"Right Place Wrong Time" (Dr. John)

New Orleans native Mac Rebennack had gigged as a session musician for the better part of two decades before getting a hit song.  When he landed in the Top 10, it was as his hoodoo priest alter ego, "Dr. John Creaux, the Night Tripper," with the track "Right Place Wrong Time" from the album In the Right Place (1973).  
"Right Place Wrong Time" is a bubbling cauldron of New Orleans funk with this curious stop/start structure: the verses suspend the groove for Rebennack to relay his bluesy, paranoia-tinged predicament, and the refrains bring things back up to a simmer to keep the roux hot.
Even without having read the album credits, the moment I first heard the recording I had a hunch that his backing band was Crescent City R&B royalty, The Meters, and I was absolutely correct.  The sense of timing and tight-but-loose precision on the track are dead giveaways that you're hearing none other than Zigaboo Modeliste (drums), Art Neville (organ), Leo Nocentelli (guitar), and George Porter, Jr. (bass).
The Meters' rhythmic interplay and Rebennack's bayou drawl are plenty to keep me coming back to this tune, time and again.