Tchoupitoulas Street is parallel to, and immediately adjacent to, the Mississippi River, running right along the river uptown from Canal Street all the way to Audubon Park, lined with wharves, warehouses, and other waterfront features. The name is of Native-American origin, as noted above, and the spelling comes from French settlers (which is why it seems so foreign to us Englilsh-speakers). The current-day tribe is probably named primarily for the members' neighborhood, but the street-name's associatin with a long-forgotten original native tribe was also undoubtedly a factor in choosing a name for the gang.

Incidentally, the world-famous Tipitina's nightclub is located at the corner of Napoleon Ave and Tchoupitoulas St.

The late George Landry, aka Chief Jolly, was an uncle of the Neville Brothers on their mother's side, and was Big Chief and lead singer at the time the record was made. He died not long after making that earth-shaking recording; the Nevilles continued to appear with the surviving tribe members for a few years, and at least one of the brothers (Cyril) actively participated, sewing up a suit for himself each year, but they seem to have drifted apart. I don't know if the current tribe includes any Neville relatives any longer.

I'm sure I could understand and transcribe the lyrics upon listening ~ I've heard it many times, and I'm familiar enough with the material and the local accents, etc., to know what they're saying. However, I'm away from home at the moment and don't have access to the CD. I don't think I have a copy at home right now, either ~ it was probably among many albums lost in the flood.

As far as I can rememeber, the lyrics Azizi provided above are mostly different from what Jolly and the WT sing on the record, which isn't surprising. Injun chants are basically improvisational, and while a given chief and his tribe will probably use many of the same stock phrases over and over again (in different order each time out, of course), another outfit will use an entirely different set of words to the same traditional song.

I'm gonna ask my brother to look in on this thread ~ he might be able to provide a good response sooner than I can. One or the other of us will come up with something for you, but it might take a while, so click "Add to Tracer" if you want to keep track of this thread for later developments.