Down in New Orleans
Walk the straight and narrow track.
We got magic, good and bad.
If you walk with Jesus, he'll save your soul.
Walk the straight and narrow track.
The women are very pretty.
If you walk with Jesus, he'll save your soul.
But you gotta keep the devil down in the hole.
The women are very pretty.
The men deliver.
You gotta keep the devil down in the hole.
But you ought to do some livin' before you die.
The men deliver.
We got magic, good and bad.
You ought to do some livin' before you die.
Down in New Orleans.
(Taken from The Wire theme song by Tom Waits and Down in New Orleans by Dr. John.)
I love this pantoum. I am especially drawn to the way it maintains a loose narrative even through all the repetitions. I have a lot of trouble, when writing these, with repeating lines. Often times it won't make sense anymore and one of the lines in the stanza will appear horribly out of place. Thanks for the good example.
ReplyDeleteI appeciated your use of Tom Waits and Dr. John lyrics. They are two of my favorite musicians and you proved that their words make a good pantoum.
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