High Water Friends CD - Track Seven: Tee Nah Nah

          After a week off exploring the Covington restaurant scene and the struggles of the New Orleans Saints, now it’s time to get back to the crawfish boil CD. Up next is the seventh track and fourth from Warren Prejean and the Zydeco Rythmn and Blues Bland titled “Tee Nah Nah.”

Smiley Lewis (1913-1966)

           “Tee Nah Nah” first became a hit in 1950 by New Orleans R&B musician Smiley Lewis. Born in DeQuincey, Louisiana with the unfortunate name of Overton Amos Lemons, Smiley fled for New Orleans in his mid-teens. After boarding with a white family in the Irish Channel he adopted their last name of Lewis. He began his musical career playing clubs in the French Quarter and the 7^th Ward. Lewis’s lack of front teeth earned him the stage name of Smiling or Smiley. Throughout his early career, Smiley often played alongside pianist Isidore “Tuts” Washington. Throughout the 1930s and 40s, Lewis played clubs in the city while working odd jobs. In 1950, the invitation of childhood neighbor and musician Dave Bartholomew led to a recording session with Imperial Records. The first song to come out that recording session was “Tee Nah Nah.” Tuts Washington had provided Lewis with the song, claiming that it was song by the inmates at the infamous Angola state prison. The song became popular across the Old South, especially in dance halls. Lewis would go on to record further hit songs, “Blue Monday” and “I Hear You Knocking.” “I Hear You Knocking” reached number two on the R&B charts. Throughout his career, other artists like Fats Domino, Gale Storm, and even a young Elvis Presley covered Lewis’s songs much more successfully than Lewis himself ever could. Embittered, Lewis succumbed to stomach cancer in 1965. 

Buckwheat Zydeco and his legendary accordion 

           In 1987, “Tee Nah Nah” again found commercial success thanks to Buckwheat Zydeco. Buckwheat Zydeco is the stage name of Zydeco musician Stanley Dural, Jr. and his band. Unlike most zydeco artists, Buckwheat Zydeco has achieved significant national and international success. They have performed with Eric Clapton, U2, and the Boston Pops. They played the closing ceremonies of the 1996 closing Olympics and at both inaugurations of President Bill Clinton. Dural himself was born in Lafayette and earned his nickname from his resemblance to the character from The Little Rascals. In the 1970s, Dural switched over to zydeco permanently after joining legendary musician Clifton Chenier’s band as an organist. In 1979, he formed his own band under the name Buckwheat Zydeco. Throughout the 1980s, Buckwheat Zydeco released several albums and in 1988 joined Eric Clapton on his North American tour. Clapton’s patronage led to collaborations with Keith Richards, Willie Nelson, Robert Plant, and Paul Simon. Throughout the 1900s and 2000s Buckwheat Zydeco has continued to tour and perform. Most recently, they opened the final episode of Jimmy Fallon’s run on Late Night.

         

          The song “Tee Nah Nah” plays every Friday morning on 93.7 The Dawg, a country music station based in Lafayette. In honor of the song’s dance hall popularity, the station claims that they lead off with the song before their 6:00 AM news to provide a spring in the step of their listeners.

Tee Nah Nah

Tee Nah Nah, Tee Nah Nah Nah Nah nah
Tee Nah Nah Nah Nah, Tee Nah Nah
Tee Nah Nah Nah Nah, Tee Nah Nah Tee Nah Nah
www.cajunlyrics.com
I'm In Love, with a Married Woman
But I'm afraid, to call her name
If I call her Name Lord, Gonna be in trouble
www.cajunlyrics.com
Owe Wee, Owe Wee Baby
Honey Look Just What You Do To Me
Owe Wee, Owe Wee Honey Please
www.cajunlyrics.com
Tee Nah Nah, Tee Nah Nah Nah Nah nah
Tee Nah Nah Nah Nah, Tee Nah Nah
Tee Nah Nah Nah Nah, Tee Nah Nah Tee Nah Nah
www.cajunlyrics.com
www.cajunlyrics.com
I'm In Love, with a Married Woman
But I'm afraid, to call her name
If I call her Name Lord, Gonna be in trouble
www.cajunlyrics.com
Owe Wee, Owe Wee Baby
Honey Look Just What You Do To Me
Owe Wee, Owe Wee, Honey Please
www.cajunlyrics.com
Tee Nah Nah, Tee Nah Nah Nah Nah nah
Tee Nah Nah Nah Nah, Tee Nah Nah
Tee Nah Nah Nah Nah, Tee Nah Nah Tee Nah Nah

