"Myself" - Dennis McGee & Sady Courville

Dennis McGee, regarded as the "Dean of Cajun fiddlers", kept the older Acadian fiddle sounds of the 1800s alive almost into the 1990s. He was one of the earliest Cajun fiddlers to be recorded.3  According to record producer Chris King:

Getting really obsessed with how the Cajun music can affect you so deeply, I got really curious on how McGee did it. Because, not only does he do it to me, but he does it to others.  And I was wondering 'What the hell he was doing?'1  

Dis, "Bye bye" à ton papa, ta maman, mais, t'en aller, malheureuse, 

Dis ,"Bye bye", t'(es) après t'en aller,

Avec mon bien aimé, pour toujours, mais, (chére*) Joline, malheureuse, 

Dis, "Bye bye", dis, 'Bye bye" à ta maman.

J'(suis) après m'en aller, m'en aller avec mon nég', malheureuse, 

Eh, dis "Bye bye" à ton pap et ta maman, 

Pour toujours nous en aller, s'en aller, mais, là joline, 

M'en aller avec mon bien aimé pour toujours et finir mes jours.

Eh, t'es jolie, t'es mignonne et t'es bien (ai)mable, malheureuse,

Eh, t'es jolie, t'es aimable joli cœur. 

Fais pas ça, ça fait moins cœur, ah oui, m'en aller,

Z-avec tous mes chagrins, malheureuse, dis "Bye bye".

(Re)gardez-donc, mais, joli cœur, comment-donc, mais, moi j'vas faire, 

Dis après me quitter par la faute à ta maman,

Oh, yéyaie, chérie, malheureuse, 

Mais, (re)gardez donc, j'vas m'ennuyer de toi.

Sady began playing music on the violin since the age of 16 when his father quit playing.  He played with Dennis for about eight years straight.6  Before the Dennis McGee and Sady Courville ever recorded, they were invited to play on KWKH in Shreveport in 1927 as part of a promotional campaign for Cajun music.  Courville recalled the Shreveport event:

Eunice News
Mar 22, 1929

There was an old man in the community who was always promoting different things. First of all, he got us to go to Shreveport to broadcast on the radio. "Old man Marks".  He was a sort of leader, you know.  He did a lot for the Boy Scouts and different things. So he asked Dennis and me to go to Shreveport. That was the closest broadcasting station around here outside of New Orleans.  So we went over there and broadcasted and we came back over here. That was about 1927.4 

In 1929, they were approached by Sady's employer, a local furniture store owner named Mattius "Mat" Fruge, to record in New Orleans.  Fruge had originally began as a door-to-door milkman as a boy.  After receiving education in Texas, he fought in WWI and returned to Eunice working in a cotton gin.  By 1924, he became manager, and later owner, of Teer Furniture Company where Sady worked as an assistant. It becomes Fruge's phonograph and record distribution connections to companies such as Okeh, Brunswick and Vocalion which provide Dennis and Sady's first recording opportunity.   Courville recalled carrying his fiddle to New Orleans in a flour sack.7  

Dennis McGee and Sady Courville

Say, "Bye bye" to your dad (and) your mom, well, you're going, oh my,

Say, "Bye bye", you're going to go,

With my beloved, forever, well, (dear*) Joline, oh my,

Say, "Bye bye", say "Bye bye" to your mom.

I am leaving, I'm going away with my man, oh my,

Hey, say "Bye bye" to your dad and your mom,

Always, we're going, going to go, well, over there, Joline,

I'm going away with my beloved forever and live out my days.

Hey, you're pretty, you're cute and you're sweet, oh my,

Hey, you're pretty, you're sweet, pretty sweetheart,

Don't do that, that's heartless, oh yeah, I'm going,

With all my sorrows, oh my, say, "Bye bye".

So look, well, pretty sweetheart, so how, well, will I handle this,

Told you I'm leaving because it's your mother's fault,

Oh, ye yaille, dearie, oh my,

Well, so look, I'll miss you.

Eunice News
Apr 14, 1927

McGee's tune "Myself" (#5348), with Sady Courville on second fiddle, represented the story of most of his recordings, a lover discussing leaving her mother to be wed.  Sady never recorded for a major label again however, he continued to be Fruge's top salesman throughout the 1930s.5  He played his last dance in Lacassine in September of 1929 and didn't pick up playing music again until 1968.6  Dennis McGee continued his commercial recording career, performing and recording with black accordionist Amede Ardoin in the late 1920s and early 1930s in the first racially mixed duo. Their music laid the groundwork for the style and repertoire of Cajun music as we know it today.3  In the 70s, the duo reunited for a series of field recordings as well as a studio session at Swallow records in Ville Platte. 

