DROP ME OFF IN NEW ORLEANS
Written by Kermit Ruffins
As sung by Kermit Ruffins on "1533 St. Philip Street" (2001)

Have you ever been to New Orleans?
It's the hottest city you've ever seen.
Gotta love them red beans,
You gotta love them mustard greens,
In this city called New Orleans.

If you're not from New Orleans, let me hear you scream.
Hope you're feelin' much better now, like my homies feel.
When you're feelin' down and out,
And you feel there's no way out,
You get dropped off in New Orleans.

Oh, drop me off in New Orleans.
Drop me off, oh, in New Orleans.
Gotta love them butter beans,
Gotta love them collard greens,
So drop me off in New Orleans.

If you're not from New Orleans, let me hear you scream.
Hope you're feelin' better now, like my home boys do.
When you're feelin' down and out,
And you feel there's no way out,
Tell 'em "Drop me off in New Orleans.
Drop me off in New Orleans.
Drop me off in New Orleans."

[Kermit Ruffins also sings this on "Live at Vaughan's" (2001), and the lyrics, repeats, etc., vary somewhat. At one point, I think he sings "Gotta love them spotted beans." Are they the same as pinto beans?

[Also, he uses the pronunciation "New Orleens" (obviously, to rhyme with greens, beans, etc.) which Paul Soniat disparages. (See above.) What's up with that? Do people from NO have a convention that you pronounce it one way when speaking and another way when singing? Have jazz musicians been influenced by the Tin-Pan-Alley songwriters who didn't know any better? Do they use the pronunciation "New Orleens" only because it's so easy to rhyme?]