The Saints So Far

          In 2013, following the return of head coach Sean Payton and the arrival of new defensive coordinator, Rob Ryan, the New Orleans Saints posted a record of 11-5. In the playoffs, they beat the Philadelphia Eagles 26-24 before falling 23-15 to the Seattle Seahawks in the divisional round. The Saints had Super Bowl aspirations entering 2014. Despite being tight against the salary cap, they resigned tight end Jimmy Graham to a four year deal and brought in safety Jarius Byrd from the Bills to bolster their defensive backfield. The moves indicated that the Saints wanted to win another Super Bowl before the end of quarterback Drew Brees’s career.

          Currently the Saints’s record is 2-4, second in the NFC South. Three of their losses have been by a combined six points. In games decided by six points or fewer the Saints are 1-3. Some of this poor record is simply bad luck—a play or two goes the other way in any of the Atlanta, Cleveland or Detroit games and suddenly the Saints are 5-1. But luck isn’t the sole reason for the Saints poor record through seven weeks. In order to understand where the Saints have faltered this year, we need to dig a little deeper. So let’s start with their average production on drives (courtesy of Football Outsiders).

Saints Drive Statistics

	Yards/Drive	Points/Drive	Plays/Drive	LOS/Drive
Offense	41.86 (1)	2.48 (7)	6.81 (1)	22.73 (31)
Defense	37.20 (29)	2.53 (30)	6.47 (29)	25.45 (9)

The Saints offense has managed the most yards and plays per drive in the NFL. Yet they are only seventh in points. Brees’s seven interceptions (more on turnovers later) have contributed to this lower than expected scoring output. They have also suffered from lousy field position, 31^st in the league. It’s great to have lots of plays and yards, but it’s hard to convert them into points if you have to traverse the field much farther than your opponents. And most importantly, for every long drive the offense manages to string together, the defense gives it right back. Saints opponents are nearly matching the offense in terms of production. Think of it this way, this year the Saints offense has played against itself on the other sideline. It’s hard to win a lot of games that way.

SAINTS ON OFFENSE

          While it would be easy to place the blame for the Saints poor start solely on the defense, there’s more to the story than that. So let’s go deeper on the Saints offense.

Saints Overall Offense 2013 vs. 2014

	Points/Game	Yards/Game	Adj. Sack Rate	Offensive DVOA	Pass DVOA	Run DVOA
2013	25.9 (10)	399.4 (4)	5.3% (4)	16.0% (5)	35.9% (3)	-5.3% (19)
2014	25.8 (10)	437 (2)	2.9% (2)	11.8% (7)	18.3% (15)	10.2% (2)

          At first glance, the Saints offense seems to be humming along as usual. They’re scoring at almost an identical rate as last season. They’re even averaging more yards per game. The offensive line has kept Brees off his back, allowing sacks on only 2.9% of his dropbacks. Even their overall offense according to DVOA (explained here) is similar to last season. Yet when we look closer at their passing and running games, a disturbing trend begins to emerge. The passing game that has terrorized opponents since Sean Payton and Drew Brees arrived in New Orleans has declined significantly from last season.

