"Quand Je Suis Partis Pour Le Texas (When I Left Home For Texas)" - Joe Falcon

After the success of "Lafayette" in 1928, Joe and Cleoma would travel to Atlanta the following year. Columbia was enjoying the sales of Cajun music and Okeh's A&R man, Polk C. Brockman, a furniture store owner in Atlanta, was looking to bring more Louisiana music to their studios so he could sell the records. This time, Cleoma would bring her brothers and they would record the first version of "Jolie Blonde" entitled "Ma Blonde Est Partie". During this session, Ophy Breaux would also accompany Joe and Cleoma on their recordings with his fiddle. Among their recordings would be "Quand Je Suis Partis Pour Le Texas (When I Left Home For Texas)" (#40503-F - Columbia, #90003 - Okeh) recorded in Atlanta in April 1929.

Quand j'ai quitté la maison

Mais pour aller dans l' Texas

Ma pauvre maman ça lui met-z-à pleurer.

Elle m'a demandé, elle dit : "Mon cher garçon,

Fais pas ça, ça va peiner deux vieux."

Mais moi j'ai dit : "Mais oui, ma chère maman,

Ca me fait de la peine de quitter ici

Mais je suis obligé de partir."

Elle m'a dit : "Mais pourquoi tu veux t'en aller ?"

J'ai dit : "Ma chère 'tite fille 

M'avait dit d'aller la rejoindre."

Quand moi j'arrivé mais de sur ce grand voyage

Ma chère mignonne p'tite fille a venu m' rejoindre moi.

Là elle m'a dit : "Mais j' croyais donc jamais,

Jamais de ma vie je t'aurais t’en revu-z-encore."

J'ai pris parole mais moi j'ai dit à ma mère

Même ton amitié avait jamais été perdue.

Cleoma, Loula, and Joe Falcon

The song is about a son leaving his mother for a girl in Texas. When she cries for him to stay, he explains his lover is waiting for him to join her. Like many of the early Cajun titles, recording engineers misspelled the French words and even Cleoma's name.  It's origins are unknown but most likely based on an older country song.  It is believed to be sung by Joe. It would go on to inspire Geno Delafose's "Mon Vrai Amour (My True Love)".

When I left for home 

To go to Texas 

My poor mother, it made her cry. 

She asked me, she said: "My dear boy, 

Do not do that, it will hurt me and the old man."

But I said: "Yes, my dear mother, 

it's worth leaving here 

I have to go"

She said, "Why you wanna go?" 

I said, "My dear little girl's

telling me to join her."

When I arrived, I knew it was a great journey 

My dear cute little girl came join me. 

There she said, "I don't ever get to see you."

I told her what I told my mother, that

Even your friendship had never been forgotten.

1. Classic Country: Legends of Country Music By Charles K. Wolfe
2. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fiddlin'_John_Carson
3. http://exhibits.lib.unc.edu/exhibits/show/hillbilly_music/green_hillbilly/part_two

Find:
Cajun, Vol. 1: Abbeville Breakdown 1929-1939 (Sony/Columbia, 1990)
Cajun Origins (Catfish, 2001)
Cajun Early Recordings (JSP, 2004)
The Perfect Roots & Blues Collection (Sony, 2015)