Cissy Strut

Nocentelli told Songfacts the band opened sets with "Hold It" until he got sick of playing that, so he wrote "Cissy Strut" as a new opener. It had no title live and was named when recorded. Guitar Player ran a piece by Nocentelli on its origins, which we could not read, and a search summary says he told Gibson that Toussaint asked them to record it after hearing it onstage, which we could not verify. Toussaint and Sehorn produced it for Josie. Wikipedia dates the single to March 1969 at 2:59, with "Here Comes the Meter Man" on the B-side, and the album to May 1969 at 3:06.

It reached number 4 on the R&B chart and 23 on the Hot 100, entered the Grammy Hall of Fame in 2011 and ranked 158th on Rolling Stone's 2021 list of the 500 greatest songs. It appears in Jackie Brown, Red, King Richard and Another Round, and in The Wire. Among those who have covered it, Wikipedia lists the Dirty Dozen Brass Band with Robert Randolph, Dennis Chambers with John Scofield, the Derek Trucks Band, Lotus, the Dave Matthews Band and Slightly Stoopid. In recent years the Meters have played it at the Saenger Theater in New Orleans on May 2, 2026 and at Jazz Fest on May 7, 2017, per setlist.fm. We could not get a total play count, and we do not know which version our upload is.