"Louisiana Boogie (Honky Tonk Boogie)" - Harry Choates

Raised in a Cajun household at a time when many young Cajuns didn’t learn English until they reached adulthood, those who knew Harry Choates have often stated that he spoke very little French, if any at all. When it came to singing it convincingly, however, he was a natural, and in the wake of “Jole Blon’s” success, most of the music he recorded was in the French style. For this reason, Choates is remembered primarily as a Cajun musician, when in fact, the music that he featured on dance jobs was almost exclusively western swing.1 

Choates’ blending of styles reached its apex with “Louisiana Boogie” shortly after 16-year-old steel guitarist Carrol Broussard began playing with him. Broussard remembers the song being born on the bandstand at the Rendezvous Club in Lake Charles.  A Cajun rice farmer approached the bandstand and requested a boogie-woogie selection.  Harry at first ignored the request.6

A guy came up and he was talking French and I know how to talk French. Harry very seldom spoke French—believe it or not, I never talked in French to Harry. This guy wanted to know if we could play a French boogie. And Harry says ‘Well, I don’t know any words to that.’ So I told Harry, well look, just make some up as you go along. So he come up and started with the song, so we recorded that.1

The band traveled to Houston to record in mid 1949 and recorded "Louisiana Boogie" (#1380) at Bill Quinn's studio.  What started as a chance suggestion turned out to be one of Harry Choates' finest fiddle performances.6 

Te m'as quitte, pour t'en aller,

T'en aller, mais chere, si loin,

Ses pour faire le boogie-woogie,

(faire le boogie-woogie),

Apres faire le boogie-woogie,

(faire le boogie-woogie),

Apres faire le boogie-woogie,

J'connais par rapport à longtemps.

Honky tonk ici, honky tonk là-bas,

Honky tonk, tu honky tonk, tu honky tonk tout le temps,

Apres faire le boogie-woogie,

(Faire le boogie-woogie),

Apres faire le boogie-woogie,

(Faire le boogie-woogie),

Apres faire le boogie-woogie,

J'connais par rapport à longtemps.

Une jambe ici, une jambe là-bas,

Chere petite, tu fais ca tout t'en,

Apres faire le boogie-woogie,

(Faire le boogie-woogie),

Apres faire le boogie-woogie,

(Faire le boogie-woogie),

Apres faire le boogie-woogie,

J'connais par rapport à longtemps.

Honky tonk ici, honky tonk là-bas,

Honky tonk, tu honky tonk, tu honky tonk tout le temps,

Apres faire le boogie-woogie,

(Faire le boogie-woogie),

Apres faire le boogie-woogie,

(Faire le boogie-woogie),

Apres faire le boogie-woogie,

J'connais par rapport à longtemps.

Milton "Pee Wee" Calhoun

Not to be confused with Harry's 1950 recording of "Louisiana Boogie" for Macy's, Harry recycled his old theme of his lover leaving him, but this time, he inserted lyrics having to do with dancing the boogie-woogie.  With Carrol on steel, Harry rounded off the group with Bill Boyd on guitar, B.D. Williams on bass, Milton "Pee Wee" Calhoun on piano accordion and Harold Broussard on piano.   Lake Charles native Pee Wee Calhoun was a staple among east Texas musicians.  He had worked closely with Moon Mullican and Clyde Brewer the year before Choates' recording.  In later years, he would work with the Brazos Valley Boys, Arkansas fiddler Bill Kirkpatrick, and one of earliest studio bands for Patsy Cline led by Leon McAuliffe. 2,3,4,5

You have left me, for you have gone away,

You've gone, well dear, so far,

Let's do the boogie-woogie,

(Do the boogie-woogie),

You're doing the boogie-woogie,

(Do the boogie-woogie),

You're doing the boogie-woogie,

I know it's been a long time.

Honky tonk here, honky tonk there,

Honky tonk, you honky tonk, you honky tonk all the time,

You're doing the boogie-woogie,

(Do the boogie-woogie),

You're doing the boogie-woogie,

(Do the boogie-woogie),

You're doing the boogie-woogie,

I know it's been a long time.

