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1971 single by Redbone
"The Witch Queen of New Orleans" is a 1971 song by
Redbone . The single was released from Redbone's third album
Message from a Drum ,
[2] which is also titled The Witch Queen of New Orleans in its European release.
[3] The song peaked at No. 2 in the United Kingdom and No. 21 in the United States.
Background
"The Witch Queen of New Orleans" is about a 19th-century practitioner of
voodoo from New Orleans named
Marie Laveau ,
[4]
[5] referred to in the song lyrics as "Marie la Voodoo veau".
[6] The song was written by the two Native American brothers of the group Redbone, Lolly Vegas and Pat Vegas. It shows influences from
New Orleans R&B and
swamp pop .
[7]
The song was released in 1971 with "Chant: 13th Hour" as the B-side in the US. It debuted in the
Billboard Hot 100 chart in November 1971 in the US where it reach a peak of No. 21 in 1972 (chart date February 19, 1972).
[8]
[9] The song reached No. 2 in the UK single chart in October 1971 behind
Rod Stewart 's "
Maggie May ".
[10]
Charts
Weekly charts
Year-end charts
Chantoozies version
Australian group
Chantoozies released a version of the song in 1987 as their debut single, retitled "Witch Queen". The song peaked at number 4 on the Australian
Kent Music Report .
[11]
Track listings
7" single (K 208)
Side A "Witch Queen"
Side B "The Chantoozie Shuffle"
12" single ( X 14459)
Side A "Witch Queen" (12" version)
Side B1 "Witch Queen" (7" version)
Side B2 "The Chantoozie Shuffle"
Charts
Weekly charts
Year-end charts
Popular culture
Artist
Howard Arkley produced a series of sketches in the early 1970s referencing popular songs, one of which is titled "Which Queen" as a reference to this song.
[31]
The song is commonly played during
Halloween in the United States.
[32]
References
^
The Witch Queen of New Orleans (credits). Redbone.
Epic . 1971. Retrieved November 16, 2016 . {{
cite AV media notes }}
: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (
link )
^ Rutzer, Corbet (October 30, 2014).
"Dig Dug: Redbone The Witch Queen of New Orleans" . Frank151 . [
permanent dead link ]
^
"Redbone – The Witch Queen of New Orleans" .
AllMusic .
All Media Network . Retrieved November 16, 2016 .
^ Curran, Bob (2006).
Encyclopedia of the Undead: A Field Guide to Creatures That Cannot Rest in Peace . New Page Books. p. 243.
ISBN
1-56414-841-6 .
^ Bosky, Bernadette Lynn (2007).
"The Witch" . In
Joshi, S. T. (ed.). Icons of Horror and the Supernatural . Vol. 2.
Greenwood Press . p. 703.
ISBN
978-0-313-33782-6 .
^
Thompson, Dave (2010).
"Track Three: "The Witch Queen of New Orleans" by Redbone from the LP Witch Queen of New Orleans (Epic) 1971" . Bayou Underground: Tracing the Mythical Roots of American Popular Music . ECW Press.
ISBN
978-1-55490-682-6 .
^ Harris, Craig (2016).
Heartbeat, Warble, and the Electric Powwow: American Indian Music . University of Oklahoma Press. p. 178.
ISBN
978-0-8061-5168-7 .
^
a
b
"Billboard Hot 100" .
Billboard . February 19, 1972. p. 56.
ISSN
0006-2510 .
^ Wright-McLeod, Brian (2005). "Redbone".
The Encyclopedia of Native Music: More Than a Century of Recordings from Wax Cylinder to the Internet . University of Arizona Press. p.
158 .
ISBN
0-8165-2448-3 .
^
a
b
"Official Singles Chart Top 100" .
Official Charts Company . Retrieved November 16, 2016.
^
a
b
Kent, David (1993). Australian Chart Book 1970–1992 .
St Ives, N.S.W. : Australian Chart Book.
ISBN
0-646-11917-6 .
^
"11 March 1972" .
Go-Set . Retrieved November 16, 2016 .
^ "
Redbone – The Witch Queen Of New Orleans" (in Dutch).
Ultratop 50 . Retrieved November 16, 2016.
^ "
Top RPM Singles: Issue 7509 ."
RPM .
Library and Archives Canada . Retrieved November 16, 2016.
^
"Le Détail par Artiste" (in French). InfoDisc. Select "Redbone" from the artist drop-down menu. Retrieved November 16, 2016 .
^ "
Redbone – The Witch Queen Of New Orleans" (in German).
GfK Entertainment charts . Retrieved November 16, 2016.
^ "
The Irish Charts – Search Results – Witch Queen of New Orleans" .
Irish Singles Chart . Retrieved November 16, 2016.
^ "
Nederlandse Top 40 – week 45, 1971 " (in Dutch).
Dutch Top 40 . Retrieved November 16, 2016.
^ "
Redbone – The Witch Queen Of New Orleans" (in Dutch).
Single Top 100 . Retrieved November 16, 2016.
^ "
Redbone – The Witch Queen Of New Orleans" .
VG-lista . Retrieved November 16, 2016.
^
"CASH BOX Top 100 Singles – Week ending FEBRUARY 19, 1972" .
Cash Box . Archived from
the original on September 8, 2012. Retrieved June 29, 2018 .
^
"Jaaroverzichten 1971" (in Dutch).
Ultratop . Hung Medien. Retrieved November 16, 2016 .
^
"Top 100-Jaaroverzicht van 1971" (in Dutch).
Dutch Top 40 . Retrieved November 16, 2016 .
^
"Jaaroverzichten – Single 1971" (in Dutch).
Single Top 100 . Hung Medien. Retrieved November 16, 2016 .
^
"Forum – ARIA Charts: Special Occasion Charts – Top 100 End of Year AMR Charts – 1970s" . Australian-charts.com. Hung Medien. Retrieved November 16, 2016 .
^
"Jaaroverzichten 1972" (in Dutch).
Ultratop . Hung Medien. Retrieved November 16, 2016 .
^
"Top 100 Hits for 1972" . The Longbored Surfer. Retrieved November 16, 2016 .
^
"Platterlog : Singles – New Releases > 12 January 1987" .
Platterlog . Retrieved December 4, 2019 – via Imgur.com.
^
Kent, David (1993). Australian Chart Book 1970–1992 .
St Ives, N.S.W. : Australian Chart Book. p. 59.
ISBN
0-646-11917-6 .
^
"National Top 100 Singles for 1987" .
Kent Music Report . 28 December 1987. Retrieved 11 December 2019 – via
Imgur .
^ McAuliffe, Chris (November 17, 2015).
"Howard Arkley: how Talking Heads, Ramones, Blondie and punk shaped his art" .
The Australian . Retrieved November 16, 2016 .
^ Lee Cooper, B. (2013).
"Halloween and Horror Recordings" . In Edmondson, Jacqueline (ed.). Music in American Life: An Encyclopedia of the Songs, Styles, Stars, and Stories That Shaped Our Culture .
ABC-CLIO .
ISBN
978-0-313-39347-1 .
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