tipitina

Pianist Henry Roeland "Roy" Byrd, known as Professor Longhair, was a prominent New Orleans musician. He played syncopated music that combined blues, ragtime, zydeco, rhumba, mambo and calypso. His singing was characterized as hoarse. His peripatetic recording career began in 1949 with "Mardi Gras In New Orleans" and "She's Got No Hair" with a group credited as "Longhair and his Shuffling Hungarians." A year later at Mercury Records and Roy Byrd & his Blues Jumpers rerecorded "She's Got No Hair" as "Bald Head", which broke through as his only national R&B hit. In 1953, at Atlantic Records, he recorded "Tipitina", which is now regarded as his "signature song".

The melody is derived from Champion Jack Dupree's 1941 recording of "Junker Blues",{{cite web |url=http://www.allmusic.com/song/tipitina-mt0004977176 |title=Professor Longhair: Tipitina |access-date=January 11, 2014 |publisher=Allmusic |last=Planer |first=Lindsay |year=2014}} a song Dupree had learned from fellow New Orleans pianist Willie Hall. Rolling Stone described "Tipitina" as a "rhumba-style track" that has become a quintessential New Orleans standard.{{cite web |url=https://www.rollingstone.com/music/song-stories/tipitina-professor-longhair |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120518120410/http://www.rollingstone.com/music/song-stories/tipitina-professor-longhair |url-status=dead |archive-date=May 18, 2012 |title=Tipitina |access-date=January 11, 2014 |year=2014 |work=Rolling Stone}} According to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, which inducted Longhair in 1992, "The hum-along nonsense syllables and stutter stepping left-hand rhythm of 'Tiptina' is both a symbol and staple of New Orleans music."{{cite web |url=http://rockhall.com/blog/post/songs-that-shaped-rock-and-roll-tipitina/ |title=Songs That Shaped Rock and Roll: Tipitina |date=May 16, 2013 |access-date=January 13, 2014 |publisher=Rock and Roll Hall of Fame}}

Allen Toussaint described learning the song as a "rite of passage".{{cite web |url=https://www.pri.org/stories/2012-01-20/professor-longhair-tipitina/ |title=Professor Longhair: Tipitina: Inside the National Recording Registry |work=Studio 360 |publisher=Public Radio International |access-date=August 28, 2018 |date=January 20, 2012}}

Despite the song's popularity, the subject of "Tipitina" is unknown. Among the speculated subjects are a place and a person. According to an interview and a recording by Dr. John (Mac Rebennack) played at the WWOZ Piano Night concert in 2020, Tipitina was a type of - or name of - a bird. Rebennack said he had never heard of that before or since.{{citation-needed|date=May 2025}} Hugh Laurie, who released his version of the song in 2011, commented about its mystery: "I thought it was better not knowing. It adds to its mystique and its power to make me laugh and cry all in one go."See also [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JE6TCc9I7N8 Hugh Laurie - Tipitina (The Story Behind the Song)]

The song became a hit in New Orleans after its initial release, but was not as successful in the rest of the United States. The 1953 Professor Longhair version and the 1972 Dr. John version are both considered "Classic non Hot 100 songs".Whitburn, p. 764.Whitburn, p. 286.

In 2011, the song was included in the National Recording Registry because of its cultural significance.{{cite web |url=https://www.loc.gov/rr/record/nrpb/registry/nrpb-2010reg.html |title=The National Recording Registry 2010 |publisher=Library of Congress |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140311003137/https://www.loc.gov/rr/record/nrpb/registry/nrpb-2010reg.html |archive-date=March 11, 2014 |access-date=January 27, 2025}} Byrd received a Grammy Hall of Fame Award for this song.{{cite web |url=http://www.wwltv.com/news/Louis-Armstrong-song-inducted-into-Grammy-Hall-of-Fame-234316691.html |title=Louis Armstrong song inducted into Grammy Hall of Fame |access-date=January 13, 2014 |date=December 3, 2013 |publisher=WWL-TV |author=Massa, Dominic |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140113114829/http://www.wwltv.com/news/Louis-Armstrong-song-inducted-into-Grammy-Hall-of-Fame-234316691.html |archive-date=January 13, 2014 |df=mdy-all}} The song was listed among the 500 Songs That Shaped Rock in 1994 by the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. The song was also listed in the 1001 Songs: The Great Songs of All Time and the Artists, Stories and Secrets Behind Them (2006) by Toby Creswell as well as the Rock Song Index: The 7500 Most Important Songs for the Rock and Roll Era (2005) by Bruce Pollock.{{cite book |url=https://www.amazon.com/gp/sitbv3/reader/104-6006527-1812717?ie=UTF8&p=S0O7&asin=1560259159 |title=1001 Songs: The Great Songs of All Time and the Artists, Stories and Secrets Behind Them |year=2006 |publisher=Da Capo Press |author=Creswell, Toby |isbn=1-56025-915-9 |pages=548–49}}{{cite book |title=Rock Song Index: The 7500 Most Important Songs for the Rock and Roll Era |year=2005 |publisher=Routledge |edition=second |author=Pollock, Bruce |isbn=0-415-97073-3}}

The National Recording Registry announcement for this song said the song is "a signature distillation of the musical ideas and personality that inspired and influenced such New Orleans pianists as Fats Domino, Huey "Piano" Smith, James Booker, Dr. John and Allen Toussaint". According to Creswell, "Tipitina" "marshalled New Orleans rhythm into a sparkling package".

The song has been widely covered, as well as rerecorded multiple times by Professor Longhair himself.

