By the Time

By the time you make it back to New Orleans
I'm gonna have all these red beans in little containers
In the freezer right next to the collard greens
And that pot on the stove that scared you so
Won't be sitting no more being disgusting on that stove no more
But on the hook I put there for it
I got at the hardware store

And with the filth, heat, and stupidity
I know you've been missing
Rampant crime and humility
I know you've been missing
Everyone in the industry (I know you've been missing)
Well I was hoping baby, maybe you were missing me

I see your friends every once in a while
And we talk about you, makes us smile
And then we kinda make plans for the holidays
That's if you grant us one of your stays
And you're missed by the ones that you hold so dear
But who needs a family when you got a career
And by the time that you get back home
Nothing will change around here

And with the filth, heat and stupidity
I know you've been missing
Rampant crime and humidity
I know you've been missing
Everyone in the industry
I know you've been missing
I was hoping baby, maybe you were missing me

Ladies and gentlemen I wrote that song
And upon completion of those two verses
I thought that I had very much written the ultimate New Orleans reference, a cheesy pop type love song
So I sent it to my friend Mister Alex McMurray
A local songwriter and some repute
Who wrote back to say that I was close to writing the ultimate New Orleans rappers to cheesy pop love song
Except it didn't say nothing about gumbo or Étouffée or my mama
So I wrote the following verses and sent it to Alex
And he'd read that I pretty much nailed it
And goes to something like this

It's getting so I can't remember where you stay
Are you two hours behind or round the other way
Do you make Manhattan gumbo or cook LA Étouffée
Now I'm sitting here all alone
Wishing mama to come on home
To that fecal backwater
Where you used to stay

And with the filth, heat, and stupidity
I know you've been missing
Rampant crime and humidity
I know you've been missing
And a girl that can't add your groceries
I know you've been missing
I was hoping baby, maybe you were missing me