One leg here, one leg there,

Dear little one, that's all you have to do,

You're doing the boogie-woogie,

(Do the boogie-woogie),

You're doing the boogie-woogie,

(Do the boogie-woogie),

You're doing the boogie-woogie,

I know it's been a long time.

Honky tonk here, honky tonk there,

Honky tonk, you honky tonk, you honky tonk all the time,

You're doing the boogie-woogie,

(Do the boogie-woogie),

You're doing the boogie-woogie,

(Do the boogie-woogie),

You're doing the boogie-woogie,

I know it's been a long time.

Once Pappy Daily bought the rights to "Louisiana Boogie" in 1959, he re-titled the song "Honky Tonk Boogie" (#224) for his Starday label. 

1. http://www.offbeat.com/articles/harry-choates/
2. Billboard Magazine. Jul 20, 1959
3. Billboard Magazine. Apr 9, 1949
4. Louisiana Fiddlers By Ron Yule, Bill Burge
5. Patsy Cline: The Making of an Icon By Douglas Gomery
6. Poor Hobo: The Tragic Life of Harry Choates, a Cajun Legend by Tim Knight
7. Lyrics by Jordy A

Release Info:
1380A Louisiana Boogie | Goldstar 1380-A
1380B Sidewalk Waltz | Goldstar 1380-B

ST-2318 Louisiana Boogie | Starday 224
ST-2296 Port Arthur Waltz | Starday 224

Find:
Devil In The Bayou - The Gold Star Recordings (Bear Family, 2002)

"Les Tete Fille De Lafayette" - Happy Fats

Cajun country musician, Leroy "Happy Fats" Leblanc took chances with musicians filling in his group and Harry Choates was definitely one of them.   In 1940, Harry began playing with Leo Soileau and Happy in their Cajun band. He started playing with a borrowed fiddle. For the rest of his career he played with borrowed instruments and may never have actually owned his own. If he did, he would have bought it from a pawn shop and then later sold it to buy something to drink. Choates could play anything with strings, and occasionally, the piano. Once, when the strings on his bow were broken, he cut them off in a ceiling fan, rosined the wood of the bow and played the fiddle with that.4,5   

By February of 1940, Harry joined Happy in Dallas, Texas for his earliest recording session for Bluebird records.  In their ode to the 'belles' of Lafayette, the Rayne-Bo Ramblers expanded on the arranging style employed during their recording of "Lafayette" by emphasizing vocal harmonies, dramatic pauses, and fiddle and steel guitar breaks.1  According to author Ryan Brasseaux:

The Rayne-Bo Rambler release "Les Tit Fille de Lafayette" represents a high point during the Cajun swing era.  Happy Fats Leblanc and his string band combined French lyrics with Southern gospel harmonies and jazzy fiddle breaks.  The arrangement was sophisticated, urbane, and absolutely cosmopolitan, just like the musicians and culture from which the music sprang.1 

Rayne Tribune
Aug 23, 1940

Allons là-bas à Lafayette,

C’est pour voir les belles petites filles,

On va danser, on va traîner,

On va avoir les meilleurs temps de nos vies.

Tu connais, moi, je connais,

C’est la place pour moi à aller,

Hé, petite fille, après espérer,

Loin, là-bas, dans Lafayette.

The song "La Tete Fille Lafayette" (#2083) was led by two vocalists: Kaplan native and guitarist Stafford "Sandy" Lormand and Texas swing fiddle player Harry Choates. The rhythm section's bouncing 2/4 backbeat with Happy on bass, Harold Broussard on piano, Choates' cascading fiddle runs, and Ray Clark's bright steel guitar accents painted a jovial musical backdrop for the romantic lyrics to "Les Tit Fille De Lafayette," which describe a bachelor's paradise at a Lafayette dance.1  According to music author Michael Hurtt, 

"Les Tit Fille De Lafayette" was a song so swinging that when he bursts into the French vocal it’s a shock to the listener that it isn’t sung in English.3

Let's go over there to Lafayette,

It's to see the beautiful little girls,

We're going to dance, we're going to hang out,

We're going to have the best times of our lives.