"Myself" is done in a different tuning, GDAG, which according to folklorist Will Spires was a popular tuning for old dances in the key of G. Both the fiddle and the vocal wail out on this number and Dennis displays his effortless high, piercing singing.8 It still resonates with musicologists today. According to record producer Chris King:

When you listen to this really closely, he's tuned wayyyyy low.  That's the thing about McGee that when he would go and record something, where as most people would keep their fiddle in standard or they might cross-tune, he re-tuned his fiddle for every piece he performed, because he realized, by changing the pitch this much, or increasing the pitch this much, it affected people in this particular way.1

1. Vinyl Asides Episode 8 - Christopher King
2. https://oldtimeparty.wordpress.com/2014/06/18/himself/#more-10194
3. J'ai Ete Au Bal Vol. 1.  ARhoolie CD 331.  Liner notes.
4. Ye Yaille Chere by Raymond Francois
5. The Eunice News (Eunice, Louisiana) 14 Sep 1934
6. The Eunice News (Eunice, Louisiana)12 Jun 1973
7. The Ville Platte Gazette (Ville Platte, Louisiana) 07 Jan 1988
8. Dennis McGee ‎– The Complete Early Recordings.  Liner notes.
9. Lyrics by Stephane F

Release Info:
NO-110 Myself | Vocalion 5348
NO-111 Vous M'Avez Donne Votre Parole | Vocalion 5348 

Find:

Dennis McGee ‎– The Complete Early Recordings (Yazoo, 2006)

"Madame Young Donnez Moi Votre Plus Jolie Blonde (Madame Young Give Me Your Sweetheart)" - Dennis Mcgee and Sady Courville

Composer, vocalist, and fiddler, Dennis McGee was one of the earliest recorded Cajun musicians.  In the 1920s and 30s, he played and recorded alongside black Creole accordionist Amede Ardoin as well as fellow fiddler and brother-in-law Sady Courville.  He received his first fiddle from a cousin and within six months was playing for house parties throughout southwest Louisiana.6  In 1929, Mcgee and Courville recorded eight sides for the Vocalion label inside "a building on St. Charles Street".9    Among his recordings is the classic "Madame Young Donnez Moi Votre Plus Jolie Blonde (Madame Young Give Me Your Sweetheart)" (#5319), which borrowed the tune of the popular Cajun song "Allons Danser Colinda."  Considered a "valse à deux temps", accordion player Joe Falcon recalled the tune from his early days:

"Allons danser Colina"-- I knew that tune since I was a little boy.  I played it many times. That 'Colinda', that's what the old folks call a 'two-step waltz'.  I had one of my musicians say that there wasn't no such thing as that.  I said "Hold it, brother.  I'm older than you".  He said "There ain't no such thing as a two-step waltz. What number could it be?"  I said, "Allons danser Colina." That's a two-step waltz from old times.7  

For Dennis, a "deux temp" signified a kind of dance.

People would dance in pairs, boy-girl. Then, they'd let go of each other and they would turn on one side, then another. This is why it's called "valse à deux temps" because they were turn on each side.  One time on one side for one, and then the other; "deux temp".8  

Ouais, donc ouais , Madame Young, donnez-moi la vot' chère blonde,

Le voudrais malheureuse avec, mais ouais, malheureuse,

Mais ouais, oh ouais, mais l’avoir, l’avoir, oh ouais, la grosse blonde,

Pour moi finir mes grands jours avant tu pars, malheureuse.

Ouais, donc ouais, Madame Young, comment ça s’fait d’refuser,

Pas miserait de m’marier, ah ouais, j’irais l’après, ouais,

Ouais, mais ouais, de l’avoir avec la chère ma grosse blonde,

C’est pour moi finir mes grands jours, toujours avec la chère blonde.

Depuis quand elle etait ‘tite, j’avais chéri la chère blonde,

Je su’ après la guetter, oh ouais, la chère petite blonde,

Je desirais que ça s’rait elle dirait "Ouais" à mon idée,

D’avoir la chère, mais, grosse blonde pour, ouais, finir mes grande jour.

C’est pas quelle est si belle, mais, el’est si bonne et aimable,

La chère 'tite blonde, j’l’aime rais dans tout, mais, chère mon gros cœur,

Oh oui, 'garde-donc cheri cœur, mais, fait pas ça ‘vec ton nègre,

Tu vas me faire, mais, mourir pour toi toujours, malheureuse.

Dennis McGee and Sady Courville

Courville has noted that his name was not included on the record label because he was afraid his friends would laugh at him.  One one song came out with his name on the label.  The others said "second fiddle." 

