“Voulez-vous coucher avec moi, ce soir?/ Voulez-vous coucher avec moi?” Those two lascivious French language come-on lines are among the most definitive lyrics in the 1974 Labelle Billboard Hot 100 hit “Lady Marmalade.” They appear in a song that has some equally inscrutable couplets including, “Gitchie, gitchie, ya-ya, da-da (hey, hey, hey)/ Gitchie, gitchie, ya-ya, here (here)/ Mocha Chocolata, ya-ya (ooh, yeah)/ Creole Lady Marmalade.
All you need to know is that the song slaps. And that Labelle lead singer Patti LaBelle had absolutely no idea what she was saying when she sang those sweet French nothings into our ears half a century ago. During an appearance on Sherri Shepherd’s syndicated daytime talker earlier this week, LaBelle, 78, made a startling admission when Shepherd asked if she knew it would be such a big hit at the time.
“For once, I can say yes and really mean yes,” she said of her certainty that she needed to immediately record the song with band mates Sarah Dash and Nona Hendryx. “I said, ‘We have to record this because it’s a hit,’ and it was,” she recalled telling late producer Allen Toussaint as the group headed to New Orleans to record with the legendary singer/writer/producer. “I had no clue it meant ‘will you sleep with me tonight.’ I didn’t know no French. I knew it was a hit… Yeah, that’s what that song was all about. And it was a hit,” she added about not knowing at the time that the refrain had such a saucy translation.
In addition to it being a smash for Labelle, the song hit No. 1 on the Hot 100 again in 2001 when Pink, Mya, Christina Aguilera and Lil Kim re-recorded it for the soundtrack to Baz Luhrmann’s Moulin Rouge!
Watch LaBelle’s interview below.
