Yes, that's Shirley Caesar's voice that you hear in that Red Lobster ad
RALEIGH, N.C. (WTVD) -- A few choice words, improvised years ago when pastor, evangelist and gospel singer Shirley Caesar felt the spirit, continue to circulate on social media.
Take a look at our original reporting on the creative online reactions to "I got beans, greens, tomatoes, potatoes!"
When we caught up with her again during Thanksgiving week, she was amused when we showed her one of the latest memes.
"Due to inflated food prices," she read, 'the song has been edited down to just beans and greens this year.' Yeah! That part!"
She was just as amused back in 2021 when we showed her how IT specialist Frankie Toong remixed it to enhance his elaborate Christmas light show at his Houston home.
"You can't stop people from doing what they want to do. And the main thing is that they know that was to God be the glory, and that was it," she said.
Now her voice is heard over the air across the nation several times a day, as part of a Red Lobster commercial that's a takeoff of the meme with similar lyrics that boost the restaurant's latest menu options, as the company said in a statement emailed to ABC11:
"To take holiday dining up a notch, Red Lobster partnered with iconic gospel singer Pastor Shirley Caesar, to reimagine the original lyrics for her internet-popular song creating Red Lobster's own holiday remix calling out all the delicious details like new Cheddar Bay Stuffing available for dine-in or as part of Holiday Sides To Go."
Pastor Caesar told us she recorded the version heard in the commercial last month.
"Let me tell you, I'm so excited about this," she said. "And I'm getting calls from around the country! I'm so excited, like a little girl right now!"
She also said when she took a group from her church to a Raleigh Red Lobster recently, she heard how the ad is already catching on.
"A whole table of people were sitting there, and they had seen it," she said. "And then they started taking pictures! I'm excited because I'm just a little country girl from right here in the clay hills of North Carolina, and look at what God is doing for me. I'm getting happy just thinking about it!"
While you don't see her in the ad, her voice is instantly recognizable. And Red Lobster paid her for the performance that helps the restaurant sell seafood.
"Yeah, the church will benefit from this, she said. "I am a tither, I am a giver!"
She's open to the possibility of similar opportunities related to her still viral vocal performance.
"I don't know what God has in store, my brother! But I do know it's going to be something good," she said with a smile.
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