You know, I know,

It's the place for me to go,

Hey, little girl, I hope,

Far away, over there, in Lafayette.

Daily Advertiser
Jun 12, 1940

More than anything else, Harry’s gig with the Ramblers combined all of the rural, bluesy overtones, advanced jazzy improvisations and sprightly musicianship that would come to define his unique style.3  

But Harry's stint with Happy didn't last.   His heavy drinking and unreliability was too much for Happy's style and Harry left after three months with the group.  During this time, the Ramblers would be featured on KVOL.  It was Lafayette's oldest radio station, opening in 1935 and featured Happy Fats on their program.   For a short while, a fiddler from Port Arthur, TX, named Billie Mack "Tiny" Moore, joined the group for a short stint.   Moore recalls playing during the KVOL years:

Then I went to Louisiana with a Cajun band by the name of "Happy Fats and His Rainbow Ramblers". We lived in Rayne, Louisiana and our radio program was in Lafayette, Louisiana on KVOL, I'll never forget it. I was over there for about a year. A steady job. A very low-paying job, but it didn't cost much to live. For instance, my room and board and laundry, I lived with his mother, Happy Fats' mother, Leroy LeBlanc was his real name. I lived with Mrs. LeBlanc, marvelous French cook, for two dollars a week. My room and board and laundry was two dollars a week. So if we made 15-20 dollars a week, we were still all right. I enjoyed that. We did play a lot of the old Cajun music which I wasn't too familiar with, and am still not even today. But with a swing feel I suppose. And a lot of the country songs back in those days.2 

Moore would later leave for Port Arthur joining the Jubileers swing band.

St. Joseph High School Gym, Rayne, LA, Jan 28, 1941
KVOL Hillbilly Jamboree
Billie Mack "Tiny" Moore, radio manager Robert Escudier,
radio host Alfred Bryant "A.B." Craft Jr,
Joseph "Pee Wee" Broussard, radio host Dick Haynes,
Ray "Professor" Clark, Stafford "Sandy" Lormand,
Leroy "Happy Fats" Leblanc

1. Cajun Breakdown: The Emergence of an American-Made Music By Ryan Andre Brasseaux
2. Eldon Shamblin, Tiny Moore, Dean McKinney Moore 1981 interview online
3. http://www.offbeat.com/articles/harry-choates/
4. http://therecordlive.com/2015/06/23/harry-choates-godfather-of-cajun-music/
5. "Poor Hobo: The Tragic Life of Harry Choates: A Cajun Legend" by Tim Knight
6. Lyrics by Jordy A and Eric C

Release Info:
BS-048014-1 Les Tete Fille De Lafayette B-2083-A Bluebird
BS-048012-1 La Polka A Gilbert (Old Time Polka) B-2083-B Bluebird

Find:

Harry Choates: Five-Time Loser 1940-1951 (Krazy Kat, 1990)

Devil In The Bayou - The Gold Star Recordings (Bear Family, 2002)

Cajun Capers: Cajun Music 1928-1954 (Proper, 2005)

"Valse De Lake Charles" - Harry Choates

Harry Choates played fiddle, guitar, and mandolin throughout south Louisiana and Texas.  His 1946 rendition of “Jole Blon,” the song that would come to be called the “Cajun National Anthem,” had not only been the first French song to crack the Billboard national charts but its ascent above the Number Five position is an achievement unsurpassed to this day.  The audience taste at that time had succumbed to the popularity and influence of cowboy and western swing styles and Cajun Music had followed their trend towards fiddle-led outfits. String bands led by stars like Harry Choates and Leo Soileau were in heavy demand.  

Tu m'as quitté, pour t'en aller,

Dans Grand Lake Charles, mais jolie cœur.

Oh, mais chère petite, mignonne,

Oh, sera pas longtemps.

Oh, vilaine manière,

Moi j'connais, t'as pas fait bien.

Oh, mais chère petite chérie,

Oh, mais moi j'connais t'as fait de la peine.

