Voodoo Queen | Kit Perriman

Marie Laveau

(Shel Silverstein and Baxter Taylor)

Down in Louisiana where the black trees grow

lived a voodoo lady named Marie Laveau.

She’d got a black cat tooth and a mojo bone

and if anyone wouldn’t leave her alone

She’d go, “GREEEEEEEEEEEE another man done gone!”

She lived in a swamp in a hollow log

with a one eyed snake and a three legged dog.

She’d got a bent bony body and stringy hair

and if she ever saw you messing round there

She’d go, “GREEEEEEEEEEEE another man done gone!”

And then one night when the moon was black

into the swamp came Handsome Jack.

A no good man that you all know

and he was looking around for Marie Laveau.

He said, “Marie Laveau, you lovely witch,

why don’t you gimme a little charm gonna make me rich?”

He said, “Now gimme million dollars and I’ll tell you what I’ll do,

this very night I’m gonna marry you!”

It’ll be GREEEEEEEEEEEE another man done gone.

So Marie did some magic and she shook a little sand,

she made a million dollars and she put it in his hand.

Then she giggled and she wiggled and she said, “Hey, hey,

I’m getting ready for my wedding day.”

But old Handsome Jack, he said “Good-bye Marie,

you too damn ugly for a rich man like me.”

So Marie started crying, her fangs started shaking,

her body started turning, she started quaking.

She said, “GREEEEEEEEEEEE – another man done gone!”

So if you ever get down where the black trees grow

and meet a voodoo lady named Marie Laveau,

And if she ever asks you to make her your wife,

man, you’d better stay with her for the rest of your life

Or it’ll be GREEEEEEEEEEEE….

Check out the version below:

(Video: YouTube)

(Photo: Kit Perriman)

Marie Laveau (1794-1881) was a Louisiana Creole free person of color who developed a reputation as The Voodoo Queen of New Orleans.

Laveau was born in the French Quarter, the illegitimate child of a wealthy plantation owner. She worked as a liquor importer, hairdresser, occultist, herbal healer, and also ran a brothel. Much of her power was said to have come from her carefully-cultivated network of spies who gave her the information she used to impress her patrons. One rumor claims that Laveau originated from a long line of voodoo priestesses in West Africa. Cynics, however, suggest she learned her skills from fellow practitioner, Doctor John Bayou.

At the age of 18 Laveau married Jacques Paris. He died in mysterious circumstances leaving her with two young children. Later, she took a younger man as a common-law husband and bore him fifteen children. Only one – a daughter also called Marie – reached adulthood. Marie continued her mother’s legacy when she retired from the public in old age.

Laveau supposedly had a snake called Zombi, named after an African God. She staged elaborate ceremonies where the dancers became possessed by voodoo spirits called loas; danced naked around bonfires; sold charms or gris-gris; saved several men from the gallows; told fortunes; and stayed eternally youthful. She passed peacefully in her sleep, but her ghost has often been seen in the graveyard where she is buried.

Laveau’s tomb is in St. Louis Cemetery, Number One. According to legend, if you draw an X on the tomb, turn around three times, knock on the tomb and shout your wish – it will be granted. Once this is done you must return to the tomb, circle the X you made, and leave an offering of thanks.

If anyone has tried this – please let me know if it worked!

Sources:

CSI, “Secrets of the Voodoo Tomb” at http://www.csicop.org/sb/show/secrets_of_the_voodoo_tomb/

The Mystica, “Laveau, Marie” at http://www.themystica.com/mystica/articles/l/laveau_marie.html

Voodoo On the Bayou, “Marie Laveau” at http://www.voodooonthebayou.net/marie_laveau.html

Wikipedia, “Marie Laveau” at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marie_Laveau

(Photo: Angela Bassett playing the role of Marie Laveau in American Horror Story – Public Domain)

Kit Perriman

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