Album: Nightbirds (1974)

Charted: 17 1

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• Hey sister, go sister, soul sister, go sister
  Hey sister, go sister, soul sister, go sister
  
  He met Marmalade, down in old New Orleans
  Struttin' her stuff on the street
  She said, "Hello, hey Joe
  You wanna give it a go?" hmm-hmm
  
  Gitchi-gitchi, ya-ya, da-da
  Gitchi-gitchi, ya-ya, here
  Mocha chocolata, ya-ya
  Creole Lady Marmalade
  
  Voulez-vous coucher avec moi? Ce soir?
  Voulez-vous coucher avec moi?
  
  He sat in her boudoir while she freshened up (hey sister, go sister, soul sister, go sister)
  The boy drank all that magnolia wine (hey sister, go sister, soul sister, go sister)
  On the black satin sheets
  Swear he started to freak
  
  Gitchi-gitchi, ya-ya, da-da
  Gitchi-gitchi, ya-ya, here
  Mocha chocolata, ya-ya
  Creole Lady Marmalade
  
  Voulez-vous coucher avec moi? Ce soir?
  Voulez-vous coucher avec moi?
  
  Hey, hey, hey
  Touching her skin, feelin' silky smooth
  Colour of cafe au lait
  Made the savage beast inside
  Roar until it cried, "More, more, more"
  
  Now he's back home doing nine to five
  Living his grey flannel life
  But when he turns off to sleep
  Old memories creep, more, more, more
  
  Gitchi-gitchi, ya-ya, da-da
  Gitchi-gitchi, ya-ya, here
  Mocha chocolata, ya-ya
  Creole Lady Marmalade
  
  Voulez-vous coucher avec moi? Ce soir?
  Voulez-vous coucher avec moi?
  Voulez-vous couchez avec moi? Ce soir?
  Creole Lady Marmalade
  
  Voulez-vous coucher avec moi? Ce soir?
  Voulez-vous coucher avec moi?
  Voulez-vous coucher avec moi? Ce soir?
  Voulez-vous coucher avec moi?
  Voulez-vous coucher avec moi? Ce soir?
  Voulez-vous coucher avec moi?
  Voulez-vous coucher avec moi? Ce soir?
  Voulez-vous coucher avec moi?
  
  Gitchi-gitchi, ya-ya, da-da
  Gitchi-gitchi, ya-ya, here
  Mocha chocolata, ya-ya
  Creole Lady Marmalade Writer/s: Crewe Bob, Nolan Kenny
  Publisher: Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC
  Lyrics licensed and provided by LyricFind

Comments: 37

• Kristi from MiamiMy Mama (who is from New Orleans) now age 80, always insisted that the man married Lady Marmalade. She sites ” Now he’s at home doing 9-5/living his grey flannel life/but when he turns down the street/old memories creep…” as proof that he’s reminiscing how he met his wife!
• Poker Militant from Jackson, Ms.That song was and still is " off the chain" Props to every singer who has ever sang it.
• AnonymousLady Marmalade not only breaks polite mores with respect to sex. Her "mocha chocolata" and "Cafe au lait" skin color are evidently the result of racial mixing which was long banned in many states, especially in the South. Though the laws could not be enforced after 1967, social expectations tended to linger into the 1970s and beyond, including an incident as late as 2009 (https://bit.ly/3xwGfEL).
• George from Vancouver, CanadaMore stupid censorship crap -- it was never subverting the youth of America/etc -- the original chorus was just a cute French saying, that gave rhythm to a SONG, a SONG, people! Get the F over yourselves! It was not promoting rape as some modern rap does; it was simply a playful flirtation. -- a lot less vulgar than things usually are in a whore house, I suspect. NO VICTIMS!! Victimless crimes should not be "crimes." Bloody hell, you monkeys piss me off!
• Barry from Sauquoit, NyOn April 6th 1975, Labelle performed "Lady Marmalade" on the CBS-TV program 'The Cher Show'...
  At the time the song was in its second week at #7 on Billboard's Hot Top 100 chart; two weeks earlier on March 23rd, 1975 it had peaked at #1 for 1 week {See second post below}.
• K.c. from NhI loved the original when I was a child (I turned 11 in 1975), but I have to admit that I was blown away by the Mya/Xtina/Pink/Lil Kim version! When LaBelle showed up on stage during the Grammys with them, I burst into tears. It was incredible. Oh, and I still have my original 45 of LaBelle's.
• Barry from Sauquoit, NyOn September 4th 1976, Labelle performed "Lady Marmalade" on the ABC-TV program 'American Bandstand'...
  Just over nineteen months earlier on December 29th, 1974 it entered Billboard's Hot Top 100 chart at position #98; and on March 23rd, 1975 it peaked at #1 {for 1 week} and spent 18 weeks on the Top 100...
  On February 16th, 1975 it also reached #1 {for 2 weeks} on Billboard's R&B Singles chart...
  And on it day it peaked at #1 on the Hot Top 100 it also reached #1 {for 1 week} on the Canadian RPM 100 Singles chart…
  Labelle had one other Top 100 record, "What Can I Do for You?”, it stayed on the chart for 6 weeks, peaking at #48...
  Patti Labelle, born Patricia Louise Hole, celebrated her 70th birthday four months ago on May 24th {2014}.
• Markantney from Biloxi, MsApr 2014: The Original stands alone on it's one as one of the best songs of it's era certainly but of alltime (being it was a top song for: R&B, Disco, Clubs, Sororities, Frats, Black-White Parties, Pop,..) and considering how unique it was to sing about such a subject back then and it was great song on it's on w/o the controversy. The Remake is decent and I kinda like these remakes for it brings attention to the originals.
  
