Take Me to the Mardi Gras

"Take Me to the Mardi Gras" is a song by the American singer-songwriter Paul Simon. It was the fourth single from his third studio album, There Goes Rhymin' Simon (1973), released on Columbia Records.

"Take Me to the Mardi Gras"
Single by Paul Simon
from the album There Goes Rhymin' Simon
B-side	"Something So Right"
Released	1973 (1973)
Recorded	1972
Studio	Muscle Shoals Sound Studio, Muscle Shoals, Alabama
Genre	Pop rock Dixieland
Length	3:31
Label	Columbia
Songwriter(s)	Paul Simon
Producer(s)	Paul Simon Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section
Paul Simon singles chronology
"American Tune" (1973) "Take Me to the Mardi Gras" (1973) "The Sound of Silence (Live)" (1974)
Official audio
"Take Me to the Mardi Gras" on YouTube

Smooth jazz keyboardist Bob James made an instrumental cover of the song for his 1975 album Two, whose intro has since become a widely recognized drum break.^[1][2]

Chart performance

The song only charted in the United Kingdom. It debuted on the UK Singles Chart on June 10, 1973 at a position of 36,^[3] rising over several weeks to a peak of number seven on July 8. In total, it spent eleven weeks on the chart.^[4] It is usually missing from UK hits compilations in favour of "Kodachrome" which was the flip side to this. "Kodachrome" was the A side in the US, but the BBC would not play it in the UK because of its advertising policy.

Personnel

• Paul Simon - vocals, acoustic guitar
• Jimmy Johnson, Pete Carr - electric guitars
• David Hood - bass guitar
• Roger Hawkins - drums
• Barry Beckett - Wurlitzer electronic piano, Hammond organ
• The Onward Brass Band - brass
• Rev. Claude Jeter - bridge vocals

Charts

Chart (1973)	Peak position
South Africa Top 20 (Springbok/Radio Orion)[5]	1
UK Singles (OCC)[4]	7
Zimbabwe (ZIMA)[6]	3