According to author and music producer Chris King:

The irresistible charmer Dennis McGee played this song for Madame Ulysses Young, his first wife’s mother, in order to gain the hand of young Marie. McGee was one of the rare artists that could produce a pleading agony and a desperate longing from both his fiddle and his singing.5

It's based on an old African religious song.  It was forbidden to be danced because of it's association with voodoo.  The "Calinda" is understood to be a scandalous dance. Because of its purportedly lascivious nature, many slave owners forbade their slaves from dancing the Calinda, tied to voodoo-sexual rituals. Tracing the dance backward through time, the Calinda arrived in Louisiana from the Caribbean. It had earlier arrived in the Caribbean from Africa. And, ironically, from there, the dance possibly traces its origins back to Europe and to a troubadour from the Provence region of France.  Thus, while the Cajuns left western France and made their way from the North Atlantic to Acadie and later to Louisiana, the source material for "Colinda" traveled from the south of France, through Africa, across the South Atlantic, to the Caribbean, and finally to Louisiana.

Yeah, so yeah, Mrs. Young, give me your dear blonde,

I'd like that, oh my, well yeah, oh my,

Well yeah, oh yeah, well to have her, to have her oh yeah, the big blonde,

With me for the rest of my days, before you leave, oh my.

Yeah, so yeah, Mrs. Young, how can you refuse me?

Don't bet on marrying me, ah yeah, I'll go get her, yeah,

Yeah, well yeah, to have the dear big blonde,

With me for the rest of my days, always with the dear blonde.

Since she was little, I've cherished the dear blonde,

I'm watching for her, oh yeah, the dear little blonde,

I would like if she said "Yes" to my idea,

To have the dear, well, big blonde for, well, the rest of my days.

It's not that she's so beautiful, but, she's so good and kind,

The dear little blonde, I'd love her with all my heart,

Oh yeah, so look dear sweetheart, well, don't do that to your man,

You'll make me die for you, forever, oh my.

By 1947, Happy Fats and Doc Guidry would re-work the song into the common use title "Allons Danser Colinda".  McGee influenced younger generations of Cajun musicians, and shortly before his death was named Honorary Dean of Cajun Music by the University of Southwestern Louisiana (now the University of Louisiana at Lafayette).6   

1. Louisiana Fiddlers By Ron Yule
2. http://www.eunice-la.com/index.php/history/people-of-interest/16-history/history/128-dennis-mcgee
3. Do Not Sell At Any Price: The Wild, Obsessive Hunt for the World's Rarest ... By Amanda Petrusich
4. Cajun Breakdown: The Emergence of an American-Made Music By Ryan Andre Brasseaux
5. http://www.thewire.co.uk/audio/tracks/stream-tracks-from-the-tompkins-square-aimer-et-perdre-compilation
6. Louisiana Rocks!: The True Genesis of Rock and Roll edited by Tom Aswell
7. Swamp Pop: Cajun and Creole Rhythm and Blues By Shane K. Bernard
8. "Accordions, Fiddles, Two Step & Swing: A Cajun Music Reader" by Ron Brown, Ryan A. Brasseaux, and Kevin S. Fontenot
9. Interview by Gerard Dole. 1979.  Yazoo liner notes.
10. Lyrics by Raymond F

Release Info:
NO-108 Madame Young Donnez Moi Votre Plus Jolie Blonde (Madame Young Give Me Your Sweetheart) | Vocalion 5319
NO-109 Mon Chere Bebe Creole (My Creole Sweet Mama) | Vocalion 5319

Find:

Louisiana Cajun Music Vol. 5: The Early Years 1928-1938 (Old Timey/Arhoolie, 1973)
The Complete Early Recordings of Dennis McGee (Yazoo, 1994)
Cajun Louisiane 1928-1939 (Fremeaux, 2003)
Aimer Et Perdre: To Love & To Lose Songs, 1917-1934 (Tompkins Square, 2012)
The Very Best of Cajun: La Stomp Creole, Vol. 1 (Viper, 2016)

"Allon A Tassone (Let's Go To Tassone)" - Dennis McGee & Sady Courville

Dennis McGee is credited with transforming French Louisiana music into a high-level cultural expression, elevating it to the status of "art" music.  During these early years, his most well known partner was a fellow fiddle player named Sady Courville.   According to author Sara Le Menestrel, "reversing the stereotype of plain or simple music, this comparison is suggestive of the existence of geniuses within French Louisiana music, like in any other genre."  Sady recalls the first session:

There was an old man in the community who was always promoting different things.  He asked this man that I was working with if he thought we would like to make some records. He said, "I wonder if Dennis and Sady would go and make some records".  That was the old 78s at that time.  So [Wade] Fruge asked me and I asked Dennis.  He had said, "They would pay all your expenses" but that was it.  Just our expenses you know.4   

Allons! Aller à grand Tasso, mais, c’est pour voir les belles petites chères,

Allons! Aller, mais, à grand Tasso, mais, c’est pour voir les belles bouclés,

Allons! Aller à grand Tasso pour voir les belles bouclés.