Saints Passing Offense

	Yards/Game	Plays of 20+ Yards	Average 20+ Yard Plays/Game	Yards per Reception
2013	307.4 (2)	67	4.1875	11.6 (14)
2014	314 (2)	18	3	10.8 (25)

         

          The Saints offense is producing similar yards per game, but the decline stems from the lack of big plays down the field. Over the Payton-Brees partnership the Saints have always relied on a balance of short passes to their running backs and wide receivers and deep throws down the field. The short passes function as an extension of their running game. They get the ball to their pass catchers in space and pick up chunks of yardage. Downfield passes prevent teams from stacking the line of scrimmage and smothering the short passing game. This season the Saints have largely lacked that deep threat. Their average number of plays 20+ yards downfield has fallen dramatically and consequently so has their average yards per reception. Without the threat of quick score on a long pass, the Saints cannot generate the big scoring plays that build leads and create extra possessions.

DEFENSE

Saints Defense 2013 vs. 2014

	DVOA	Pass DVOA	Run DVOA	Points per Game	Run Yards per Game	Adj. Sack Rate	3rd Down Conversions
2013	-5.8% (10)	-9.2% (6)	-1.5% (20)	19.0 (4)	111.6 (19)	8.6% (4)	34.7% (9)
2014	17.7% (32)	39.3% (30)	-8.6% (16)	27.5 (28)	103.2 (11)	3.6% (29)	46.3% (26)

The Saints’ defensive decline has been staggering. A quick look at DVOA reveals where the Saints defense has gone wrong this year. The Saints front four has generated little pressure on the quarterback as evidenced by their atrocious adjusted sack rate. Pass rushers Cameron Jordan and Junior Gallette have failed to build on their breakout from last year. The inability to pressure the quarterback has exacerbated the problems in the defensive backfield. The Saints pass defense is similarly woeful. Last year the defense allowed 194.1 passing yards per game, second in the league. This year, they rank 28^th with 270.5 yards per game. The defensive backs have been especially burned by opponents’ number one receivers, allowing 108.2 yards per game compared to only 48.6 last year. Part of this problem has stemmed from poor play by the defensive backs. Opposing offenses have repeatedly picked on defensive backs Patrick Robinson and Corey White. Robinson and White both played extensively last season, but with the departure of Malcolm Jenkins, Jabari Greer, and Roman Harper have been called on to play a bigger role in the defense. So far they haven’t been up to the task. The season ending injury to Jarius Byrd has only worsened the problem. Byrd’s coverage skills were supposed to meld well with second year safety Kenny Vaccaro’s run defense. Bad defensive backs are especially deadly in Rob Ryan’s defensive system.

Rob Ryan Defenses by DVOA

	DVOA (rank)	Pass DVOA (rank)	Run DVOA (rank)
2004 OAK	11.5% (26)	29.2% (30)	-4.6% (15)
2005 OAK	1.9% (20)	13.1% (27)	-8.5% (14)
2006 OAK	-8.0% (8)	-16.1% (4)	-1.6% (17)
2007 OAK	5.7% (20)	-1.3% (13)	11.9% (32)
2008 OAK	3.7% (19)	-0.1% (13)	6.7% (28)
2009 CLE	16.4% (30)	27.1% (28)	5.4% (30)
2010 CLE	1.7% (18)	4.6% (18)	-1.1% (22)
2011 DAL	0.4% (16)	8.5% (20)	-10.9% (8)
2012 DAL	6.7% (23)	16.2% (25)	-4.1% (19)
2013 NO	-5.8% (10)	-9.2% (6)	-1.5% (20)

          Over his career as a defensive coordinator, Ryan has predicated his defenses against stopping the run. By focusing on stopping the run, Ryan likes to put his opponents in third and long situations, forcing them to pass. In those situations, Ryan can rely on his defensive creativity to confuse opposing quarterbacks and force them to make mistakes. As part of his defensive game planning, Ryan, like his brother, features what is called an “amoeba defense” (it’s also known as a “psycho front”). Here’s a picture of it below.

