Personal Best
It goes without saying that Mardi Gras season is a time for joy—but not for everyone.
During your revelry, people are working their fingers to the bone in bars, restaurants, changing your hotel sheets, driving the floats, sweeping the streets, and so on. Not everyone gets to go out to play. Sometimes, you get so bedridden during the most crucial Carnival days that you have to have your own private Mardi Gras. Sometimes, if you've got no other option, the only place to dance is in your head. Here's a list of songs, which is by no means all-encompassing or authoritative, to hopefully provide a little of that Carnival spirit for your imagination, wherever you might be.
Professor Longhair | "Mardi Gras in New Orleans"
You can't have a list like this without first giving props to the professor. The raucous intro wakes up the neighborhood. Fess lays out what Carnival is all about, including an insider's tip on what intersection to visit. Dig the way he adds an undulating rhumba twist on the R&B groove, which is his specialty. It subtly connects to NOLA jazz founding father Jelly Roll Morton's advice about jazz requiring a "Spanish tinge." The instrumental version leans more into the Cuban vibe, while the live version from the Queen Mary is punctuated by horns and ecstatic whistling.
The Dixie Cups | "Iko Iko"
Apparently, this was recorded live in the studio with the members of the group banging and clinking away on whatever was available. It definitely sounds like it. The song gradually finds its form, growing from a mild beat at the start and then as the rhythm takes over, and the harmonies are deep and rich with a churchlike call-and-response to the chant. It fades as quickly as it begins, like a parade disappearing around the corner, leaving a trail of tingling molecules in its wake.
The Meters | "Hey Pocky A-Way"
Here's when people start coming out, bobbing their heads and tapping their feet, pulling deep from their bottle of choice. The gang has everyone deep in the pocket. No offense, but if their flawless syncopation doesn't get you, then maybe it's time to pack it in and move to Utah or something. Zigaboo's drums set up the shuffle, Nocentelli's guitar starts strutting while Porter's bass gracefully plays behind the beat, and, by the end, Allen Toussaint's horns are standing up loud and proud. "Feel good music / I've been told / Good for your body / And good for your soul." Can I hear an amen?
The Wild Tchoupitoulas | "Meet de Boys on the Battlefront"
The Neville Brothers join forces with The Meters to make yet another indisputable NOLA classic, filling the speakers like a buzzed crowd swirling with pride, joy, and banter. It changes lives, too. It once perked up the ears of Tom Piazza, a writer who heard it in NYC and followed it down here, writing the essay/cri de cœur/memoir Why New Orleans Matters, among other NOLA-set narratives. This song turns the streets into a playful battleground of braggadocio, stating "I'm an injun ruler from the 13th ward / A big chief kahuna, and I won't be bought / I walked through fire, and I swam through mud / Snatched the feathers from the eagle, drank panther blood."
Donald Harrison Jr. & Dr John | "Indian Blues"
Now, we relay to yet another pair of local maestros, playing in tandem and ably keeping the pace. Harrison's nimble sax weaves in and out of the expert groove laid down by the good doctor's piano. Contrary to the idealized image of Mardi Gras in the public mind, Carnival time often requires a lot of time simply hanging out with your people. This record is a jazz conversation that provides an ideal background for savoring a hopefully well-lubricated session in the sun or under the moon—preferably in costume.
Chief Adjuah | "Bark Out Thunder Roar Out Lightning"
Speaking of costuming, the artist formerly known as Christian Scott has shed the old name and rechristened himself as Chief Xian aTunde Adjuah. Reestablishing his deep ties to his NOLA community, which includes chiefs Donald Harrison, both Senior and Junior, he proudly wears a chief's colorful mantle. Adjuah creates his own instruments, mixes a rich mélange of sonic geographies and textures, and this mythological language neatly ties that visionary ambition together. To be both firmly rooted in your home turf while stretching out the collective imagination—what could be a better Mardi Gras mentality?
Rebirth Brass Band | "Do Whatcha Wanna"
Words to live by, especially on Fat Tuesday or, really, any time in the land of dreams. There was once a sticker on an Uptown telephone pole that said, "New Orleans: We Live Your Fantasies." Whether or not that's strictly true, this raucous little ditty from our premiere brass band might explain how such a thing is done as the party kicks into high gear.
Mary Gauthier | "Wheel Inside The Wheel"
A poetic description of a second line from NOLA-born folk singer Mary Gauthier. Everyone's invited: Louis Armstrong, Oscar Wilde, Judy Garland, Krewe of Crossbones, the flambeau. The biblical overtone is great. The titular wheels are what the prophet Ezekiel saw descending from the skies. Gauthier, a former philosophy major at LSU, explained how she was inspired by circular ideas of time. "Souls ain't born / Souls don't die/ And roll on, brother, in the wheel inside the wheel." Quite a lovely thought as this ancient, annual festival draws to a close. Only, of course, to be revived next year, like a carnival wheel rolling on.
