?
-Joe-

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Marie Laveau (Cathy Winter)
From: GUEST,Jef Jaisun
Date: 05 Sep 11 - 12:04 PM

There was also a pop version of some kind -- not Dr. Hook's -- that I recall from the 70s. Can't seem to find it online. Anyone know who that might have been?