LaBelle, Lady Marmalade | Throwback Vibez 🕶️🎶

In the 176^th edition of Throwback Vibez (2023), we recollect and reflect on “Lady Marmalade” by LaBelle. 

The vibes, the vibes, those Throwback Vibez 🕶️🎶! Throwback Vibez 🕶️🎶 is a column that celebrates awesome songs from the past.  The records that grace this column are older, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that they’re ancient – no fossils 🦴! All genres of music are welcome. In the 176^th edition of Throwback Vibez 🕶️🎶 (2023), we recollect and reflect on 🎵 “Lady Marmalade”, performed by 🎙 LaBelle. 

“Hey sister, go sister / Soul sister, go sister.” WOO! 🎙 LaBelle, prior to 🎙 Patti LaBelle going solo, dropped a hot one in 🎵 “Lady Marmalade”, like, “Gitchie gitchie ya ya da da” and, of course, “Voulez-vous coucher avec moi, ce soir?” When it comes to funk/R&B/soul classics, “Lady Marmalade” is a go-to – it’s entertaining and infectious to the nth degree.  It should come as no surprise that the record spent one week at no. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 💪. Furthermore, both the single, and the parent album, 💿 Nightbirds, was certified gold by the RIAA. LaBelle, which also included 🎙 Nona Hendryx and 🎙 Sarah Dash, neither wrote nor originally recorded “Lady Marmalade” 🤯. The original was recorded the same year as LaBelle, courtesy of 🎙 The Eleventh Hour. 🎼 ✍ Bob Crewe and Kenny Nolan penned this masterpiece. 🎛 Allan Toussaint produced this ‘cover,’ alongside Vicki Wickham.

So, what is “Lady Marmalade” about? A New Orleans prostitute 🤯 🤯 🤯. “He met Marmalade down in old New Orleans / Strutting her stuff on the street,” Patti LaBelle sings in the first verse, continuing, “She said, ‘Hello, hey Joe’ / You wanna give it a go?” Risqué! Well, the second and third verses push the envelope ✉️ more with the likes of “On her black satin sheets / Where he started to freak,” and, “Touching her skin, feeling silky smooth / Color of café au lait / Made the savage beast inside / Roar until it cried / ‘More, more, more!’” Damn! So, what exactly does the Voulez-vous coucher avec moi, ce soir translate to in English? Do you want to sleep with me tonight? Oh, snap 🫰! Apparently, Patti LaBelle had no clue what the chorus of the song was about.  To this day, 🎵 “Lady Marmalade” is a recording that is a big deal.  Also, throwing it out there, it’s a beloved gay anthem 🏳️‍🌈.  A remake for the film 🎦 Moulin Rouge, courtesy of 🎙 Christina Aguilera, 🎙 Lil Kim, 🎙 Mya, and 🎙 P!nk spent five weeks at no. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 2001. That’s a testament to the excellence and strength of original arriving 27 years earlier 💪.

🎙 LaBelle • 💿 Nightbirds • 🏷 Sony Music Entertainment Inc. • 🗓 1974

LaBelle, Lady Marmalade: Throwback Vibez 🕶️🎶 No. 176 (2023) [📷: Brent Faulkner / The Musical Hype; Sony Music Entertainment Inc.; John Alan Sperry, PIRO via  Pixabay]