Dancing at a Funeral, New Orleans Style

[CrazyLittleWoman]

lune ellise wrote:
Can I ask something out of topic?

Where did the "grave dancers' union" idea came from? Did Dave derive it from a certain culture or tradition? Or is it a reference to a certain literature?

It struck me as a very odd idea if it is an original one from the great Dave...

Karl's answer in an interview in the early 90's with a Dutch magazine, I'll do my best to translate it as good as possible:

Interviewer: What should I think of when I think of the album title "Grave Dancers Union"?

Karl: It can mean anything you want, or what I want. It's a line in one of the songs on the album and that's all I dare to say about it. I have my own ideas about grave dancing and I'm sure you have different ones. In New Orleans and the deep South it's tradition to make a party of a funeral instead of grieving in church. It's more a celebration of a passage and not grievance about the end. But I never ask Dave what his songs are about. They mean something to me and he writes about a lot of different subjects. You won't find answers in them, but at least they make you think.

This question was asked a while back in another thread.

I think the lines "I tried to dance at a funeral / New Orleans style / I joined the grave dancers union / I had to file" might be referring to the "second line" of New Orleans jazz funeral processions.

I just found this funny video which gives a history of the tradition of the "second line" with a demonstration of how to participate:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bpwlPh0k40U&NR=1

And this is a video of an actual New Orleans jazz funeral with a "second line:"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lXMI9Dj8sXc&NR=1

[sheryl]

How do you not love a city where you can dance in the streets anytime you want to??

I don't see too many people dancing in the second lines, though, more just kind of walking along looking simultaneously charmed and puzzled. Second lines form and are planned of course, for funerals. You get dancers and steppers then, and that's very cool. If I don't get a jazz funeral, btw, I'm haunting everyone who let me down. Just sayin'...

But anyway....random parades spring up out of nowhere all the time and in my neighborhood the second lines that form are made up of dancers, people on bikes, people pushing strollers, and people with dogs. It's awesome. I love my neighborhood.

Blah blah blah

Back on topic.


New Orleans second lines....that's what I always assumed he was talking about when I heard that song, but there are other types of gravedancers. I've heard that there are people who "dance" on graves to try to conjure up the spirit of the deceased, to try to bring the deceased back to life, and to STOP the deceased from coming back to life.

And then of course there's the usage that implies that you're gleeful about somebody elses tragedy. I used the term after I read Stephen Kings "The Stand" because I thought that radically reduced society with no pollution and plenty for everyone sounded almost idyllic. I said "I read this book and I kind of mentally dance on the grave of the world."

Somebody's gonna have to ask him what he meant