By a unanimous vote in the Louisiana Senate, Allen Toussaint’s “Southern Nights” was declared an official state song of Louisiana and the first written by an African American songwriter. Toussaint’s song, released in 1975 and later made a Billboard Top 10 hit in 1977 on the country, pop, and adult contemporary charts by Glen Campbell, joins five other songs with the official state song designation, including “Give Me Louisiana” by Doralise Fontane, “You Are My Sunshine” recorded but not authored by former Louisiana Governor Jimmie Davis, “State March Song” by Jimmie Davis and “Gifts of the Earth” by Frances LeBeau.
The bill to honor “Southern Nights” was proposed on May 31 by Rep. Vincent Pierre (D) of Lafayette with 19 cosponsors. It passed a House vote with 100-1 in favor on May 27 and was approved by the Senate on June 6 with all 36 votes in favor. The bill awaits the signature of Gov. John Bel Edwards.
The lyrics of “Southern Nights” were inspired by Toussaint’s childhood forays from his home in the Gert Town neighborhood of New Orleans to relatives in rural Louisiana. He recalled fond memories of family storytelling and staring up at nighttime skies filled with stars.
Speaking to Bruce Pollock for the “They’re Playing My Song” column, Toussaint recounted the origins of the song that became the title of a new album: “I had written and recorded all of the other songs, and for some reason I couldn’t come to terms that I was finished with the album… Van Dyke Parks visited me in the studio. He was a wonderful guy, a genius of a guy. He said, ‘Well, consider that you were going to die in two weeks. If you knew that, what would you think you would like to have done?’ And after he said that, I wrote ‘Southern Nights’ as soon as he left. I stood right there and wrote it. It all came at once, because I lived that story. It was one of those things that writers would like to happen all the time… That song was a total inspiration. It felt like a soft clear white flower settled above my head and caressed me. I really felt highly, highly inspired and very spiritual doing that song… It probably took about two hours to write. Then I went down and recorded it in the studio with just a Fender Rhodes and another guy beating on an ashtray, that little tinkling sound. It was just me on the instrument and singing, and Tony Owens playing on an ashtray. No one remarked on it, because it didn’t sound much like a commercial song, and it wasn’t. I didn’t write it to be a song like all the others on there. I just wanted to share that story with this album.”
Toussaint added, “It took people quite a while to realize I’d written it. I wasn’t out there performing, so I guess some people thought probably Glen Campbell had written it. Which I don’t mind. It was just like all the rest of the songs I’ve written in my life. People didn’t know I wrote ‘Mother-In-Law’ or ‘Java’ or ‘Working in the Coal Mine’ either.”
Toussaint was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1998, the Louisiana Music Hall of Fame in 2009, and the Songwriter’s Hall of Fame and the Blues Hall of Fame in 2011. In 2013 he was awarded the National Medal of Arts by President Barack Obama. Toussaint died on November 10, 2015, in Madrid, Spain, while on tour.