Nathan Abhsire's main recording outlet, O.T. records, was gaining some momentum with his music and the producer, Virgil Bozman, easily saw Harry's popularity.  In 1949, he convinced him to land two sides, one of which was "Valse De Lake Charles" (#107), the town in which Virgil had his operations based.  Having played alongside Leo Soileau during his stint with the Four Aces, it's no surprise that he learned this song from their 1938 recording "Lake Charles Waltz".  Recording closer to his home town at the KPLC radio station, Harry dropped most of his regular Melody Boys for some local Cajun musicians, most notably Leo Soileau's drummer Crawford Vincent and Happy Fats' pianist Harold "Popeye" Broussard.  B.D. Williams remained on bass guitar.   The tune is clearly a rendition cut from the older versions by Anatole Credure in 1929 and The Four Aces' instrumental done in 1938 called "Lake Charles Waltz".

You left me to go away.

To big Lake Charles, my pretty sweetheart,

Oh, well, dear little cutie,

Oh, it hasn't been long.

Oh, how terrible it is,

I know, you aren't doing well,

Oh, dear little darling,

Oh, well, I know you hurt (me). 

Harry's lyrics were limited by what he knew, often repeating the same words, general phrasing and his signature "Eh! Ha ha!".  In this case, writer's love interest is leaving to the big town of Lake Charles. This was the first and only time Crawforrd Vincent teamed up with Harry.  Vincent was still a member of Leo Soileau's band, but Soileau was in the process of building his own club, so Vincent had time off.   He played with Harry during events near the Green Lantern near Opelousas.  Then, suddenly, Harry left, as he usually did, just when his musical fortunes were beginning to turn in a positive direction.  Vincent remembered that Harry received calls for engagements and booking dates, and over half of these he didn't fulfill, many times failing to show up.1 

1. Poor Hobo: The Tragic Life of Harry Choates, a Cajun Legend by Tim Knight

Release Info:
107-A Jole Blon's Gone 107 O.T.
107-B Valse De Lake Charles 107 O.T.

Find:
Cajun Music - The Early 50s (Arhoolie, 1969)
Devil In The Bayou - The Gold Star Recordings (Bear Family, 2002)
Cajun Honky Tonk: The Khoury Recordings Vol. 2 (Arhoolie, 2013)
Bayou Two-Step - Cajun Hits From Louisiana 1929-1962 (Jasmine, 2015)

"The Old Ice Man" - Leroy "Happy Fats" Leblanc

One of Harry Choates's more colorful musician companions was Harold "Popeye" Broussard.  Broussard by all accounts was an excellent piano man and singer.  His specialty was his rendition of the dance hall favorite "How Would You Like To Be The Old Ice Man".  Harry's fiddle and Broussard's piano complimented each other at times.  Other times, Harry and Popeye at times appeared to be in competition with each other to see who could raise the most hell.1 

Together, along with Happy Fats' Rayne-Bo Ramblers band, recorded the tune as "The Old Ice Man" (#8537) in Dallas, Texas in 1940.  They drew crowds and complimented any band they performed with.1 With Harry on fiddle and Popeye on vocals, their group consisted of Sandy Lormand on guitar, Pee Wee Broussard on banjo, Ray Clark on steel, and Happy Fats on bass.

How'd you like to be that old ice man,

Sell the coldest stuff in town,

How'd you like to be that old ice man,

I mean to turn you down,

Since bacon went up to a dollar a pound,

I ate so many rabbits I've been jumping around,

How'd you like to be that old ice man,

Sell the coldest stuff in town.

How'd you like to be that old ice man,

Sell the coldest stuff in town,

How'd you like to be that old ice man,

I mean to turn you down,

Now, I'm sitting in the parlor, mingling around,

I wasn't too dumb to hear the back door slam,

How'd you like to be that old ice man,

Sell the coldest stuff in town.