          This picture is from the first game of the 2013 season. The amoeba relies on confusing the opposing quarterback by keeping the defenders moving around, disguising who will rush the quarterback and who will drop into coverage. Only one Saints defender (defensive end Cameron Jordan) has his hand on the ground—the traditional stance for rushing the passer. Everyone else is standing and able to either rush or drop back depending on the play call. While the amoeba defense can be quite effective in confusing opposing quarterbacks (the Ryan brothers have had success against Brees, Brady, and Manning using it), it is high risk and high reward. The amoeba is particularly susceptible to run plays and screen passes. In the above situation, the Saints dare the Falcons to run the ball. They have few defenders in position to stop the run at the line of scrimmage. Screen passes are also effective because they get the ball out of the quarterback’s hands quickly and away from the constantly moving defenders. The amoeba is also less successful when the other components of the defense: the pass rush, defensive backs are less successful. In order for the amoeba to be successful, the defense needs to force their opponents into disadvantageous situations.

TURNOVERS

	INT	Fumbles	Total
Offense	7	4	11
Defense	3	1	4
Turnover Differential			-7

The Saints have lost the turnover battle this season. Some of that is due to bad luck. The Saints defense has forced four fumbles, but only recovered one of them. Meanwhile opponents have forced five fumbles and recovered all of them. Additionally Brees has thrown more interceptions than usual. His TD/INT ratio this year is 1.57, well below his career average of 2.03. Even worse is that Saints opponents have turned six of those seven INTs into touchdowns. Some of this turnover luck should even out. The Saints should recover a few more fumbles and their opponents will recover a few less.

Overall, the Saints season has been a combination of poor play and bad luck. The luck should even out, but the poor play will determine if the Saints can make a run in the weak NFC South. 

DGA Dining: Ox Lot 9

          This week we’re going to take a break from the Crawfish boil CD and explore another area close to our hearts here at DGA: the Louisiana culinary landscape. This week’s post is from Bill about a recent dinner date at Ox Lot 9, a new restaurant in Covington.

The restaurant exterior. 

           Back in August, I had a date and a big problem. My date had some serious food allergies including corn syrup, citric acid, barley, plum, mango, pumpkin, cantaloupe, honeydew melon, watermelon, white potatoes, and all nuts except peanuts. I wanted to try a new restaurant in downtown Covington, called Ox Lot 9. Not wanting to kill my date at the dinner table, I emailed the restaurant to see if they could accommodate her allergies. Within a few hours I received an email from Jeffrey Hansel, the chef and owner, informing me that the restaurant had a few items to accommodate my date, but I should be sure mention the allergies when making a reservation. Hansel’s response soothed mine and my date’s nerves. She appreciates not having to constantly explain her allergies and why when she orders a hamburger she doesn't want the bun.

The Open Kitchen at Ox Lot 9.  

On the evening of Friday August 22, we walked through downtown Covington to Ox Lot 9. The hostess seated us at a small two person table looking into the open kitchen. I am a big fan of getting to see the chefs in action. The décor was very fitting with custom cypress tables and an old style southern motif. The arrival of the menus offered a pleasant surprise. My date looked at her menu and found that the chef had circled problematic menu items and starred safe ones. After our apps and entrees, we asked about dessert. Chef Hansel came out and talked to us. He explained how he enjoyed accommodating to customers who couldn’t partake in the entire menu. The experience at Ox Lot 9 even influenced me to try to make things like sodas without common ingredients like corn syrup and citric acid.

On the menu Frog Legs with Hot Sauce Butter, Buttermilk dressing, and Pickled Celery 

Ox Lot 9 is located inside the newly renovated Southern Hotel on Boston Street in Covington. The restaurant borrows its name from the famed “ox lots” in Covington. In the 19^th century, they were places for farmers travelling to Covington to tie up their oxen while they conducted their business in town. The tradition remains in Covington to this day. Instead of oxen, the lots now provide free parking. The restaurant’s menu honors its name by presenting the historic cuisine of the Gulf Coast in a modern, yet simple way. Chef Hansell has extensive experience in the cuisine of the Gulf. He grew up only forty five minutes east of New Orleans. He attended the culinary school at the University of Southern Mississippi. He worked at Commander’s Palace under Tory McPhail. He also worked in Alabama and Colorado before returning to New Orleans to take up the post of Executive Sous Chef at John Besh’s Lüke. He returned to Birmingham to work as executive chef at Veranda on Highland. Now Hansel has settled in Covington, hoping to make Ox Lot 9 his permanent home. If the restaurant continues to offer its brand of stellar service and food, it will be around for years to come. 