Gardez-donc, mais, ces belles jeunes, mais, ils sont si bonnes, mais, les danseurs,

Ça danse bien, mais, ç’a la bonne vie, c’était joli, les chers p’tit cœurs,

Gardez-donc, mais, c’est si mignonne, malheureuse, dit "Bye bye".

Je suis après, mais, m’en aller, mais ouais, là-bas, mais, à Tasso,

C’est pour voir les belles p’tites, oh yé yaille, malheureuse,

C’est là je vas m’en aller, si loin, mais, c’est pour voir, mais, les belles filles.

Allons! Aller, mais, s’en aller, oh là-bas, mais, p’tit monde, mais malheureuse,

Je vas aller, mais, m’en aller à Tasso, c’est pour voir les chères mignonnes.

Sady Courville 1

Courville and McGee took a trip to New Orleans in March of 1929 and recorded eight tunes for Vocalion records including this song.   Sady continues:

And I had this old fiddle here. I had it in a flour sack.  I didn't even have a case for it. So we got on a train here one morning and went to New Orleans, somewhere in the French Quarter on the second floor, and we made those records.  We made about either or ten of them.4

"Allon A Tassone" (#5334) is an ode to the Louisiana community of Tasso, east of Eunice, Louisiana where Dennis would visit and see the beautiful curly haired girls.  The term "tasso" first appears in the Louisiana documentary record in 1859 as the name of a prairie community near present-day Duson, in the heart of the early Cajun ranching country.  In 1880, Goerge Washington Cable collected notes on the Cajun community census report.  His notes revealed "tassao" as a "jerked beef" near the Carencro area.2  Today, tasso is a type of spicy, heavily peppered and smoked pork found in Louisiana.  Unlike ham, it's not made from the hind leg of a hog, but rather the hog's shoulder. 

Let's go! Going to big Tasso, well, it's to see the beautiful little darlings,

Let's go! Going, well, to big Tasso, well, it's to see the beautiful curly haired ones,

Let's go! Going to big Tasso to see the beautiful curly haired ones.

Look at that, well, those beautiful young ones, well, they are so good, well, dancers,

That dance well, well, life is good, it's beautiful, dear little sweethearts,

Look at that, well, it's so cute, oh my, say "bye bye".

I have, well, went away, well yeh, over there, well, to Tasso,

It's to see the little beauties, oh ye yaille, oh my,

That's where I'm going to go, so far, well, it's to see , well, the beautiful girls.

Let's go! Going to, well, go away, oh over there, well, my little everything, well oh my,

I am going to, well, go away to Tasso, it's to see the darling cuties. 

Like several of McGee's originals, the timing of the music seems to run everywhere.  According to perspective given by a musician from California:

You play that Dennis McGee stuff, if you haven't heard it before, you can't guess why it's gonna have like three measures, four measures, two measures... or how it's going to go.  You basically have to learn it and memorize it or count it... Alot of times playing with accordion, it is sort of like "Okay..." But when you start playing the Dennis McGee stuff, it's more intellectually challenging because you have to figure out where the song's going all the time... He reminds me of Mozart.1

1. Negotiating Difference in French Louisiana Music: Categories, Stereotypes ... By Sara Le Menestrel
2. Stir the Pot: The History of Cajun Cuisine By Marcelle Bienvenu, Carl A. Brasseaux, Ryan A. Brasseaux
3. DENNIS MCGEE - Complete Early Recordings. Yazoo 1994. Liner notes.
4. Cajun and Creole Music Makers By Barry Jean Ancelet

Find:

The Complete Early Recordings of Dennis McGee (Yazoo, 1994)

Cajun: Rare & Authentic (JSP, 2008)

"Happy One Step" - Sady Courville & Dennis McGee

The Louisiana twin fiddling of Dennis McGee with Sady Courville, and later, Ernest Fruge is one of the great treasures of southern fiddling, past and present.  Dennis had a long musical career, with a repertoire extending back into the nineteenth century.  His local fame led him to start playing with accordionist Amede Ardoin, at a time when crossing racial lines was unusual.  Eventually, he would be invited to record for several labels, including this 1929 session for Vocalion in New Orleans which produced "Happy One Step" (#5315).  The recording  executive wanted two fiddles on the recording, so the two men set out on a train for the big city, fiddles in flour sacks.  Sady recalled,

We went to the second floor of an old building on St. Charles Street. There was a machine like a phonograph in a little room.  The machine made the recording on wax disks. The songs were supposed to be played not less than three minutes, not more than four. There were three or four lights on the machines, blue, yellow and red, that warned us when time was up.  