Eventually Harry went on his way, leaving Broussard to his own devices in the Lake Charles musical scene.   Without Harry, Broussard left and started a family.  According to author Tim Knight:

They were companions in deliquent behavior. If one was hired, both had to be hired; they were a matched set.1    

1. Poor Hobo: The Tragic Life of Harry Choates, a Cajun Legend by Tim Knight
2. Lyrics by Jerry M

Find:
Harry Choates: Five-Time Loser 1940-1951 (Krazy Kat, 1990)
Cajun Fiddle King (AIM, 1999)
Devil In The Bayou - The Gold Star Recordings (Bear Family, 2002)
The Best Of Cajun & Zydeco (Not Now, 2010)

"Gran Prairie" - Leroy "Happy Fats" Leblanc

The lively character and musician, Leroy "Happy Fats" Leblanc. It's one of the Happy's more well known tunes, converting a popular melody into a country string band song.  Happy and fiddler Harry Choates had a short and tumultuous stint in 1940 when their group recorded a slew of songs for Bluebird records.  However, like many bands that worked with Harry, it didn't last.  His drinking and loose lifestyle was too erratic for Happy's style.  While together briefly, they headed to the Jefferson Hotel in Dallas, Texas to record "Gran Prairie" (#2081).  Grand Prairie is a rural region of St. Landry Parish between Opelousas and Ville Platte.  Here, the song which would eventually become Hank William's "Jambalaya" became an ode to this region.

Moi j'm'en va chère p'tite fille pour toujours,

Ouais là-bas z'à Grand Prairie malheureux,

Rappelle-toi malheureuse ma p'tite fille,

Tous les misères qu'tu m'as fait, jolie coeur.

Moi j'm'en va chère p'tite fille pour toujours,

Ouais là-bas z' à Grand Prairie malheureux,

Ouais là-bas malheureuse au bout du monde,

Moi j'm'en va z'à Grand Prairie,

C'est mon pays.

Eric Arceneaux, Louis Arceneaux, Happy Fats
1936 Blue Goose Dancehall2

The first recording of this melody as a Cajun tune was by the Guidry Brothers called "Le Garcon Negligent" in 1929.   As a direct influence from the Jolly Boy's "Abbeville", the tune foreshadows Papa Cairo's use of the tune in his recording of "Grand Texas", or "Big Texas", in years to come.   It would be no surprise that Happy heard the melody since he had previously worked with Red Fabaucher of the Jolly Boys and Papa Cairo of the Louisiana Rounders.  Both had used the melody in their tunes, including Papa Cairo's "Alons Kooche Kooche" several years earlier.  The song contains a quick fiddle ride by a relatively unknown fiddle player at the time known as Harry Choates.  The rest of the band contained Sandy Lormand on guitar, Joseph M. "Pee Wee" Broussard on banjo, Ray Clark on steel guitar and Harold Broussard on piano.  

I, myself, will go, dear little girl, forever,

Yes, over there to Grand Prairie, oh my,

Remember how unhappy you were, my little girl,

All the misery which you made for me, pretty heart.

I, myself, will go, dear little girl, forever,

Yes, over there to Grand Praire, oh my,

Yes, over there, oh my, to the end of the world,

I, myself, will go to Grand Prairie,

It's my countryside.

Sandy would go on to play with Happy for several years including Doc Guidry's Sons of the South band.  Pee Wee Broussard would tour with Harry Choates and in an interview with Kevin Coffey, stated:

[Harry] never looked for what could happen tomorrow.  He lived for today.1

1. Country Music Originals: The Legends and the Lost By Tony Russell
2. Rayne's People and Places By Tony Olinger

Find:
Harry Choates: Five-Time Loser 1940-1951 (Krazy Kat, 1990)
Gran Prairie: Cajun Music Anthology, Vol. 3: The Historic Victor Bluebird Sessions (Country Music, 1994)
Cajun Fiddle King (AIM, 1999)
Devil In The Bayou - The Gold Star Recordings (Bear Family, 2002)
Cajun Country, Vol. 2, More Hits from the Swamp (JSP, 2005)
Cajun Capers: Cajun Music 1928-1954 (Proper, 2005)
The Beginner's Guide to Cajun Music (Proper/Primo, 2008)