  And the young ladies that redid it, give/gave major props to Patti, which she in turn gives props to the other members of her (famed) group.
  
  Something my man Vanilla Ice learned a tad late.
• Sivon from Fort Worth, Tx@Krysha, Nanette sang it in 1976, LaBelle's version was 1974.
• Ken from Louisville, KyJohn Lennon LOVED this song. He'd frequently start singing it out loud, when the mood struck him. He especially liked the sexually suggestive French lyrics. It reminded him of when he was a teenager in Liverpool when Paul would use French-sounding words to try to seduce girls. Paul confirmed this many years later but confessed "It didn't work!"
• John from Nashville, TnWhen Labelle performed this song on the Cher variety show in 1975, the censors made them change the French lyrics to "Would you like to dance with me tonight?"
• John from Nashville, TnThe success of this song inspired the Jacksons to leave Motown and sign with CBS. Manager Joe Jackson figured that if CBS could get a #1 hit on a group that was pretty much considered dead, then imagine what this company could do for his sons.
• Ekristheh from Halath, United StatesThe French Quarter itself is not the red light district; the remarks about Storyville by Marie in Brooklyn are accurate. P.S. I detested the remake.
• Nadia from Phoenix, AzLil Kim wrote her part, but does not get credit for it.
• Nadia from Phoenix, AzBoth Bohemian Rhapsody by Queen
  Once when It came out and once with the Waynes World soundtrack went to number one
  And The Twist by Chubby Checker, One summer, then the Next Summer
  Also are song that went to number one more than once.
• Tonya from Sharon Grove, Kyive always been under the impression that it meant will you come and have sex with me... Oh Well to each his own
• Mary from Canyon, TxAndy Hallett (Lorne on Angel : the Series) also covered this song in a season 4 episode The House Always Wins. It's also on the Angel soundtrack, Live Fast, Die Never. His cover is the closest I've heard to Patti's.
• Ekristheh from Halath, United StatesYes, the remake definitely sucked. I'd like to see what EnVogue would have done with it.
• Mjn Seifer from Not Listed For Personal Reason, EnglandItchi Gitchi Ya Ya Da Da
  (Christina)
  Itchi Gitchi Ya Ya Here
  (Pink)
  Mocha-choco-lata Ya Ya
  (La' Bron cah)
  No, no, no, no!
  (Mya)
  Creole Lady Marmalade
  
