Considered a great honor, this is one of the most distinguished aspects of New Orleans culture. Its roots lie in the customs of the Dahomeans and Yoruba people, and is a celebration of both the person’s life and the beauty and solemnity of their death. The procession is lead by the Grand Marshal, resplendent in his black tuxedo, white gloves and black hat in hand; almost a vision of the great Baron Samedi himself. The music begins with solemn, tolling dirges, moves into hymns of sorrow, loss and redemption. When the burial site is reached, a two-note preparatory riff is sounded, and the drummers start the second-line beat, heralding the switch in music to joyous, upbeat songs, dancing, and the unfurling of richly decorated umbrellas by the ‘second line’ friends, family, loved ones and stray celebrants. Strutting, bouncing, and festive dance accompanies the upbeat ragtime music that sends the departed soul onto its next journey.
Didn’t he ramble
… he rambled
Rambled all around
… in and out of town
Didn’t he ramble
… didn’t he ramble
He rambled till the butcher cut him down.
His feet was in the market place
his head was in the street
Lady pass him by, said
look at the market meat
He grabbed her pocket book
and said I wish you well
She pulled out a forty-five
said I’m head of personnel.
Didn’t he ramble
… he rambled
Rambled all around
… in and out of town
Didn’t he ramble
… didn’t he ramble
He rambled till the butcher cut him down.
He slipped into the cat house
made love to the stable
Madam caught him cold
said I’ll pay you when I be able
Six months had passed
and she stood all she could stand
She said buddy when I’m through with you
Ole groundhog gonna be shakin yo’ hand.
Didn’t he ramble
… he rambled
Rambled all around
… in and out of town
Didn’t he ramble
… didn’t he ramble
He rambled till the butcher cut him down.
I said he rambled
lord
… ’till the butcher shot him down.
Bittersweet bay rum, bourbon, and a host of funeral flowers with a touch of graveyard dirt, magnolia and Spanish Moss.
yakubec.jl –
Lovely, I smell of a mausoleum!
suntannedcactus147 –
I went antiquing today and came home to find my first BPAL order came in! I excitedly opened up this guy (I got the imp) and… it smells like I never left the antique store. Lol. In an amazing way, though! It reminds me of old books, or an empty bottle of Coke… like a glass bottle that someone threw out without rinsing, and the cola smell is still lingering a bit. It’s absolutely lovely. I would recommend this 100%.
c.morelock35 –
smells musky and kind of like opening a closet full of winter coats that havent been worn in a while. has a bit of an underlying dirt smell as well. really lovely. unfortunately when opening the imp of this one, i dropped it, and am now covered in 80% of it, as is my chair. so sadly probably only have a few more wears of this one. but at least now my furniture smells amazing.
gaia.earth24 –
Smells like someone dug up a centuries old body, took the clothes off the skeleton, and stored them in an attic for a couple years. I love this scent. Out of the bottle is smells like straight up dirt and mildew (pleasantly). On my skin it mellows out of little and almost smells like bananas. I’m quite pleased with it. After a couple hours of wear the dirt and mildew smell fades to a more pleasant almost spicy floral scent. Florals go soapy on me but this doesn’t thankfully. I don’t know how often I’ll wear it since it is such a unique scent but I’m more than thrilled to have it in my collection.
riddleve –
First of all, they’re not exaggerating when they say it smells like dirt. If you don’t want to smell literally like soil, probably give this one a miss. It’s a nice smell, in my opinion; it doesn’t make me think of bones dug up, per se, but more dry soil at night–maybe a cold autumn night when it hadn’t rained in a while, probably before the first frost–definitely in the moonlight, and quite probably in a graveyard. It’s also a complex kind of dirt smell–there’s all kinds of smells going on in there. I wouldn’t even be able to begin to unpack it, at least not after only trying it once (so far. def will be trying it again). There’s some mildew, pale pale whiff of flower, and something… old. Dusty. I really love the way this smells, but it’s not something you could wear just anywhere. Or, uh, most places, honestly. Especially because it’s fairly strong. Definitely not a work scent, definitely not a club/party scent… I’d highly recommend this as a scent just for Halloween or LARPing but it’d also be good if you’re going out and you want to complete your Gothic Undead look. It also has kind of an old-book smell that wouldn’t be out of place in the bookstore or library, and the soil smell would probably be quite nice at a picnic or something outdoorsy like that. It’s a very niche scent is what I mean to say, but it does that niche fantastically.
Gloame –
Smells like peat moss. Love it in the garden, less so on me.
Hellokoi –
Yorick smells like a frosted gingerbread cookie, trampled thoroughly into brown soil (with some crunchy, dry leaves), with a creamy, tropical flower thrown on top to mark its grave. After a half hour, the spice is more like a sharp cinnamon.
Anninyn –
In bottle: Dusty Musty Musky, like old uncared for houses and damp-ruined books.
Wet on skin: The same dusty smell, becomes dryer, with a distant background of incense.
Dry on Skin: This smells exactly like… old decay, to me. Not fresh decay, but old. Abandoned houses and dead leaves. It smells like wandering around the post-apocalypse, long after the fighting and dying has died down.
I love it. All dry and papery and dessicated and dusty. I definitely get a slightly fungi-ish smell off it, too.
I smell dead, but in a good way.
TarynPage –
This scent reminds me of rotting wood. I feel like any mysterious antique shop smells just like this. It’s a lot more funky-smelling in the imp, but I like that edge to it. My parents had an old sailboat that would never actually float, and this scent completely reminds me of going underneath to bail out the water.
In the vial: Rot, wood, mildew, flowers
On *my* skin: Wet wood, sweet flowers, pine shavings, wet cloth
deathcandy –
Oh wow. I was not expecting this!
On opening, it smells deeply of rotting or mildewy clothes and dug dirt.. but sweet.
Wet on skin, it reminds me very much of winter gardening and old clothes.
Dry on skin, it becomes quite light with the lingering smell of grave-dirt and a very faint spice.
Purchased for a LRP characters signature scent – It works perfectly.
Teamama67 –
In the imp: Eurgh. I get mildew, or a moldy orange.
Wet on my skin & Drydown: Wood, and dirt, and spice. Sweet. Reminds me of playing in the garden in the summer.
Dry: Wood, anise, and a pale pale hint of dirt.
This is going on my wish list. I would never have thought that from the first whiff of the imp!
KaidaJekri –
On me this smells sweet and strangely pleasant. Unexpected.