High Water Friends CD Track Six-- Mustang Sally

Welcome to track six on the 6^th Annual Doug Green Associates Crawfish boil CD. Held in Madisonville, Louisiana on March 9, 2013, the boil drew from Louisiana’s rich musical heritage. It featured Davis Rogan, a musician from New Orleans who has become a crawfish boil staple and Warren Prejean and the Zydeco Rhythm and Blues Band. In previous blog posts we’ve covered Rogan’s songs. Now we’re deep into Prejean and the Zydeco Rhythm and Blues Band. Next up is the R&B classic, Mustang Sally.

          Songwriter Mack Rice penned Mustang Sally in 1965. Born in Clarksdale, Mississippi in 1935, Rice got his musical start in the 1950s in Detroit. From 1957 to 1963 he performed with the Falcons, a group that included Eddie Floyd, Wilson Pickett, and Joe Stubbs. After leaving the band, Rice carved out a career for himself primarily as a songwriter. Along with Mustang Sally, he wrote songs like Respect Yourself, Betcha Can't Kiss Me (Just One Time), Money Talks, It Sho Ain't Me, and Santa Claus Wants Some Lovin'. Artists from Etta James to Lynyrd Skynrd to Ike and Tina Turner have also performed songs written by Rice. In addition to songwriting, Rice ventured into performing his own works as well. In 1992, he released his first solo album titled Right Now. To this day, he lives in Detroit and still performs.

Mack Rice 

Rice wrote Mustang Sally following a visit to his friend, singer Della Reese in New York City. Reese had off-handedly mentioned that she planned to buy her drummer a Lincoln for his birthday. Calvin Shields, the drummer, appreciated the thought, but reportedly replied, “I don’t want a Lincoln, I want a Mustang.” Shields’ response confused Rice. He could not understand why anyone would want the small Mustang instead of the bigger and more powerful Lincoln. After returning to Detroit, Rice began work on a song titled “Mustang Mama.” A serendipitous visit to Aretha Franklin’s house led to the name change to “Mustang Sally.” Franklin believed that “Mustang Sally” fit better with the music. And so the song was born.

Wilson Pickett 

Rice wrote and released his own version of the song in 1965. At a performance at the famed Apollo Theater, Wilson Pickett heard Rice performing Mustang Sally and decided to record his own version. Pickett’s cover,  released as a single and on his 1966 album The Wicked Pickett, became a hit. It peaked at 23 on the pop music charts in 1966 and reached number six on the R&B charts. In 2010, Rolling Stone Magazine named Pickett’s version, the 441^st greatest song of all time. The song, however, very nearly never made it out of the studio.  When Pickett finished recording at FAME studios in Muscle Shoals, Alabama, the tape flew off the reel and broke. Tom Dowd, a legendary engineer working on the album, ordered everyone out of the room and told them to come back in a half an hour. When they did, he had managed to piece the tape back together and save the song. The rest is musical history.

“Mustang Sally”

Mustang Sally, think you better slow your mustang down.

Mustang Sally, think you better slow your mustang down.

You been running all over the town now.

Oh! I guess I'll have to put your flat feet on the ground.

All you want to do is ride around Sally, ride, Sally, ride.

All you want to do is ride around Sally, ride, Sally, ride.

All you want to do is ride around Sally, ride, Sally, ride.

One of these early mornings, oh, you gonna be wiping your weeping eyes.

I bought you a brand new mustang 'bout nineteen sixty five

Now you come around signifying a woman, you don't wanna let me ride.

Mustang Sally, think you better slow your mustang down.

You been running all over the town now.

Oh! I guess I'll have to put your flat feet on the ground.

All you want to do is ride around Sally, ride, Sally, ride.

All you want to do is ride around Sally, ride, Sally, ride.

All you want to do is ride around Sally, ride, Sally, ride.