: • Professor Longhair: on New Orleans Piano (1972) – previously unreleased alternate take recorded in 1953.Discogs [https://www.discogs.com/Professor-Longhair-New-Orleans-Piano/release/2505256 Professor Longhair - New Orleans Piano]

: • Dr. John: on Dr. John's Gumbo (1972)

: • Professor Longhair: on Rock 'n' Roll Gumbo (1974).Discogs [https://www.discogs.com/Professor-Longhair-Rock-N-Roll-Gumbo/master/321113 Professor Longhair - Rock N Roll Gumbo] Following five vinyl reissues of the original LP from 1974 to 1980, this album was substantially remixed and remastered in 1985 for a reissue on LP, CD and cassette by George Winston's Dancing Cat Records.Discogs [https://www.discogs.com/Professor-Longhair-Rock-N-Roll-Gumbo/release/14269940 Professor Longhair - Rock N Roll Gumbo - Reissue] The 1985 remix of "Tipitina" is the version heard in the 1987 film The Big Easy and on its accompanying soundtrack album.Discogs [https://www.discogs.com/Various-The-Big-Easy-Original-Motion-Picture-Soundtrack/master/57060 The Big Easy Soundtrack]

: • Professor Longhair: on House Party New Orleans Style: The Lost Sessions 1971-1972 (1987) – previously unreleased 1972 version.Discogs [https://www.discogs.com/Professor-Longhair-House-Party-New-Orleans-Style-The-Lost-Sessions-1971-1972/master/334644 Professor Longhair - House Party New Orleans Style]

: • James Booker: on Live from Belle Vue (2015).{{cite web |url=https://www.amazon.com/Live-Belle-Vue-James-Booker/dp/B00U592EH8 |title=Live from Belle Vue |website=Amazon |access-date=June 1, 2018}}

: • Hugh Laurie: on his debut album, Let Them Talk (2011).

The original Professor Longhair version was recorded in New Orleans in November 1953 under the name Professor Longhair & His Blues Scholars. According to John Crosby's Professor Longhair : a bio-discography, performers included Roy Byrd (vocals, piano), Lee Allen (tenor saxophone), Frank Fields (bass), Earl Palmer (drums), and Alvin "Red" Tyler (baritone saxophone).{{cite book |title=Professor Longhair : a bio-discography : New Orleans r & b |author=Crosby, John |year=1983 |publisher=John Crosby}} However, the Atlantic Records Discography credits Edgar Blanchard as the bassist.{{cite book |title=Atlantic Records: A Discography |volume=1 |page=42 |publisher=Greenwood Press |author=Ruppli, Michel |editor=Rust, Brian |isbn=0-313-21171-X |year=1979}} It was released as a single in 1953. This version is included on several albums including the CD reissue of the 1972 album New Orleans Piano, which contains the single take released in 1953 as well as the alternate take first released on the 1972 vinyl LP.{{cite web |url=http://www.allmusic.com/album/new-orleans-piano-mw0000198829 |title=Professor Longhair: New Orleans Piano |access-date=January 11, 2014 |publisher=Allmusic |last=Dahl |first=Bill |year=2014}} Other albums that include this version are Martin Scorsese Presents the Blues: Piano Blues (2003){{cite web |url=https://www.amazon.com/Martin-Scorsese-Presents-The-Blues/dp/B0000A0AZ8 |title=Martin Scorsese Presents The Blues: Piano Blues |website=Amazon |access-date=May 1, 2014}} and Doctors, Professors, Kings & Queens (2004).{{cite web |url=https://www.amazon.com/Doctors-Professors-Kings-Queens-Orleans/dp/B0002RUPGU |title=Doctors, Professors, Kings & Queens: The Big Ol' Box of New Orleans [Box set] |website=Amazon |access-date=May 1, 2014}}

• A version by Bo Dollis & The Wild Magnolias is in the Bones season 1 episode "The Man in the Morgue" (an episode set in New Orleans).{{cite web |url=http://www.tv.com/m/shows/bones/the-man-in-the-morgue-682075/trivia/ |title=The Man in the Morgue |access-date=May 1, 2014 |publisher=TV.com}}
• "Tipitina", the November 25, 2012 season 3 finale of Treme (a TV series about New Orleans in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina), used the song twice.{{cite web |url=http://www.nola.com/treme-hbo/index.ssf/2012/11/treme_explained_tipitina.html |title='Treme' explained: 'Tipitina' |access-date=January 12, 2014 |date=November 25, 2012 |author=Walker, Dave |work=The Times-Picayune |publisher=NOLA.com}}
• The song is included as a full-length performance (piano duo) by Allen Toussaint and Jon Cleary in the 2005 documentary film Make It Funky!, which presents a history of New Orleans music and its influence on rhythm and blues, rock and roll, funk and jazz.{{cite journal |author= |date=April 2005 |title=IAJE What's Going On |journal=Jazz Education Journal |location=Manhattan, Kansas |publisher=International Association of Jazz Educators |volume=37 |issue=5 |page=87 |issn=1540-2886 |id={{ProQuest|1370090}}}}{{cite AV media |date=2005 |title=Make It Funky! |type=DVD |language=en |time= |location=Culver City, California |publisher=Sony Pictures Home Entertainment |id=11952 |isbn=9781404991583 |oclc=61207781}}

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• {{cite book |title=Top Pop Singles |edition=12th |author=Whitburn, Joel |year=2009 |isbn=978-0-89820-180-2 |publisher=Record Research Inc.}}

• [http://www.allmusic.com/song/tipitina-mt0004977176 Discography] of albums containing Longhair version at Allmusic

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Category:1953 singles

Category:Atlantic Records singles

Category:Blues songs

Category:Dr. John songs

Category:1953 songs

Category:United States National Recording Registry recordings

Category:Professor Longhair songs

Category:Songs about New Orleans