Oh When the Sun Begins to Shine

It's four days after the New Orleans Saints won the Super Bowl, and I'm still feeling the afterglow.

This video by documentary filmmakers Rebecca and Jason Ferris was shot on Magazine Street in New Orleans just moments after the Saints won the Super Bowl and the sums up the feeling of Saints fans world over.

It's set to Fats Domino's version of "Oh When the Saints," an old gospel hymn that is traditionally sung at jazz funerals. As the procession of mourners winds its way to the church the song is played as a dirge. After the body has been buried and is deceased safe in the hands of the lord, "Oh When the Saints" picks up tempo and leads a "second line" procession of dancing and joy. "Second line" refers to the second line of people (usually strangers) who follow the actual funeral party.

"Oh When the Saints" has become synonymous with the New Orleans Saints. The long suffering team has never made it to the Super Bowl and was generally regarded as the laughing stock of the NFL. Its home, the Superdome, became the fated and decrepit refuge for those trapped by Hurricane Katrina.

Now, 43 years after the team's inception and 4 1/2 years post-Katrina the Saints are world champions and the second line has cause to celebrate.

We've died and gone to heaven.

"Oh, how I want to be in that number,
when the saints go marching in."

Saints Superbowl Victory Celebration from Cottage Films on Vimeo.