“Take Care of the Children, the Children of the World;
They’re our strongest hope for the future, the little bitty boys and girls.”
Allen Toussaint wrote these words. They’re in his 1970 song “Yes We Can Can.” Toussaint’s long music included both writing songs and performing. The United States Postal Service (USPS) issued a stamp in honor of Toussaint. An event took place on January 30, 2025. The USPS celebrated the musician!
Toussaint was born in New Orleans in 1938. He lived his entire life in that city. He wrote “Southern Nights” and “Working in the Coal Mine.” He also wrote “Right Place, Wrong Time.” Those songs became hits. Toussaint worked with a range of artists in his career. Some were from New Orleans. Some were international stars. Toussaint recorded songs and wrote songs for other musicians. He also did live performances. He did this work for more than 50 years.
Toussaint has received many honors. One was his into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1998. He was also inducted into the Louisiana Music Hall of Fame in 2009. President Barack Obama awarded Toussaint with the National Medal of Arts in 2013. Toussaint died in 2015 at age 77 while on tour in Madrid, Spain. But he lives on through his over 800 songs.
The January 2025 event took place in New Orleans. It was at the Jazz and Heritage Center. The USPS the stamp. It shows Allen Toussaint sitting at the piano. He wears a black suit. He glows from a purple light. The stamp is the 48th in a series the USPS created to honor Black Americans.
Workers from the USPS, musicians, and family made speeches at the event. Singer and songwriter Elvis Costello spoke. He worked with Toussaint on an album. He also went on tour with him. Costello explained that, when he was a child in England, stamps in his country showed members of the royal family. He was glad to see his friend Allen Toussaint, a musician, honored with a stamp from the USPS.
Singer Irma Thomas spoke of her long musical relationship with Toussaint. Then, she sang “It’s Raining,” the hit song he wrote for her. Music was the highlight of the January event. John Boutte, Deacon John, and Cyril Neville also sang Toussaint’s songs. And Allen’s children, Alison Toussaint-LeBeaux and Clarence “Reginald” Toussaint, spoke at the event, which ended with a performance by the Allen Toussaint Band.
“He never gave up on anything he wanted to do,” Toussaint-LeBeaux told News-O-Matic. And she spoke about her father’s songwriting process. “He wrote a hundred songs, and maybe one worked.”
Reginald Toussaint is Toussaint’s son. He had a message for News-O-Matic’s readers. “He wrote from the heart,” he said. He also said his father “wrote with people in mind.”
Reginald added, “When anything is wrong, you can always find a song. That’s an uplifting way to live.”
By Diana Richard
Updated February 10, 2025, 5:00 P.M. (ET)
