Hey Papa Legba

Music by elton john
Lyrics by bernie taupin
Released as a uk b-side in 1982

He would recount the stories he had learned so well
Fourteen years is a long time in one cell
When the pipe is passed the opium does its rounds
Papa legba sitting pretty in a chicken little town

His textured skin, like leather in the sun
Fingers beating hard upon a native drum
He picks his teeth with a splintered back rib bone
Papa legba bears his fangs and lays alone


Hey papa legba, hoo-boo-be-do
Hey papa legba, no one gonna bother you
Hey papa legba, hoo-boo-be-do
Shake papa legba, no one's gonna bother you tonight, alright


He was free to dance alone where the spirits run
His almond eyes would twinkle on a hundred sons
His champagne toast and white meat on a spit
Papa legba's drunken with a smile upon his lips