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New Orleans Chimney Sweepers
Courtesy Gumbo Ya Ya
Wherever he has appeared, the Chimney Sweep has been a fascinating and
picturesque character. It is still possible to see the New Orleans
variety, and he has changed very little in appearance despite
the many years his cries have echoed through the city's streets.
Unlike the sweep of London, he wears a tall, battered silk
hat, a swallowtail coat, and he is always a person of color,
usually as black as the soot in which he works. There is always
the coil on one shoulder, several bunches of palmetto and a
sheaf of broom straw.
Modern Chimney Sweepers
The New Orleans Chimney sweep |
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| Traditional New Orleans Chimney Sweepers |
I Am New Orleans .... 
AS HE WANDERS
THROUGH THE NEIGHBORHOOD HE SHOUTS: |
Ra-mi-neau!
Ra-mi-neau! Ra-ma-neau!
Lady, I know why your chimney won't draw,
Oven won't bake and you can't make no cake,
An' I know why your chimney won't draw! |
Hired, he scurries agilely
up to the roof, sometimes assisted by a smaller, younger
but equally Creole / black edition to himself, and as
he works he sings. One odd song common to the New Orleans
Chimney Sweep is:
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Val-sez,
Bal-seur,
Val-sez pour ce-le-brer
La S'te Marie.
Dieu sait si l'annee prochaine
Nous celebrerons la S'te Marie |
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Waltz,
Waltzer,
Waltz to celebrate
St. Mary's Day.
God knows it next year
We will celebrate St
Mary's Day! |
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Others cry: 'R-R-R-R-Raminary!
R-r-r-r-r-r-ramonez la chiminee du haut en bas!' 'Ramonez,'
'Ramineaux' and 'Ramineau' seem all to be corruptions of the
French 'Ramoneur' or Chimney Sweeper.
Some travel in pairs and alternate their call thus:
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1st
Sweep: Ramonez la cheminée..
. Rrrrrrramonez la
cheminee!
2d Sweep: Valsez; valseur,
valsez pour celebrer la S'te
Marie... |
A contemporary team of sweeps, Willie Hall and Albert Hutchins,
sing:
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Get
over, get over slick,
Save dat chimney, save it quick.- |
Willie and Albert chant the 'Chimney Sweeper's Blacks, 'apparently
thier own composition.
Here's
yo' chimney sweeps,
We goes up to the roofs,
Sweep the smokestacks down right now,
Don't care for soot, anyhow.
Rami -- neau! Rami -- neau! Rami -- neau!
Sweep'em clean! Sweep'em clean!
Save the fireman lots of work,
We hate soot, we never shirk,
Sweep'em clean! Sweep'em clean!
I been a chimney
sweeper for forty-five years now. I'm most eighty years old,
and I've made a good livin'. There was a season to it, but I've
always had my regular customers. I done swept some of the best
chimneys in town.'
One reason the Chimney Sweep keeps singing as he works is to
let anyone who might be below know the chimney is being cleaned
and to protect him from being showered with soot. All during
his work the songs to on and the cry comes,
'RO -- MI -- NAY!
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Pictures
and text taken from:
GUMBO YA-YA
"Folk Tales of Louisiana"
by Saxon, Dreyer and Tallant |
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