"Coosh Mal" - Leroy "Happy Fats" Leblanc

Happy Fats ran several radio shows during the 40s and 50s.  It created more demand for his music.   But by the 1950s, he was running his own TV show.   KADN and KLFY both aired his shows during the 1960s, including his popular show "Mariné".  According to Adam "Jack" Landry's son Morgan, both he and his father played with Happy on the show.

He played bass when I played with him at the dance hall. I know that he spoke very good French.  He always had something good to say. I never heard him say anything bad.  He loved to joke around.3  

Before his TV show however, his recording career was phenomenal.  His contracts with RCA Victor seemed to be never ending.  In 1946 he recorded "Coosh Mal" (#2034) with Francis “Red” Fabacher on lead guitar, Jimmy Gardiner on rhythm guitar, Giles ‘Candy Man” Castillo on steel guitar, Buel Hoffpauir on drums, and a fiddle player named Andrus "Uncle Ambros" Thibodeaux in New Orleans.   His song sings of a drunkard from Port Barre that flirts with all the women, but never amounts to much in life. 

Hé Couchemal, qui vient du Port Barré,

Oh Couchemal, il est tout le temps parlé, 

Hé Couchemal, il coursaille toutes les femmes,

Oh Couchemal, toutes les femmes lui regarde pas.

Hé Couchemal, il aime bien sa bouteille,

Oh Couchemal, il pard par sa bouteille,

Hé Couchemal, il fait jamais à rien,

Oh Couchemal, il regarde pas trop demain.

Hé Couchemal, qui vient du Port Barré,

Oh Couchemal, il est tout le temps parlé,

Hé Couchemal, il coursaille toutes les femmes,

Oh Couchemal, toutes les femmes lui regardaient pas.

Teche News
Apr 11, 1947

It's possible that the title is an ode to rhythm guitarist Jimmy Gardiner that joined the band that year.  Sung by Francis "Daddy Red" Fabacher, he refers to man with mischievous ways, usually in a bad way.  Possibly related to the mythical creature, le cauchemar (bad sleep), the nickname was used when Happy's stage show performances included more novelty acts as well as music, such as comedic entertainment. 

Hey Couchemal, who's coming from Port Barré,

Oh Couchemal, he's always talking (flirting), 

Hey Couchemal, he's courting all the women, 

Oh Couchemal, all the women don't notice him. 

Hey Couchemal, he likes his bottle,

Oh Couchemal, he does not lose his bottle,

Hey Couchemal, he never does anything,

Oh Couchemal, he never looks to tomorrow.

Hey Couchemal, who's coming from Port Barré,

Oh Couchemal, he's always talking (flirting), 

Hey Couchemal, he's courting all the women, 

Oh Couchemal, all the women don't notice him.

But by 1947, Victor called it quits and he teamed up with a new group of musicians but kept Ambrose as his fiddle player.  Morgan recalls the TV show:

[The show was] very professional. Me and my dad drove to Lafayette, it was actually a bit on the outskirts from what I remember. I also remember standing on the side of the set watching the show as it took place while waiting for me and my dad to go up. There was a background set up, some bales of hay if i remember correctly, then there were the microphones, the cameras were set up some 30 feet, pretty close to it if not, from the band. The lights were not too bad from what I recollect. If memory serves me correctly, the fiddle player was Uncle Ambrose and he kicked of the show with the rooster call.3

Happy would travel to different towns around Lafayette, promoting not only his band but his TV show as well.   He would advertise his "Mariné" show on the side of a van.   He even released a self-entitled LP on Swallow Records in 1964 with the lead song being the "Mariné Theme".

1. http://bayoutechedispatches.blogspot.com/2013/02/a-glimpse-from-1968-historic-films.html
2. http://www.katc.com/story/36721057/medical-explanation-for-cajun-folklore-known-as-kooshma
3. Discussions with Morgan L
4. Lyrics by Jordy A

Release Notes:
D6VB 2985 Coosh Mal | Victor 20-2034-A
D6VB 2986 La Valse De Bosco | Victor 20-2034-B

Find:
Happy Fats & His Rayne-Bo Ramblers (BACM, 2009)
His Rayne-Bo Ramblers 1938-1949 (Master Classics, 2011)