We recorded eight tunes. They let us choose the songs. I was young at the time so I asked them not to put my name on the record because I was afraid my friends would laugh at me.4   

McGee played with such Cajun artists as Amede Ardoin, Joe Falcon and Amede Breaux when the music was first being recorded in the late 1920s. He performed on the radio show "Prairie Home Companion" and often played at festivals.2  A National Heritage Award winner, Dennis McGee continued to be a favorite at
festivals and house parties until his death in 1989 at ninety-six.3   Author Blair Kilpatrick states:

The Happy One Step is beautiful--so spare and haunting--played simply on the fiddle.  There are no words to the Happy One Step, although the title suggests it is a cheerful song.1  

Dennis McGee & Sady Courville

Image courtesy of Johnnie Allan & the 

Center for Louisiana Studies, 

University of Louisiana at Lafayette

1. Accordion Dreams: A Journey Into Cajun and Creole Music By Blair Kilpatrick
2. The New Amberola Graphic, Volumes 67-82
3. J'ai Ete Au Bal Vol. 1.  ARhoolie CD 331.  Liner notes.
4. The Complete Early Recordings of Dennis McGee.  Liner notes.

Find:
The Early Recordings Of Dennis McGee: Featuring Sady Courville & Ernest Fruge (Morning Star, 1977)
The Complete Early Recordings of Dennis McGee (Yazoo, 1994)
Les Cajuns Best Of 2002 Les Triomphes De La Country Volume 12 (Habana, 2002)
J'ai Ete Au Bal - Vol. 1 (I Went To The Dance) (Arhoolie, 2011)

"Courville and McGee Waltz" - Sady Courville & Dennis McGee

The main instrument of the 19th century Cajun musician was the fiddle.   Traditional old-time Cajun bands often included a lead and a second fiddle. An excellent representation of this style was the early recordings of Dennis McGee and Sady Courville.  Dennis and Sady met in the mid-twenties. As it happens, they had much in common, starting with Gladys, Sady’s sister and Dennis’ wife. Both men were well-known musicians of the time, along with Amadee Ardoin, Angelais Lejeune, and Ernest Fruge, to name a few. Certainly they were among the most important and respected Cajun fiddlers of the day. For the next several years they played dances regularly, as had Sady’s predecessors, the Courville Brothers, before them.1   Dennis explained:

I was successful with my music. It wasn't that it was so good, but it was some old music that no one had head before.2    

Sady recalled his musical legacy:

My father and his brother Arville were both violin players who learned the music from their mother, my maternal grandmother, who was a Fruge.  Her family were all musicians and she knew the tunes her brother played. She'd sing these folk tunes to my father and brother. These folk tunes were brought here by the Cajuns back in the late 1700s.2  

Eraste Courville (Sady's father) & 

Arville Couville (Sady's uncle)
1900, Chataignier, LA

By 1929, the duo headed to New Orleans and recorded some of the earliest Cajun fiddle-led tunes, one of them being a self-entitled waltz simply called "Courville and McGee Waltz" (#315). Many professionals learned quite about bit about Cajun fiddling from this duo.  According to fiddler Tracy Schwarz:

The striking differences heard in Cajun fiddling from other U.S. folk styles can be traced primarily to the use of the following noting hand techniques: drones, octaves, unisons, open strings with a lower tuning, slides, trills, and lack of vibrata. Briefly, these can be described this way: Cajun fiddling abounds in a ringing, sustained treble tone achieved by wide separation of notes played in harmony on adjacent strings.1

In waltzes, the most strikingly different bowing technique is the marking of rhythm. Where country fiddlers will bow one continuous stroke to sustain a note, Cajun fiddlers change direction with each waltz beat, thereby providing rhythm alongside the melody. It must be cautioned here that this is a general discussion and that personal observation of Dennis McGee and Sady Courville leads to the conclusion that older bowing styles were more complicated than this, and also that there are a number of different bowing sub-styles under the general title of “Cajun fiddling.”1

The uniqueness about this recording is the fact that it's the only pressing that lists Courville's name on the label.  In fact at the time of the recording sessions, Sady requested of the company that his name be omitted from the labels when the records were released. And omitted it was: only “Dennis McGee” appears. It was the stigma: since the music embodied “Cajun” more dramatically than any other cultural form (except perhaps the language), it bore that stigma most directly.1  Sady recalled:

People used to make fun of me and other Cajuns who played Cajun music. That was the reason you won't find my name on some of the records Dennis McGee and I made. They asked me why I didn't want my name on those records. I said "Because people are making fun of me and I want to try and better myself".  But, I am for the program of Cajun culture. Then, the last number we made, I let them put on there Courville and McGee Waltz.   That's the only record my name was on.2  

1. http://fieldrecorder.org/dennis-mcgee-and-sady-courville/
2. Ye Yaille Chere by Raymond Francois

