New Orleans may be famous as the birthplace of jazz, but our role in the evolution of music is much more recent than that. John, the Meters, Harry Connick, Jr. You never NOLA who the city will inspire next. In New Orleans, it bubbles up from the streets. Yes, go to the music clubs. Yes, take in the festivals. Yes, walk through the streets of the French Quarter and listen to the street musicians. But to get a deeper understanding of the music, you must understand the people and situations that inspired it. As you walk along, your tour guide will play some of the most historically important music in America. More than 80 clubs all over the city offer live music.

Professor Longhair: “Big Chief”
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Thanks for taking part. Read more about how our weekly series works at the end of the piece. New Orleans, city of multiple names — think Crescent City, The Big Easy — varied foods, musical styles, history and character. A unique city in a crazy location. Vulnerable, defensive and joyous. This is New Orleans on a bun. Writing in sheet form a fundamentally improvisational genre was no mean feat. They somehow manage to sound as if this was recorded as they marched down the street, dancing as they played. Maybe it was.
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Few cities have the kind of rich musical heritage that New Orleans does, its unique blend of Southern and creole culture producing sounds unlike those just one state over. From jazz to blues, soul to zydeco, New Orleans is one of a kind, and these 15 songs deserve a spot on any playlist of Big Easy essentials. But it became a standard of New Orleans jazz in the s, once Louis Armstrong put his own signature spin on it. In the more commonly known 20th Century version of the song, the lyrics tell a narrative of a man looking down at the body of his dead lover, and later lays out the instructions for his own flashy funeral. And the sound of the song, pulling elements from Latin American tango, even sounds like a funeral dirge. Inspired by the likes of home-grown hero Professor Longhair, while mixing in his own blend of musical spices, Dr. Her pronunciation might be a little off, but the sentiment is inescapable. An eerie waltz that grows ever more intense and desperate as it progresses, the song is most likely about a prostitute, though some interpretations suggest the narrator is a prisoner or slave.
John Turner Layton Jr. The oddly comical description of the failed British invasion was written by Jimmy Driftwood and made a novelty hit by Johnny Horton in The Ed Sullivan Show production is a just plain weird. Love the whistling in the original , but I picked this lively Harry Connick Jr. A hit penned by Bobby Charles and recorded by Fats Domino in which the rhythm of the song brilliantly matches an imaginary moseying cadence. Gary U. True, the folk song written by Steve Goodman and recorded by Arlo Guthrie is actually about a train, but the poignant lyrics have achieved a poetic relationship with our city, wouldn't you agree?