Warren wanted a Beach Boys thing for this one, and Carl Wilson and Billy Hinsche came in, with Carl arranging the vocal parts. The other harmony vocalists (credited as the "Gentlemen Boys") were Jackson Browne, J.D. Souther, Zevon's longtime backers Waddy Wachtel and Jorge Calderon, and Linda Rondstadt/Stone Poneys guitarist Kenny Edwards.
On the water down in New Orleans
My baby's the pearl of the quarter
She's a charmer like you never seen
Singing "voulez-voulez-voulez-vous"
Where the sailor spend his hard-earned pay
Red beans and rice for a quarter
You can see her almost any day
Singing "voulez-voulez-voulez-vous"
And if you hear from my Louise
Won't you tell her I say hello?
Please make it clear
When her day is done
She got a place to go
I walked alone down the miracle mile
I met my baby by the shrine of the martyr
She stole my heart with her Cajun smile
Singing "voulez-voulez-voulez-vous"
She loved the million dollar words I'd say
She loved the candy and the flowers that I bought her
She said she loved me and was on her way
Singing "voulez-voulez-voulez-vous
And if you hear from my Louise
Won't you tell her I love her so?
Please make it clear
When her day is done
She got a place to go
And if you hear from my Louise
Won't you tell her I love her so?
Please make it clear
When her day is done
She got a place to go
My baby's the pearl of the quarter
She's a charmer like you never seen
Singing "voulez-voulez-voulez-vous"
Where the sailor spend his hard-earned pay
Red beans and rice for a quarter
You can see her almost any day
Singing "voulez-voulez-voulez-vous"
And if you hear from my Louise
Won't you tell her I say hello?
Please make it clear
When her day is done
She got a place to go
I walked alone down the miracle mile
I met my baby by the shrine of the martyr
She stole my heart with her Cajun smile
Singing "voulez-voulez-voulez-vous"
She loved the million dollar words I'd say
She loved the candy and the flowers that I bought her
She said she loved me and was on her way
Singing "voulez-voulez-voulez-vous
And if you hear from my Louise
Won't you tell her I love her so?
Please make it clear
When her day is done
She got a place to go
And if you hear from my Louise
Won't you tell her I love her so?
Please make it clear
When her day is done
She got a place to go
Lyrics submitted by GaslitAbbie
Pearl of the Quarter Lyrics as written by Donald Jay Fagen Walter Carl Becker
Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group, Royalty Network
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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One of the few songs about a hooker that features pedal steel.
You guys have dirty minds. Louise probably works in a food truck, serving up beans and rice to the sailors.
@Toadly <br /> No way. She is a nun who cares for homeless at the Shrine of the Martyr. ☺
@Toadly HAHAHAHA.
Ahh, the classic "I fell in love with a hooker" song--and in true 'Dan fashion, the hooker is willing to humor him ("She said she loved me and was on her way...") and leave him begging for her to cease her promiscuous ways and stay with him. I think "Voulez-vous?" translates to "Do you want [this]?", which is a logical sales pitch.
I wonder if Sting listened to this song when he wrote "Roxanne."
Nothing like red beans and rice for a quarter.
Fall in love with a hooker and that pedal steel will be playin' the blues fer ya. :)
Pearl Of The Quarter shows that, in addition to everything else, these guys could write great love songs. Beautiful pedal steel playing and heart rending lyrics make it sit comfortably beside Doctor Wu and Maxine...
Moldering facades of apartments in the French Quarter / overwhelming sadness in the pedal steel guitar / imagining Louise's face / the shrine of the martyr / someone who died at the hands of sinful humanity / the world's oldest profession / unrequited love / musical notes that turn into tears...
This song does it to me every time.
Also, "charmer" is NOLa slang for a woman, usually white, lower/middle class.