This is a hauntingly beautiful song about introspection, specifically about looking back at a relationship that started bad and ended so poorly, that the narrator wants to go back to the very beginning and tell himself to not even travel down that road. I believe that the relationship started poorly because of the lines:
"Take me back to the night we met:When the night was full of terrors: And your eyes were filled with tears: When you had not touched me yet"
So, the first night was not a great start, but the narrator pursued the relationship and eventually both overcame the rough start to fall in love with each other:
"I had all and then most of you"
Like many relationships that turn sour, it was not a quick decline, but a gradual one where the narrator and their partner fall out of love and gradually grow apart
"Some and now none of you"
Losing someone who was once everything in your world, who you could confide in, tell your secrets to, share all the most intimate parts of your life, to being strangers with that person is probably one of the most painful experiences a person can go through. So Painful, the narrator wants to go back in time and tell himself to not even pursue the relationship.
This was the perfect song for "13 Reasons Why"
They call me, Dr. John, known as The Night Tripper
Got my satchel of Gris-Gris in my hand
They be trippin' up, back down the Bayou
I'm the last of the best, they call me the Gris-Gris man
Got many clients come from miles around
Running down my prescription
I got medicine to cure all y'alls ills
I got remedies of every description
(Gris-gris Gumbo Ya Ya) Hey Now
(Hey now, Gumbo Ya Ya)
(Gris-gris Gumbo Ya Ya) Hey Now
(Hey now, Gumbo Ya Ya)
If you got love trouble, you got a bad woman you can't control
I got just the thing for you
Something called Controlin' Hearts Get Together Drops
If you work too hard and you need a little rest
Try my Easy Life Rub, or put some on my Boss Fix Jam
In your breakfast
Try a little bit a
(Gris-gris Gumbo Ya Ya) hey Now
(Hey now, Gumbo Ya Ya)
(Gris-gris Gumbo Ya Ya)
(Hey now, Gumbo Ya Ya)
They call me, Dr. John, known as the Night Tripper
Satchel of Gris-Gris in my hand
They be trippin' up, back down the Bayou
Know I'm the last of the best
I'm known as the Gris-Gris man
Sellin'
(Gris-gris Gumbo Ya Ya)
(Hey now, Gumbo Ya Ya)
(Gris-gris Gumbo Ya Ya)
(Hey now, Gumbo Ya Ya)
Some warm water if your neighbors give you trouble
Put your business in the street
(?) My whole cart, it just won't be beat
Try my Dragon's Blood, my drawn powder and my sleepin' sand
Never little black cat if your woman got another man
(?) Eatin' out the palm of your hand
(Hey now, Gumbo Ya Ya)
(Gris-gris Gumbo Ya-Ya) shoestring and a whole lotta sand
(Gris-gris Gumbo Ya-Ya) put on your woman's feet, and see if she don't love it
(Gris-gris Gumbo Ya-Ya)
(Hey now, Gumbo Ya Ya)
(Gris-gris Gumbo Ya-Ya)
(Hey now, Gumbo Ya Ya)
(Gris-gris Gumbo Ya-Ya)
(Hey now, Gumbo Ya Ya)
(Gris-gris Gumbo Ya-Ya)
(Hey now, Gumbo Ya Ya)
(Gris-gris Gumbo Ya-Ya)
(Hey now, Gumbo Ya Ya)
(Gris-gris Gumbo Ya-Ya)
(Hey now, Gumbo Ya Ya)
(Gris-gris Gumbo Ya-Ya)
(Hey now, Gumbo Ya Ya)
(Gris-gris Gumbo Ya-Ya)
Got my satchel of Gris-Gris in my hand
They be trippin' up, back down the Bayou
I'm the last of the best, they call me the Gris-Gris man
Got many clients come from miles around
Running down my prescription
I got medicine to cure all y'alls ills
I got remedies of every description
(Gris-gris Gumbo Ya Ya) Hey Now
(Hey now, Gumbo Ya Ya)
(Gris-gris Gumbo Ya Ya) Hey Now
(Hey now, Gumbo Ya Ya)
If you got love trouble, you got a bad woman you can't control
I got just the thing for you
Something called Controlin' Hearts Get Together Drops
If you work too hard and you need a little rest
Try my Easy Life Rub, or put some on my Boss Fix Jam
In your breakfast
Try a little bit a
(Gris-gris Gumbo Ya Ya) hey Now
(Hey now, Gumbo Ya Ya)
(Gris-gris Gumbo Ya Ya)
(Hey now, Gumbo Ya Ya)
They call me, Dr. John, known as the Night Tripper
Satchel of Gris-Gris in my hand
They be trippin' up, back down the Bayou
Know I'm the last of the best
I'm known as the Gris-Gris man
Sellin'
(Gris-gris Gumbo Ya Ya)
(Hey now, Gumbo Ya Ya)
(Gris-gris Gumbo Ya Ya)
(Hey now, Gumbo Ya Ya)
Some warm water if your neighbors give you trouble
Put your business in the street
(?) My whole cart, it just won't be beat
Try my Dragon's Blood, my drawn powder and my sleepin' sand
Never little black cat if your woman got another man
(?) Eatin' out the palm of your hand
(Hey now, Gumbo Ya Ya)
(Gris-gris Gumbo Ya-Ya) shoestring and a whole lotta sand
(Gris-gris Gumbo Ya-Ya) put on your woman's feet, and see if she don't love it
(Gris-gris Gumbo Ya-Ya)
(Hey now, Gumbo Ya Ya)
(Gris-gris Gumbo Ya-Ya)
(Hey now, Gumbo Ya Ya)
(Gris-gris Gumbo Ya-Ya)
(Hey now, Gumbo Ya Ya)
(Gris-gris Gumbo Ya-Ya)
(Hey now, Gumbo Ya Ya)
(Gris-gris Gumbo Ya-Ya)
(Hey now, Gumbo Ya Ya)
(Gris-gris Gumbo Ya-Ya)
(Hey now, Gumbo Ya Ya)
(Gris-gris Gumbo Ya-Ya)
(Hey now, Gumbo Ya Ya)
(Gris-gris Gumbo Ya-Ya)
Lyrics submitted by SongMeanings, edited by History079, chazzmo, JStraszak
Gris-Gris Gumbo Ya Ya Lyrics as written by Mac Pka Dr John Rebbenack
Lyrics © BMG RIGHTS MANAGEMENT US, LLC
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Great version of a great song,
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i think the second line is:
"got my satchel of gris-gris in my hand"
i never knew what gris-gris was until my cousin (who graduated from grambling in new orleans) let me know it referred to voodoo fetishes, dolls, herbs, etc.
i love this song, and dr. john.
The second verse should be as follows:
"If you got love trouble, got a bad woman you can't control I got just the thing for you Something called Controlling Oil and some Get Together Drops. If you work to hard and you need a little rest, Try my Easy Life Rub or put some of my Boss-Fix Jam in your breakfast."
Gris-gris, Controlling Oil, Black Cat Oil, Boss-Fix, War Water; these are all known Hoodoo remedies. You can find a lot of these things here: luckymojo.com/blackcat.html
Also, "Bayou", not "by you".
"Try a little black cat oil if your womasn's got another man" Some war water if your neighbors give you trouble put your business in the street"
"Try some Dragon BVlood my Drawn Powder and my Sacred Sand.."
Notice how all these lyrics sites just lazily copy everything including mistakes of whatever site they see first?