Find:
The Early Recordings Of Dennis McGee: Featuring Sady Courville & Ernest Fruge (Morning Star, 1977)
The Complete Early Recordings of Dennis McGee (Yazoo, 1994)

"Diséz Goodbye A Vôtre Mère (Tell Your Mother Goodbye)" - Dennis McGee & Sady Courville

Dennis McGee is one of the most revered fiddlers in Louisiana music history.  He studied and learned the fiddle from nineteenth century fiddlers and lived long enough to pass on extinct dance and fiddle styles. He was one of the first Louisianans to record extensively, not only with a fiddle band but also with an accordionist, either Amede Ardoin or Angelas Lejeune.   Extensively interviewed and studied, he lived to be part of the festival scene that arose in the 1970s, giving listeners and musicians alike a window into the south Louisiana music of a century ago.1  

Dis "bye bye" à tant qu’ tu as fait pour toujours,

Dis "bye bye" à ta maman pour le reste de tes jours, malheureux,

Gardez donc comment donc, comment j’vas faire, malheureux,

Dis adieu pour toujours, quitter toujours.

Gardez donc, comment donc moi j’vas faire, malheureuse,

Toujours donc moi tout seul pour toujours,

Dis adieu (z) à ta chère et vieille maman, malheureux, 

Viens donc, viens finir tes jours, neg’.

Comment donc que j’vas faire, moi tout seul,

Je suis tout seul, tout seul, malheureux je suis vaincu,

Gardez donc, jamais chère elle fait pas ça  avec ton neg’

Fais pas ça d'en pour lui tout seul, en mentant,

J’suis ton neg’, malheureux, c’est pour toujours, malheureux, 

Fais pas ça, j'suis ton neg mais, malheureux.

Dennis McGee & Sady Courville

Dennis claims that many of the tunes he remembered were passed down from his grandfather, himself remembering them as a child. According to record producer Chris King:

He, himself, learned from a man who was a hundred years old when McGee was just a boy. And this was at the turn of the century, so he was learning a repertoire and technique that was essentially 200 years old.2

One of them was "Diséz Goodbye A Vôtre Mère (Tell Your Mother Goodbye)", a common theme Dennis used about telling his loved one to leave her mother and father and come with him.  However, the love interest refuses and he laments on the pain he must suffer  all alone; blaming her for his misery.  It was recorded for Vocalion (#5334) records in New Orleans in 1929 on his first recording session alongside fiddler Sady Courville.

Say "Bye Bye" to your dad forever, 

Say "Bye Bye" to your mom for the rest of your days, oh my,

Look at how it is, how will I handle this, oh my,

Say goodbye forever, leaving forever.

Look at that, how am I doing to do this, oh my,

Forever, I'll be alone forever,

Say goodbye to your dearest old mom, oh my,

Come back, come live here to the end, my friend.

How do you handle being all alone,

I'm all alone, all alone, oh my, I am defeated,

Look at that, dear, she should never do that with your old man,

Don't do that to him, he's alone, just lying there,

I am your old man, oh my, it'll be forever, oh my,

Don't do that, I'm your old man, well, it's terrible. 

Young fiddlers like Mike Doucet, Al Berard, Dennis Stroughmatt, Tina Pilione and David Greely studied the music of McGee and included his songs, licks and style in their repertoires.1

1.  Louisiana Fiddlers By Ron Yule, Bill Burge
2. Vinyl Asides Episode 8 - Christopher King
3. Lyrics by Stephanie D

Find:
Dennis McGee ‎– The Complete Early Recordings (Yazoo, 1994)
Cajun: Rare & Authentic (JSP, 2008)
Cajun Swamp Stomp, Vol 1 (Lumi, 2012)
Cajun Music, The Pretty Girls Don't Want Me (Firefly, 2012)

"Vous M'Avez Donné Vôtre Parole (You Gave Me Your Word)" - Dennis McGee

Few people can be justifiably regarded as both an originator of a particular style of music and also as a conveyor of an older style of folk music in its own right.   One such artist was the unique Cajun, Dennis McGee. Every recording was done either with a second fiddler and with McGee providing the vocals, or in the role of the accompanying fiddler behind an accordion player and vocalist.  Since McGee was one of the earliest Cajun artists to record commercially, most musicians, collectors, and scholars regard him, along with the black accordion player, Amédé Ardoin, as the source of most traditional Cajun tunes and the techniques developed to play them; the true vine, as it were.1 

Tu m'as promis, tu m'as promis, mais ton 'tit cœur malheureux, 

Mais, 'gardez donc, tu vas faire mais pour toujours,

Mais, rappelle toi, les promesses tu m'as fait, 

Mais, rappelle toi, jolie, tu m'avais dit "mais jamais cher", 

Tu m'aurais tourner ton dos pour un autre joli-cœur.

