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Bourbon Street Parade

song

Manuscripts, fine bindings, an engraving plate and preserved performance ephemera
Arts and lettersInterpretive dossier study · Crown Archives visual atlas
Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionMay 16, 2026
Entity authorityQ22043552 ↗
Source-derived summary

"Bourbon Street Parade" is a popular jazz song written by drummer Paul Barbarin in 1949. The song is an example of how early marching bands influenced New Orleans jazz. It has become a Dixieland classic and New Orleans Jazz standard.

It is often performed as part of "Second line" parades in New Orleans. This song was originally performed by Paul Barbarin & His New Orleans Jazz Band. The melody of "Won't You Come Home Bill Bailey" can be played simultaneously with "Bourbon Street Parade" and makes a pleasing counterpoint.

From 1954 till the end of his career, "Bourbon Street Parade" was the signature song of every concert of the Chris Barber Jazz Band.

Notable recordings

Louis Armstrong

Lucien Barbarin

Chris Barber

James Chirillo

Harry Connick Jr

Louis Cottrell, Jr

Dukes of Dixieland

Al Hirt

The Hot Sardines

Wynton Marsalis

Preservation Hall Jazz Band

Wilbur de Paris (recorded 1952)

Further reading

Buerkle, Jack; Barker, Danny (1973). Bourbon Street Black. New York: Oxford University Press.

Editorial summary

“Bourbon Street Parade” enters the record as song. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Bourbon, Street and Parade can confirm, complicate or overturn.

Editorial reviewA productive route into publication, performance and collection histories when the underlying object or edition remains clearly identified. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1949, 1954, 1952, 1973—that can be checked directly. The linked authority record independently contributes the date 1955. Its strongest next move is a source search built around Bourbon, Street and Parade.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

“Bourbon Street Parade” is worth following because a concise public description often conceals a longer documentary argument. Here, Bourbon, Street and Parade provides the most credible route into that argument.

Evidence profile

Object files, edition statements, performance records and contemporary criticism preserve different stages of the work’s history. The source revision retrieved here is dated May 16, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q22043552. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1949, 1954, 1952 and 1973.

Critical limits

Titles can refer to several editions, objects or performances, making precise identification essential before interpretation. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Separate the work, its editions or performances, and its later reception. Catalogue records, publication histories and object files often preserve different parts of that story.

Best used for
  • Identifying works and editions
  • Tracing reception history
  • Finding collection records
Verify next

The original object or edition, catalogue raisonné, performance record, rights file and holding institution.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “Bourbon Street Parade”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow Bourbon Street Parade primary sources, Bourbon Street Parade archive and Bourbon research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

  1. Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Bourbon Street Parade”?
  2. Where is authorship, date or provenance documented?
  3. How did later circulation or interpretation alter the work’s reception?
Subject index

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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from “Bourbon Street Parade” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.