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[Greedy,Greedy,Greedy]

Originally Posted by Pretty Little Flower

Thank you for your interest, but I do not take requests, except when I do. I rather enjoyed your song, though, and was NOT expecting the banjo.

But today we stay in New Orleans, and go back a bunch of decades to 1972. Four years earlier, Dr. John had blown everybody’s head open with the psychedelic voodoo masterpiece Gris-Gris, which gave him some cult status cachet—his 1971 album The Sun, Moon & Herbs, for example, had guest appearances by Mick Jagger and Eric Clapton. For Gumbo, he looked to New Orleans classics, including Earl King’s Big Chief (the same type of Mardi Gras Indian Big Chief referenced in yesterday’s Song of the Day). The song had been popularized by Professor Longhair, but I love the slower Dr. John version, with the loopy electronic organ riff, and super funky laid back second line percussion. The references to Spy Boys and Flag Boys are also to specific roles within Mardi Gras Indian gangs. The album itself is an incredible tribute to classic New Orleans music, and if you have never sat down and listened to the whole Gumbo album, I recommend taking an hour or so this Mardi Gras, making yourself a couple of Vieux Carres, turning up the heat, putting your feet up and letting the groove wash over you. (Alternate instructions if you decide instead to go with the album Gris-Gris involve substituting Vieux Carres with Ayuhuasca, and securing ample face paint and/or voodoo masks, congas and tambourines, and dozens of candles for lighting.)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UCBdO4w6jAs

That was great. Really great.