As sung by raspy-voiced Oliver Morgan, who claims that he actually wrote the song but allowed producer/arranger Eddie Bo to take the credit, "Who Shot The La La" tells a tale based on the real-life death and probable murder of singer Lawrence "Prince La La" Nelson in 1963. Morgan grew up in the same Ninth Ward neighborhood in New Orleans as "La La", whose big brother was Walter "Papoose" Nelson, the legendary guitarist. The lyrics say that "La La" was shot. The singer is not sure who shot him; but, he says, "I know it was a .44", referring to the weapon's caliber. Actually, the younger Nelson died of an alleged drug overdose, which some say was injected in him by another. So, he was shot, but in a different way. Morgan makes sure you don't think he did it, then names the possible suspects and advises what should be done to the guilty party, if caught. The strange thing is, despite the grim subject, the song has the tone of a party record. It's kind of like those Mardi Gras Indian song/chant narratives you can dance to that deal with their sometimes deadly turf fights. Had Morgan grown up more recently, he could have easily been rapping this story".
That's one version. But there's a book called "Who Shot The La La" by Robert P. Robertson that tells another story:
"In the early morning of March 23, 1913, in the legendary red-light district of Storyville, a dancehall shoot-out shook The Big Easy! The La-La, the famous Duke of the District, was killed! Inspecting the case, an inspector realizes it was more than just a dramatic shoot-out it was cold-blooded murder! Can you guess Who Shot The La-La?
Who Shot The La-La? is based upon a true murder-mystery that happened in New Orleans in the early 1900's when Jazz was just a curious form of barrelhouse music and New Orleans was an international, bohemian mecca...
Sample Excerpt In a time of Victorian values and Jim Crow regulations, New Orleans began a social-experiment on January 29, 1897, authored by an Alderman, Sidney Story, centralizing the city's plague of prostitution to an area of the French Quarters which was called Storyville. It was America's first lawful red-light district replete with its own Mayor, aristocracy, police-force, and a host of colorful characters who became legendary in America's music and folklore. It was a time when the infant Jazz had crawled from the honky-tonks of an all black district called The Battlefield and took its first steps in Storyville before taking its journey to entertain the world. It was in Storyville where the Frenchman, known as The La-La, was killed in a dramatic shoot-out on Easter Sunday morning in March23, 1913, the culmination of a fierce dancehall feud. The bloody massacre of that early morning changed the character of the Storyville District. The incident was cited on July 10, 1917 by the Secretary of the Navy, Josephus Daniels, as one of the best examples to close down the profligate red-light districts to protect United States military officers stationed in New Orleans during WWI from vulgar harlotry, iniquity, venereal disease, and cold-blooded murder. On the early morning of November 13, 1917, the classy bordello of Madam Willie V. Piazza at 317 Basin Street had closed its doors heralding an end to the most legendary, legal, social-experiment the world had ever known..."