Huey Long, the songwriter

For the first time ever, the Louisiana Music Hall of Fame recognized individual songwriters during its annual induction ceremony last week. Actually, only two songwriting awards were doled out, but without question they went to a surprising duo that deserves a more credit in the Bayou State’s vibrant musical culture and history. Officially, this year’s honoree is the LSU Tiger Band, which now takes its place alongside greats like Louis Armstrong and Jerry Lee Lewis. But the minds behind the hall also posthumously recognized the songwriting team of Huey P. Long and Castro Carazo, famed for compositions like “Every Man a King” and “Touchdown for LSU.” Long and Carazo collaborated on several other songs as well, like “Darling of LSU,” “LSU Cadets March” and “Miss Vandy: Dedicated to the Coeds of Vanderbilt University.” As the story goes, Long literally recruited Carazo off the bandstand at the Roosevelt Hotel’s Blue Room in New Orleans, telling him, “You are now the band leader at LSU, come with me, we’re returning to LSU.” LMHOF Executive Director Mike Shepherd added that Long and Carazo were responsible for transforming the LSU Tiger Band from a military band to a show band with its own style, and as such provided the basis for all of the achievements that would follow for “The Golden Band from Tigerland.” It was a partnership that eventually faded, however, probably before its prime. “The only thing that kept Long and Carazo from generating more material was the untimely assassination of the Senator in 1935,” Shepherd says. “Who knows what else those two would have come up with had Huey survived? He understood how music can inspire and drive an idea, and his anthem, ‘Every Man a King,’ was written with Carazo in 1934 as a possible presidential campaign theme song.” While stories about the Kingfish are seemingly endless, the average Louisianan probably knows considerably less about Carazo. In 1937, two years after Long’s assassination, Carazo also wrote the music to “Fight for LSU,” the official fight song of the university, with lyrics provided by W.G. “Hickey” Higganbotham. After his six years as LSU’s bandmaster from 1934-1940, Carazo continued to write music in a wide array of styles: light classic, traditional march, jazz and Cuban/Latin dance. Carazo achieved success with “Bonita,” a Latin-themed song with words by Sam Lewis, a prolific Broadway and popular music lyricist. He also wrote “National Guard March,” officially adopted by the U.S. National Guard; “R.O.T.C. Cadets March,” and in 1952 his song “Louisiana My Home Sweet Home” was adopted as the official state march song. — Jeremy Alford