"Creole Waltz" - Lawrence Walker

Following Iry Lejeune's lead, previoulsy popular Cajun musicians dusted off their accordions and began providing music for a generation interested in preserving and reviving its fading heritage.1  Here we have one of Lawrence Walker's tunes in which he probably had no name.  It was given a generic title "Creole Waltz" (#617) either by him or George Khoury, the record producer.  

Oh bebé, cher catin, cher tit coeur,

Bébé, moi j'connais pas dans l’monde ayou toi t’es

Petite, tout les soir quand j’vas coucher, chere tit monde,

Bebé, je peux pas dormir avec les larme dedans mes yeux.

Oh bebé, chaque fois moi fermé mes petit yeux,

Te voir dans mon coeur, bebé, ça fait du mal,

Petite, te connait je peut manger, je peut dormir,

Tit monde, 'garde toi dans oui sa m’a dans, bébé"

Oh bebé, moi j'voir pas comment ça fait.

Bon Dieu m'a pas permis de faire, oui, t'aimée.

Tit monde, te connait, bebe, prends ça dur,

Tit fille, prends ça dur, moi j'pas p'us, va p'us pleurer.

Lawrence Walker

Interestingly enough, Walker would have been familiar with the Fawvor's title.  The lovely "Creole Waltz" done by the Fawvors has the lyrics associated later with Walker's "Tout Les Deux Pour la Meme (Both for the Same)".   However, this particular melody here became Walker's "Creole Waltz" instead, which creates some confusion when researching songs.   According to researcher Neal Pomea, he discusses the situations that arise with Cajun song titles:

There are many instances of completely unrelated songs that have the same title. Not just variations. I mean completely different tunes. You really have to listen to them before concluding that two recordings with the same title are really the same song at all.3

It's quite possible the "creole" referred to here is Canray Fontenot, who's intro to the "Barres De La Prison" seems to have some similarity.   Even Cleveland Mire used the melody for his "Prison Waltz", signifying it's connection to an old creole prison song.  The song has a lot of similarities to his "Waltz of Sorrow" and his "Chere Alice".  

Oh baby, come find me, my sweetheart,

Baby, I don't know where in the world you are,

Little one, every night when I go to lie down, my dear everything,

Baby, I can not sleep with tears in my eyes.

Oh baby, whenever I close my little eyes,

I see you in my heart, baby, it hurts,

Little one, you know I hardly eat, I hardly sleep,

My little everything, look at what you, yeh, have done to me, baby.

Oh baby, I can't see why it's like this,

The good Lord wouldn't allow me to love you, yeh,

My little everything, you know, baby, it's so hard,

Little girl, it's so hard, I don't want to cry no more.

1. Cajun Country By Barry Jean Ancelet
2. Lauren Post interview with Joe Falcon
3. Discussion with N Pomea
4. Lyrics by Jerry M

Find:
A Legend At Last (Swallow, 1983)
Essential Collection of Lawrence Walker (Swallow, 2010)