Rick Clark's Music I Love Blog - Allen Toussaint remembers Lee Dorsey
Lee Dorsey
Lee Dorsey and Allen Toussaint
One of the greatest pleasures of my life has been interviewing some amazingly gifted people over the years. I was recently struck by thousands of pages of interviews I painstakingly transcribed word-for-word like court transcripts. Most of these documents I haven’t visited in a long long time. I figured it might be fun to unearth some and shine a light on things that still make me smile. The first transcript I opened was a huge interview I did with Allen Toussaint on July 1, 1997. What a sweet sweet guy!! We yakked about so many things that took place over the course of his impressive career, but today I’m just going to pull from his memories working with one of my favorite New Orleans artists, Lee Dorsey.
I have a very specific memory of hearing Lee Dorsey singing “Working In The Coalmine” when I was a kid. In fact, I remember where I was the first time I heard several of his hits. I just loved his voice and the sound of his music. Every time he came on the radio, I had such a joyful lift that made me smile.
Allen Toussaint - Lee's voice was certainly the inspiration for everything I wrote for him. I was able to say things that I normally wouldn't say with a person who was more debonair or something like that. Lee wasn't too cool to do a song like "Working In The Coalmine." He wasn't too hip to do that, as hip as he was. Some guys would be too cool to do that … or too something … which isn't a bad thing. But with Lee Dorsey's voice having such a smile in it, you could do things like "Working In The Coalmine"
It’s funny that this is a mining song coming from a guy in New Orleans … a city that is ten feet below sea level.
Allen Toussaint - (laughs) You are absolutely right. (laughs) Yeah. That is odd, I would say.
So what was the inspiration?
Allen Toussaint - I have no idea, but I remember the day when I first began putting it down in my mind. In fact, I was at the piano, and it was four or five times faster. It was almost like a frenzy. It didn't have the words, "Working In The Coalmine," yet, but it went like that. It was really high energy, almost. This isn't a song that took days to write. This is a song that took minutes. (laughs)
I remember being in the studio doing "Mother-In-Law," and the way I thought it should've gone was much faster. Joe Banashak, the guy who owned the record label, very reluctantly asked, "Could you slow it down a little bit, so it wouldn't all go by so fast?" So I did it a little too slow for what I thought it should've been, but I really appreciated his suggestion later. (laughs) So when I did "Working In The Coalmine," I was my own collaborator. I asked myself, "Could you slow it down so we could hear this?” As I slowed it down, the words, 'working in the coal mine,' began to come.
"Holy Cow" was another great hit.
Allen Toussaint - Thank you. I consider it part of that group of songs, like "Lover Of Love" and "Optimism Blues.” They are part of that soft shoe element.
What is it about that kind of feel that appeals to you?
Allen Toussaint - I like those cute little things that are reminiscent of the old soft shoe things. I could see the whole little dance and all, if I close my eyes and … the way that melody goes, and the little bounce that goes behind it … and you can rattle on the side of the drum, like a tap dancer would.
I always loved "Sneakin' Sally Through The Alley.” What a groove!
Allen Toussaint - "Sneakin' Sally Through The Alley" was almost autobiographical Lee Dorsey. (laughs) We will not go further with that. (laughs) But it is pretty much there in the song. You can just listen to the record, and that's it. (laughs)
The Meters were amazing in the studio with Lee.
Allen Toussaint - Oh yes! The Meters played on Yes We Can Can," too. I played guitar, in fact, on "Yes We Can Can." We didn't use the piano on that one.
You’ve written so many great songs, but one of my favorites is "On Your Way Down." Little Feat did a great version of it, but I loved the versions you and Lee Dorsey did.
Allen Toussaint - I knew Lowell George, of course, later on. Years after they did that song. He covered "Sneakin' Sally Through The Alley," here in the studio with Robert Palmer … so I got to know Lowell later, but I never got to work with them.
The sentiment of "On Your Way Down" is so timeless. What is the story behind that song?
Allen Toussaint - It isn’t biographical of Lee Dorsey with "Sneakin Sally Through The Alley." Not that overt; but I remember when that song first came to me, I was outside of a club called Mason. In fact, it came to me around the same time as a few other songs like "Night People.” It was the same era. I just remember thinking about human relationships. Something happened one evening that it dawned on me, whether people are nice to each other or not. That is where that song came from.
One of my favorite Lee Dorsey songs is called "Whose Gonna Help Brother Get Further.” It has such a wicked groove!
Allen Toussaint - No one has ever mentioned that song to me! No one, since the day we did it. I didn't think anyone ever heard that.
It is one of my very favorite Lee Dorsey tracks. I love it. It has regularly shone up on several of my cassette road tapes I’ve compiled.
Allen Toussaint - Good heavens! You know that I am going to have to go dig it up and listen to it. I don't hear these records, because I am always on to the next one, but no one has ever mentioned that song. You have aroused my curiosity.
The snare has a wicked crack to it, and the bass guitar has a very fat distorted quality to it and is very visceral, and yet laid-back beauty to it. The song is in B flat, a weird key to play for the bass part, but it works. (sing the bass line)
Allen Toussaint - (laughs) That's right! Come to think about it. I can see it now! (laughs)
There is an element of joy and playfulness in this music. I feel it is missing from a lot of music these days. Do you know what I mean?
Allen Toussaint - Oh, yes, I do.
Your relationship with Lee was a lot more than just a producer/artist dynamic.
Allen Toussaint - Lee Dorsey … believe me … Lee and I had loads of fun. He was a very high spirited person. We rode motorcycles together. We raced Cadillacs together, and we double dated. We did a lot of everything spending a lot of time together and having fun.
Also, Lee Dorsey had loads of fun on his own. He didn't need anyone around him. He was a wonderful auto body and fender man. I once had a Cadillac that he really liked, and he didn't think that he could come up with the funds at the time, so in his body shop … he built one from scratch … and it looked a lot better than mine. He could put one together from spare parts from junk yards off of cars that had been in wrecks. He would patiently put the whole Cadillac together. When he got through painting it and doing it up, it looked better than what ever you had. (laughs)
Lee Dorsey in a Junkyard …. maybe looking for Cadillac parts.
It’s been a lot of fun visiting all of this with you.
Allen Toussaint - Oh yes. It is so interesting that you knew these other songs that I don't hear about. I don't hear about "Holy Cow” and certainly "Whose Gonna Help Brother Get Further?" No one knows that. Thank you very much.
Lee Dorsey with The Clash
