What is the official song of the Rex krewe in New Orleans?

What is the official song of the Rex krewe in New Orleans? The answer is “If Ever I Cease to Love.”

The song is a music-hall number associated with the 1870s musical comedy Bluebeard. Rex adopted it in 1872, the year the New Orleans organization staged its first parade. It became the krewe’s official anthem and is still played during major Rex ceremonies, including the parade and the Rex Ball.

The tune became connected to Rex through Grand Duke Alexei Alexandrovich of Russia, who visited New Orleans during Carnival in 1872. He was reportedly fond of actress Lydia Thompson, who performed the song in Bluebeard. New Orleans organizers used the fashionable tune as part of the spectacle surrounding the new Carnival monarch, Rex.

A common mix-up is to call it simply the “Mardi Gras song.” New Orleans has many celebrated Carnival songs, including “Iko Iko” and “When the Saints Go Marching In,” but neither is Rex’s official anthem. “If Ever I Cease to Love” is specifically tied to the Rex organization and its royal pageantry.