J'ai la blâme, mais, aujourd'hui mais tu fais ça, t'es joli, 

Mais, gardez-donc, malheureuse, ennuyeuse,

Mais, comment-donc tu vas faire, mais, moi tout seul, malheureuse.

Oui, t'as fait chère cousine te va m'abandonnes de ton nèg', 

Mais joli-cœur, mais rappelles toi,

Mais, des accroires que t'avais fait avec ton nèg'.....,

Tu rappeler, mais, si longtemps.

'Gardez donc, malheureuse, comment tu l’aime toujours,

Comme un misérable, oh mais m’aime, mais, malheureuse,

Yéyaïe, je voulais, mais bien, eh chère.

Dennis McGee and Sady Courville

"Vous M'Avez Donné Vôtre Parole (You Gave Me Your Word)" was a song recorded alongside fiddler Sady Courville.   Together, they headed to New Orleans in 1929 and recorded it for Vocalion records (#5348). The song's melody has a loose similarity to Amede Breaux's "Ma Blonde Est Partie".  

You promised me, you promised me, well, your little heart, oh my,

Well, look at what you've gone done, well, always.

Well, you remember the promises you had made, 

Well, you remember, my pretty one, you had said, "I'll never" dear,

Yet, you have turned your back for another sweetheart.

I am to blame, well, today, well, you have done that, you pretty one,

Well, look at that, oh my, I'm lonesome,

Well, how are you going to do this, well, I'm all alone, oh my.

Yes, you did, dear cousin, you have abandoned your old man,

Well, sweetheart, well, you've returned,

Well, all the tears you have done to your old man,

Well, remember, it wasn't long ago.

Look at that, oh my, how do you still love him,

Like a miserable one, oh, you like him, well, oh my,

Oh ye yaille, I wish you well, dear. 

Not only did McGee record from 1929 to 1934 with such artists as Amédé Ardoin, Sady Courville, Wade Fruge, and Angelas Le Jeunne, but he also later recorded two “studio” albums in 1972 and 1977 with Sady Courville for Morning Star and Swallow, respectively.  Fewer still are those who were aurally documented in the 1920s & 1930s and in the 1970s & 1980s who showed little loss of skill or recollection of repertoire.1

1. https://oldtimeparty.wordpress.com/category/dennis-mcgee/
2. Lyrics by Stephane F, 'ericajun', and Marc C

Find:
The Complete Early Recordings of Dennis McGee (Yazoo, 1994)
Cajun Early Recordings (JSP, 2004)
Aimer Et Perdre: To Love & To Lose Songs, 1917-1934 (Tompkins Square, 2012)

"Mon Chere Bebe Creole (My Creole Sweet Mama)" - Dennis McGee & Sady Courville

"My Dear Creole Baby!" One of the iconic songs by Cajun fiddler Dennis McGee is "Mon Chere Bebe Creole (My Creole Sweet Mama)" recorded for Vocalion in 1929.   Cajuns use of French words, and the dialect that came with it, illustrated how isolated the culture remained from much of the rest of country. This was most evident in the songs they sung.   According to musician Will Spires, Dennis explained the origins of the song to him:

It came to me in a dream and I woke up and I caught my violin and played that tune.7  

The Cajun music genre appears to have borrowed this peculiar intensity from traditional Cajun and black Creole music, which, while they capture a wide range of emotions, excel at conveying pathos and despair.2 Author Shane Bernard recounts Cajun fiddler Dewey Balfa's explanation:

In Cajun music you can hear the lonesome sound and the hurt...just like the blues sound of the black man is a sound deep hurt, deep sorrow.  The Acadians had it very tough from Nova Scotia down to Louisiana, and when they did get to Louisiana, they had a hard time.  And sometimes I feel that the Cajun sounds are of the loneliness and hardship they had back then.  This tendency emerges even in the earliest Cajun recordings, such as "Mon Chere Bebe Creole".2 

Regardez, donc, malheureuse,

Tu m'abandonnes pour toujours,

Malheureuse, aye yaille, j'suis après,

M'en aller, c'est pour mourir.

Dit "Bye Bye", chere maman,

Fais pas ca avec ton neg,

Eh, tu vas le faire mourir pour toujours,

Un de ces jours, Malheureuse,

Dit "Bye Bye" chere vielle maman.

Gardez donc, mais j'suis après,

Marcher, chere malheureuse,

Gardez donc pour toujours,

Malheureuse, malheureuse,

Dit "Bye bye" a ton pop et ta mom.

Gardez donc, fais pas ca,

Avec moi, chere petite, ah oui,

Maheureuse,

J'ai pas fait rien, chere, pour toi,

Fais pas ca avec moi, chere tite fille.

