quote:
Originally posted by brianman
The real 12 Ya'ts:
A dozen Manual's hot tamales (a roadside vendor tradition in the New Orlenas area).
11 Schwegmann bags (a place to buy [or make
] groceries cheap in The Cresent City. Closed in the 90's)
TENaco refinery (a oil refinery now owned by Chevron that was flooded in the storm)
The Lower 9th Ward (nobody knew where this was when this song was played for a non-local. Now people in Tibet know).
Ate by ya mamma's (what everyone does on Sunday's in Louisiana)
17th street canal (now as famous as the Manning's)
6-pack of Dixie (nasty tasting local beer)
Fried Onion Rings (in the song, they bought 'em at A&G's cafeteria, now longer in business. Best best now is Rocky and Carlo's [oops, Katrina closed them too
])
Before you drive me nuts (this would now be FEMA)
Three French Breads (the main thing that makes a poboy a poboy. the song talked about those at McKenzie's, a local now-defunct bakery. Leidenheimer's always made it much better)
Tujaque's (French Quarter eatery) recipe...
...for the crawfish they caught in Arabi (local suburb).
Here it is with the proper dialect built in:
THE TWELVE YATS OF CHRISTMAS
(Benny "Grunch" Antin) Anzel Anzel, BMI
1. On'da foist day'a Christmas mah
Mawmaw gave'to me a Crawfish'dey
Caught in Arabi
2. In'da Christmas Picayune I seen it
Dere'n Section E, Tujaque's Recipe
3. On'da thoid day' a Christmas we
Stopped at McKenzie for Three French Breads
4. On the fourth day I said OK let's get a
Christmas tree Before'ya Drive Me Nuts
5. On the fifth day of Christmas we
stopped at A&G for Frrried Onion Rrrings
6. On'da sixth day'a Christmas we
stopped at K&B's for a Six Pack'a Dixie
7. Cemetery traffic got backed up to
Metairie at the Seventeenth Street Canal
8. On'da eighth day of Christmas me and
Rosalie Ate By'ya Mama's
9. On the ninth day of Christmas we drove
down Delery in'da Lower Ninth Ward
10. I used'ta be at Kaiser now I'm woikin
down'da street at'da Tenneco Chalmette Refinery
11. On the eleventh day at Vetran's
Highway try'ta cross the street with Eleven Schwegmann Bags
12. On the twelfth day of Christmas my
true love gave to me a Dozen Manuel's Tamales