• Henry from Kingston, NyAnother song I'm embarrassed to like. This song has a great bassline, which could make me like any song, really.
• Stefanie from Rock Hill, ScThe original is better. The remake by Christina Aguillera, Pink, and the others was the first one I heard though.
• Darren from Hull, EnglandMissy Elliot DID NOT have a UK number 1 with Lady Marmalade. Christina Aguilera, Lil' Kim, Mya & Pink did
• Nora from Philadelphia, PaPatti claimed to 'not know' what the French part of the song meant when the nuns who taught her in grade school in Philadelphia confronted her about the moral values of her big hit. Did she know? We'll never know, but maybe that's why it's in French!
• Howard from St. Louis Park, MnThis was one of the great R & B hits of the mid 70s. I remember the remake by Christina Aguilera, Pink, L'il Kim and Mya but the original was way better.
• Kryshya from Montreal, CanadaLady Marmelade was traduce and performed in french by Nanette Workman, an American blues singer from Mississipi (born in NY) who moved in Quebec. She was inducted into the "Mississippi Musicians Hall of Fame". You should probably know her, she is one of the voice behind Mick Jagger and Keith Richard in "Honky Tonk Woman". Beside the Stones, Nanette also worked with John Lennon, Ringo Starr, George Harrison and numerous other popular British recording artists. She left England for France and worked with Superstar Johnny Hallyday and went on world tour with him as his opening act. Then recorded another album, this time in English with Peter Frampton, Gary Wright, Mike Kelly and Andy Brown.
  
  Well, "coucher" does really mean "sleep with" with a sexual connotation and does not mean "bed" as it was said on a previous post. She gave the same sexual connotation to lyrics in french as in English.
  
  Actually, I always though that Lady Marmelade was at first sang by Nanette Workman, but just better known for Labelle interpretation. I already heard her say in an interview that she had collaborate to the creation of Lady Marmelade during a music jam in NYC with two other men (don't remember their name). Does somebody know something about it? I can't find any information about that on the net...
  
  According to the informations I have, Nanette would be a previous singer of Lady Marmelade(considering Labelle), sang it in both langage and she should be a co-author of the song.
• John from Philadelphia, Pai prefer the original to the remake. it should also be noted that contrary to the remarks of the person from the netherlands, this song by itself didn't give Patti's career a boost. what kept patti in the game all these years is her way of redefining herself and reaching broader audiences. she's a best selling author, amazing cook and puts on a show like no one else
• Martijn from Helmond, Netherlands'Coucher' does not mean 'bed' in French (that is 'lit'). It means 'lying down'. 'Se coucher' means 'going to bed' or 'going to sleep'. 'Coucher avec' means to sleep with or to go to bed with, with the same sexual connotation as in English. Patti definitely has the hots for the person she sings this song to. The Labelle trio wore outrageous science fiction costumes for their shows when this first came out in the seventies. I never cared much for the relatively talentless bombos that did the remake. If Patti says she likes it, it's probably because it gave her career a well neede boost.
• Dave from Cardiff, WalesBoy George's version of "Everything I Own" didn't make No.1 in the US, only in the UK
• Jaki from London, EnglandSorry for being Ms Picky Pickster, but not sure about your No.1 claim.
  
  Didn't both Ken Boothe some time in the mid-'70s and Boy George in about '87-ish have No.1s with (reggae-fied, at least) versions of Bread's Everything I Own?
  
  Excuse me while I get this call from Readers Digest.
• Marie from Brooklyn, Nythe line "gitcha gitcha ya ya da da" means "get your pleasure here daddy" (see "get your ya yas out" by the rolling stones). also, the french quarter in new orleans was never really a red light district; there was an experiment with legal prostitution in an area known as storyville, adjacent to the french quarter, which ended in 1917 with the rise of WW1 and a prohibition of brothels within a 5 mile radius of navy yards. loved the "my eyes adored you" detail!
• Nate from Newport News, VaOn a BET profile program Patti told a story about a time in the 60s when she was with the Blue Belles and they and the Supremes were either going to be on the same TV program or performing at the same show. Patti says Diana Ross saw what dresses they were going to wear and went out and got the Supremes to wear the same thing. Patti was mad because Diana knew that was all they had and the Supremes could wear anything they wanted.
• Nate from Newport News, Va'Supposedly' Patti LaBelle didn't know what this song meant until after it was recorded and was reportedly embarrassed by it. I find that hard to believe since by '74 she had been in the music business for about 10 years and wasn't exactly a child.
• Shell from Riverdale, Ga"Coucher" is French for "bed", so it's "Will you go to bed with me tonight?".
• Chas from Webster, NyIsnt it weird that a #1 vid. on mtv features scantily clad women seducing the audience? lol, just found that funny
• Dave from Cardiff, WalesI don't like the remake, but it was nothing like as bas as All Saints' version - YEEARGH!!!
• Jason from Wylie, Txthe remake song is ok to me and the video is even better super hot!!
• Jack from Raleigh, Ncwow, did the remake SUCK or what?
  
  Jack

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