Every time I've been to New Orleans, some weirdly unsettling thing happens, such as when an older lady in my hostel room stayed up all night whispering chants while worrying a canister of salt she kept under her bed. Of course, the land the city is built on was exhumed from a swamp and the area is known as the land of voodoo, so it's not surprising that odd things of an uncanny nature tend to happen there. In keeping with the city's penchant for the mysterious, today's song is about a particular purveyor of New Orleans dark arts, voodoo priestess Marie Laveau. Born in 1794, she worked as a hairdresser for wealthy white people, whose gossip may have helped increase Marie's diviniation "powers." Although she died in 1881, her legend lives on, with her name gracing New Orleans tourist shops and trinkets, and her grave still drawing pilgrims who hope her spirit will grant them a wish.
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| Bobby Bare & Shel Silverstein |
She's of course been a presence in books and music as well, such as this classic 1974 hit written by Shel Silverstein and performed by Bobby Bare. As the song says, she'd go ooooo-weeee! Another man done gone.
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