​LES FRERES MICHOT

1989

Lfm and Dylan cross paths 

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On May 11, 2019, LFM played for a private party in Lacomb, LA, St. Tammany Parish. Rick, Tommy, Andre, and Louis Michot played for the event and when it was over, Louis and Andre drove down the street for an LBR gig at the Dew Drop Jazz and Social Club in Mandeville. Tommy and David sat in with them for a few songs. During a break, the Michot’s were approached by a woman who asked if we were the same Michot’s who used to play at a bar called Muddy Waters on Oak Street in uptown New Orleans (Nola). David said yes indeed, we played there every two weeks for several years in the late 1980s. We played from 10 pm to 2 am and always had a big dance crowd. The woman said that she would often come to our shows there to dance and listen to our music. There was one particular night, she said, that she saw Bob Dylan watching our show and listening to our music. She said that it was around Mardi Gras 1989 when Bob was in Nola recording an album (“Oh Mercy”) at Daniel Lanois’ studio on St. Charles Street, not too far from Muddy Waters. She said that on that night Bob kept a low profile and he didn’t let anyone know that he was there, he just stayed in the background and blended in with the crowd. She said that being there at that location, near the river, and hearing our music, inspired Bob to write the song, “The Man with the Long Black Coat,” which he wrote in the studio and recorded on that album in Nola, Oh Mercy. We looked up the lyrics to the song (see below) and there are many things that certainly fit the description of the setting there at Muddy Waters: crickets chirping, high water (the Mississippi River), windows open, African trees, hurricane breeze, old dance hall on the outskirts of town, she asked him to dance, smoke on the water (fog), tree trunks uprooted, all create images typical of the scene that night. Also, the chord progressions are Am, C, G, same as our “Chanson de Mardi Gras” which we undoubtedly played that night since it was Carnival season. The album was recorded in March of 1989. The album cover (see below) was an artistic painting of a couple dancing. All the connections fit. It seems we had a small part in a song written and recorded by Bob Dylan, and we never knew it! 

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Man in the Long Black Coat 

By Bob Dylan 

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Crickets are chirpin' the water is high

There's a soft cotton dress on the line hangin' dry

Windows wide open African trees

Bent over backwards from a hurricane breeze

Not a word of goodbye not even a note

She gone with the man in the long black coat

 

Somebody seen him hangin' around

At the old dance hall on the outskirts of town

He looked into her eyes when she stopped him to ask

If he wanted to dance he had a face like a mask

Somebody said from the bible he'd quote

There was dust on the man in the long black coat

 

Preacher was talking there's a sermon he gave

He said every man's conscience is vile and depraved

You cannot depend on it to be your guide

When it's you who must keep it satisfied

It ain't easy to swallow it sticks in the throat

She gave her heart to the man in the long black coat

 

There are no mistakes in life some people say

It is true sometimes you can see it that way

But people don't live or die people just float

She went with the man in the long black coat

 

There's smoke on the water it's been there since June

Tree trunks uprooted beneath the high crescent moon

Feel the pulse and vibration and the rumbling force

Somebody is out there beating on a dead horse

She never said nothing there was nothing she wrote

She gone with the man in the long black coat

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