by Nick DeRiso
“Sitting on a suitcase, in the Memphis depot – wishing to God I could fly,” sings Clarence “Gatemouth” Brown on my old record. “Catching this train is my way of telling Memphis and Mildred goodbye.”
People have actually asked me to bring it to parties.
The album – and it is an album, on vinyl pressed in 1975 – is unremarkable enough. Really, “The Bogalusa Boogie Man” looks like nothing more than another old blues record, issued by the tiny Barclay label.
The fourth song on side one, though: It’s called “Monroe, Louisiana.”
This is something of a local legend. Yes, the song exists, detailing the bad end of that affair with Mildred – a woman Gatemouth says he met while performing as “a picker in a West Memphis lounge.”
Problem with Mildred was that she was “from the rich side of town. … and champagne ain’t my cup of tea,” sings Brown, who ended up performing several times in Monroe – including a celebrated appearance at the Louisiana Folklife Festival.
“She wanted to make me something I ain’t,” Brown sings. “But Gatemouth just couldn’t be made.”
So Gatemouth decided to head to friendlier climes: “Monroe, Louisiana, is a beer drinking town. Got lots of friends there that won’t let me down,” he sings. “They’ve heard me fiddle and they’ve heard me sing. Going back to Monroe, where Gatemouth’s the king.”
The song was actually written by Danny Morrison, with music by acoustic guitarist Red Lane. It was recorded at the Studio in the Country down in Bogalusa.
But here’s the thing: For a good long while (before the Internet, anyway), nobody could find this song. It certainly wasn’t in stores.
It’s sitting on a shelf with the rest of my albums from the 1970s (you know, ELO’s “New World Record” and Steve Martin’s “Let’s Get Small”).
Sadly, I’ve heard Gatemouth fiddle and I’ve heard him sing, but I haven’t heard “Monroe, Louisiana” in a while.
My stylus is broken.
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i wonder how many people think about this song nowadays
I did the Folk Life festival w/ Gate that year and he played that song. The crowd went nuts. Gate was the man.