Who Dat?™ Geaux Saints!

Oh yeah … all those years when nobody else cared about the Saints, it was “Who Dat? Nation” and “Who Dat?” dis and “Who Dat?” dat.  Now the NFL is claiming “Who Dat” is copyrighted, or it’s a trademark, or something.  Now that the New Orleans Saints are in the Super Bowl, the NFL is seizing”Who Dat?” – oh wait … “Who Dat?™” – in hopes of feeding its already bloated billion-dollar enterprise.

Who Dat?™ who’s greedy?  The NFL, dat’s Who Dat?™!

In other news, our great friend and awesome photographer Art Meripol sent an e-mail yesterday: he’s on assignment in New Orleans shooting jazz clubs from about now until the middle of next week.  The Super Bowl’s on Sunday, Mardi Gras hits its fever pitch next week (or Sunday if the Saints win), and our buddy’s in the middle of it all.  Nice work if you can get it.

Anyway, the covergence of these great events is convenient … so in the interest of public service, here’s a handful of New Orleans and Louisiana swamp rock songs for your Super Bowl/Mardi Gras party.  You can find many more by going to our “Walkin’ To New Orleans” series, plus we have a handful of Saints fight songs.  Of course, there are beaucoups more Saints fight songs at the New Orleans Times-Picayune.  The Saints, the Colts and the Who are gonna tear it up this weekend … be there, square hair!  Geaux Saints!

MP3: “Party Town” by Bobby Charles

MP3: “Blueberry Hill” by Fats Domino (Live at Austin City Limits)

MP3: “The Crawl” by Guitar Junior

MP3: “Tell It Like It Is” by Eddie Bo

MP3: “Shake Your Tambourine” by the Neville Brothers (live)

MP3: “Hang ‘Em High” by the Meters

MP3: “Where There’s A Will There’s A Way” by Ernie K-Doe

MP3: “I’m A Fool To Care” by Joe Barry

MP3: “Rockin’ At Cosimo’s” by Lee Allen

MP3: “My Toot Toot” by John Fogerty w/Rockin’ Sidney

MP3: “Down South In New Orleans” by the Band w/Bobby Charles & Dr. John (live)

MP3: “Mardi Gras In New Orleans” by Professor Longhair

MP3: “Don’t Mess With My Popeye’s” by Fats Domino and Doug Kershaw

Who Dat? Football Fever In New Orleans

Like New Orleans needs an excuse to party.  Mardi Gras will be about two weeks early, starting this weekend right after the Pro Bowl.  The New Orleans Saints are in the Super Bowl for the first time, and although the Vegas money is on the Indianapolis Colts you gotta like the Saints.  By the time the big game rolls around (Feb. 7 in Miami), the entire country will have been sucked into the giants Saints party.

Expect to see a line of cars heading east along Interstate 10 out of New Orleans toward Miami, like that evacuation that probably should have happened in 2005.  Mayor Ray Nagin could get on the phone to FEMA and angrily demand an emergency federal airlift of beer and liquor … no, let’s not go there.

I guess the point of this is, you gotta love the Saints.  They’re underdogs, they’re scrappers, and they represent an American city that has taken its share of abuse the past few years.  Come Super Bowl Sunday, the only person in the world who may not love the Saints deep down will be Archie Manning.  But New Orleans will always love Archie.

What else?  Are they gonna sell the Who … Dat? t-shirts?  By the way, the Who at halftime – they’ll probably tee it up with “Baba O’ Riley,” segue into “Pinball Wizard,” then “See Me, Feel Me” then wrap it up with “Won’t Get Fooled Again.”  Or maybe “Who Are You” and “I’m Free” and “We’re Not Gonna Take It.”  They can string about 15 songs together, like they did at Woodstock.  Who knows?  Yeah you right.

So let’s get the party started, shall we?

YouTube: Original “Who Dat?” video from 1983

MP3: “Let’s Get Fired Up” by Zigaboo Modeliste

MP3: “When The Saints Go Marching In” by Louis Armstrong

MP3: “I Like This Kind of Party” by Sam Spence (NFL Films)

MP3: “Meet De Boys On De Battlefront” by the Wild Magnolias

MP3: “They All Ask’d For You” by Milton Batiste & the Mardi Gras Big Shots

A veritable buttload of Saints fight songs from the New Orleans Times Picayune