A-side "Go to the Mardi Gras" Released 1959 Recorded 1959 | B-side "Everyday Everynight" Format 45 rpm 7" single Genre R&B | |
"Go to the Mardi Gras" is a New Orleans Mardi Gras-themed R&B song that was performed by Professor Longhair (real name Henry Roland Byrd) and recorded in 1959. He co-wrote the song with T. Terry. It is now considered an iconic festive song of the New Orleans Carnival season.
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Background
Henry Roeland Byrd, Better known as Professor Longhair (or nickname "Fess"), was born in Bogalusa and moved to New Orleans with his family as an infant. He reportedly learned to play his instrument on a piano lacking several keys, which some have credited for his unusual technique. He would keep time by kicking his foot against the piano's base. He developed a unique "rhumba boogie" style that combined elements of blues, barrelhouse, and Caribbean influences. He was a pivotal link between early New Orleans piano pioneers such as Tuts Washington and later names such as Fats Domino, Art Neville, Allen Toussaint and Dr. John. His 1950 single "Bald Head" hit No. 5 on the R&B charts, and became his only national hit.
Release
In 1959, he recorded "Go to the Mardi Gras," which was produced by Joe Ruffino and released on Ruffino's label, Ron Records. He co-wrote the song with T. Terry. The song's lyrics advise anyone wishing to visit New Orleans to go to the Mardi Gras celebration and witness its various sights, such as to "see the Zulu King on Saint Claude and Dumaine." In 1959, at time of the recording, the Zulu parade, hosted by the Zulu Social Aid & Pleasure Club, took an improvised route each year on the day of Mardi Gras, which would often pass this street intersection. "Go to the Mardi Gras," along with a later record "Big Chief," released in 1964, has become and iconic standard of the Carnival season.