"The Pretty Gals Don't Want Me" - Adam Trahan

By the summer of 1928, it had become quite apparent to Columbia's record company executives that an intriguing development was taking place.  Their new experiment with Cajun music was proving to be an unexpected success.  The bayou and prairie country of Cajun Louisiana, almost totally ignored by record companies up to this point, had overnight become a potential hotbed for record sales.1

Toutes les belles filles veut donc pas de moi,

"T’as des vilains manière" dit pop,

"Toutes les filles veut pas te marier,

Tu va te prendre une délaissé",

Toutes les belles filles veut donc pas de moi,

Rapport que je suis un bambocheur,

T’as parti le but que moi j’aime tant,

Mais, aller avec ton père.

C’est Madame Aubert* que je veux me marier,

C’est la belle que je veux voir,

J’ai bien suit pour l’attraper,

Et parti à pleurer.

Adam Trahan grew up around Abbeville and had learned the accordion before he was eighteen.  Once he had mastered the basics, one of his uncles took him to Rayne where he purchased a Monarch accordion for $22.50.  Inspired by Cajun-area musicians such as Joe Falcon, he kept practicing until, in his own words:

I got to be pretty good. I learned the accordion by myself--on my own--no one ever really taught me how to play it.1

After entering an accordion contest in Acadia parish, his name became known among other Columbia Cajun musicians.   While still single, living at home, Trahan received a telegram from F. Mackey, a Columbia Record representative.    The telegram directed him to "hop on the next train to New Orleans."1   

Crowley Daily Signal
Apr 18, 1929

All the beautiful girls don't want me,

"You have bad ways", says pop,

"All the girls do not want to get married,

You will have to take a forsaken one."

All the beautiful girls do not want me,

Because I am a rambler.

You've left with purpose, the one I love,

Well, to go with your father.

It's Madame Aubert which I want to marry,

It's the beauty which I want to see,

I have followed to catch her,

And went away crying.

With no time to lose, Adam went first to the Gueydan rice mill where Obrey Clark and Otise Monceau worked, only to find that his two fellow bandmembers employed there were unable to take off work.   The owner of a shoe shop in Kaplan suggested his guitar playing brother, Edney Broussard, who was willing to travel to New Orleans.   There he recorded "The Pretty Gals Don't Want Me" (#40501), a melody loosely borrowed from an old children's tune, "The Rabbit Stole The Pumpkin".   It was an intense fast-paced song that demonstrates Trahan's expertise on the accordion.   Unfortunately, Broussard's guitar chords on the recording are out of musical phase with Trahan's accordion much of the time.1

1. Accordions, Fiddles, Two-Step & Swing: A Cajun Music Reader by by Ryan A. Brasseaux (Editor), Kevin S. Fontenot  (Editor), Wayne W. Daniel (Foreword).  Interview by Ron Brown. 
2. Lyrics by Jordy A

Find:

Cajun: Rare & Authentic (JSP, 2008)