Gardez donc, malheureuse,

Mais gardez donc, jsuis après,

M'en aller dans les chemins,

Tous les jours, et les nuits,

C'est pour toi, malheureuse, si jolie.

Dennis McGee & Sady Courville

Those that lived here, with and without Acadian ancestry, sang songs that reflected the interracial dialogue between Cajuns and their Afro-Creole counterparts.   McGee continued to communicate musically cultural information about the influences and institutions that defined Cajun life before the Great Depression.3  

Cajun people remained largely un-Americanized until U.S. involvement in World War II. Swept up in the period's intense patriotism, Cajuns supported the massive war effort. In so doing Cajun GIs experienced a world much larger than the one back in Acadiana, while loved ones on the home-front pulled together to do their part for victory.4   By the 1950s, Happy Fats and Doc Guidry recorded the tune as "Dans La Platin".   

Look at that, oh my,

You left me forever,

So unhappy, aye yaille, afterwards,

I'm going away to die.

Say "Bye bye, dear mom",

Don't do this to your old man,

Hey, you're going to make him die, 

One of these days, oh my,

Say "Bye bye, dear old mom".

Look at this, well, I'm headed out,

Walking away, dear sad one,

So look at this always,

Oh my, unhappy one,

Say "Bye bye" to your dad and your mom.

So look, don't do this,

With me, my dear little one, oh yeh,

Oh my,

I have done nothing, dear, for you,

Don't do that with me, dear little girl.

So look at that, oh my,

Well, look at that always,

I'm headed down the road,

Every day and every night,

It's for you, oh my, so pretty.

McGee's use of the word "Creole" could be used in a variety of ways; a word hotly debated among those that are familiar with it.  Just writing about this word from an academic standpoint can cause controversy.  The term "Creole" was first used in the sixteenth century to identify descendants of French, Spanish, or Portuguese settlers living in the West Indies and Latin America. There is general agreement that the term "Creole" derives from the Portuguese word crioulo, which means a slave born in the master's household.5 

Determining the accepted definition in 1920 among Louisiana natives can be difficult.   During the early recording years, it's usage differed between New Orleans natives and the rest of the Cajun prairie people.  Even though many non-Acadians settled in the Cajun country, there's no doubt by the 1920s, many considered themselves Cajun and/or Creole.   Even in France today, there's a distinction between "creole noir" and "creole blanche".  Regardless of the accepted definition, historical literature proves the word had different meanings based on location and time period.   

The music itself became known as either Cajun and/or Creole music.  Even by 1939, accordion player Joe Falcon, of Cajun and Spanish ancestry, was a featured performer on what was known as the "Creole Hour" at the National Rice Festival.3   Yet, Canray Fontenot, notably considered one of the finest Creole fiddlers, personally regarded his fiddling technique not as a traditional Creole expression, but an interpretation of Harry Choates' style.3  What could McGee mean by the word "Creole"?    Is this something different than Cajun?   According to author Herman Fuselier, "ask 30 people and you'll get 30 different answers."6

Despite the dialect's decline, Cajun identity and ethnic pride remain strong to the present. The ethnic intermixing that created the Cajuns is still evident in the names of some of the most famous Cajun musicians: Nathan Abshire, Lawrence Walker, and Dennis McGee were all renowned Cajun musicians with surnames of non-Acadian origin. This paradoxical embrace of others while forging a strong Cajun identity can perhaps be summed up with this observation from Dennis: 

"McGee, that's a French name," he proclaimed. "I don't know anyone named McGee who doesn't speak French."4

1. Dennis McGee & Sady Courville.  Jack Bond
2. Swamp Pop: Cajun and Creole Rhythm and Blues By Shane K. Bernard
3. Cajun Breakdown: The Emergence of an American-Made Music By Ryan Andre Brasseaux
4. http://www.medschool.lsuhsc.edu/genetics_center/louisiana/article_acadianscajuns.htm
5. Creoles by Helen Bush Caver and Mary T. Williams
6. http://www.theadvertiser.com/story/entertainment/2015/07/09/mean-creole/29942095/
7. Discussions with Will Spires
8. Lyrics by Stephane F

Release Info:
NO-108 Madame Young Donnez Moi Votre Plus Jolie Blonde (Madame Young Give Me Your Sweetheart) | Vocalion 5319
NO-109 Mon Chere Bebe Creole (My Creole Sweet Mama) | Vocalion 5319

Find:
Louisiana Cajun Music Volume 1: First Recordings - The 1920's (Old Timey, 1970)
The Early Recordings Of Dennis McGee: Featuring Sady Courville & Ernest Fruge (Morning Star, 1977)

The Complete Early Recordings of Dennis McGee (Yazoo, 1994)