Rockin' Sidney (with accordion) and friends in 1985
We are going to linger for one more day in Cajun country, before making the final push to New Orleans in time for Mardi Gras. Today we look at one of the biggest hits to ever come out of Louisiana.
In 1984, a strange sound was enveloping the nation. It could heard squawking from an outdoor stage in Texas or bouncing between the steel and glass skyscrapers of Manhattan. The sound was the greasy notes of an accordion played by one Rockin’ Sidney Simien, on his song “My Toot Toot.”
Simien recorded the song in his lavish mobile home near Lake Charles, Louisiana, slathering instruments over a drum machine track. “My Toot Toot” was a novelty song where the singer warns “don’t mess with my toot toot.” Of course, people read all kinds of things into the lyric: don’t mess with my drugs, don’t mess with my (name your favorite part of the male or female anatomy). The song’s accordion solos just SOUND nasty, so it was easy to read stuff into it, but Simien insisted at the time the “toot toot” of the title is just a Cajun French term of endearment.
30 Days Out 