Lyrics to "Meet de Boys on the Battlefront"
Malcolm Humes
Someone had asked for lyrics to "Meet De Boys On The Battlefront". Here's
as close as I could come. SOme of the words I wrote or phonetically what
I hear, and at some other parts I've added a word or two that seemed to
be missing or unpronounced but belonged there for it to make sense.
The lyrics below are at worst an approximation of what I hear. Some of
the Creole patois is comon on other songs - the song Jockomo by
Sugarboy Crawford later got covered as Iko Iko by the Dixie Cups, then
Dr. John, The Neville Brothers, the Grateful Dead - and they'd probably
all spell it differently if they had the lyrics printed out. Basically this
song is about the black indian clubs and gangs of the Mardi Gras, and turf
wars, which is a theme throughout much of the rest of the lp too.
Note: on the lp this is taken from the music is performed by the
Meters and the rest of the Neville Brothers. Also, I think I've heard Dr.
John do this song live.
Lyrics to
"Meet De Boys on the Battlefront"
from the lp
THE WILD TCHOUPITOULAS, 1976 on Island/Antilles
written by George Landry (Big Chief Jolly)
Meet De Boys On The Battlefront (repeats 3x) \ this chorus
where the Wild Tchoupitouls gonna stomp some rump \ repeats as MTB
\ below
Well the prettiest little thing that I ever see
is the mardi gras indians down in new orleans
he sewed all night and he sewed all day
Mardi Gras morning went all the way
MTB
indians coming from all over town
big chief singing "gonna take em down"
jockomo filo ela hey (??)
indians are rulers on the holiday
MTB
Mardi Gras morning won't be long
gonna play indians, gonna carry on
maskers running up and down the avenue
and here come the indians, let em through
MTB
I'm an indian ruler from the thirty more
third sifahuna of all before
I walk through fire and I smell through mud
snagged the feathers from an eagle draped pants of blood
MTB
While the itty-bitty spy got a heart of steel
if his shank won't get you, his hatchet will
gelo me hacko noona no (??)
he shoot the gun in the jailhouse door
MTB
I'll bring my gang all over town
and drink fire water till the sun go down
when we get back home we gonna kneel and pray
we had some fun on the holiday
MTB 3x and fades
Adrian C Penisson
I'm pretty sure that the following corrections should be made.
In article <malcolm....@wrs.com>, mal...@wrs.com (Malcolm Humes) writes:
......
|> I'm an indian ruler from the thirty more
^^^^^^^^^^^^^
thirteenth ward
......
|> third sifahuna of all before
|> I walk through fire and I smell through mud
|> snagged the feathers from an eagle draped pants of blood
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
drank panther blood
......
--
Adrian C. Penisson
Gregory Taylor
>Meet De Boys On The Battlefront (repeats 3x) \ this chorus
>where the Wild Tchoupitouls gonna stomp some rump \ repeats as MTB
> \ below
>I'm an indian ruler from the thirty more
>third sifahuna of all before
>I walk through fire and I smell through mud
>snagged the feathers from an eagle draped pants of blood
Take that, Mr. N "smarty pants" Peart; here's some *real* Objectivist
doctrine. Note that Jon Anderson must have stolen the intonation
pattern for the non-lame lyrics on "Tales from Topographic Oceans"
from this *very* piece of ass-shakin', hand-wavin' oratory. Hey
pockey way, as they say.
And isn't the proper N'awlins spelling "jockomo phyleaux?" And what of
the rumours that Liz from the Cocteau Twins covered some of the Tchoupitoula
catalog in the Twins' middle period (no *wonder* we couldn't make sense
of it. It was her *accent.*)?
Laugh 3x and fade....
Gregory (sitting in his Trabant with boekje's official netgod satellite
uplink modem plugged into the "Victory over Consumerism" cigarette
(or do you say "seeg-rat"?) lighter, waiting for the dang engine thing to
heat up so I can plow).
--
The law moves quickly in the rain/and chokes the world with memorials./The
courts accept the lowest superstition/into evidence. And we embrace quickly in
the rain,/conceiving a hale infant with hands to wrinkle/the bedsheets toward
it, wave by trough by wave./Gregory Taylor/Heurikon /Madison, WI/608-828-3385