"Se Pas Le Pan" - Hackberry Ramblers

Of all the ventures an optimist might dream up during the Great Depression, the most risky would be a two-person dance band named after a tiny community in Cameron Parish and formed at the peak of the hardest times in American history.  Luderin Darbone and Edwin Duhon didn’t think so. In 1933, they formed the Hackberry Ramblers band, with an accordion, a guitar and a fiddle between them.1

When the Darbones moved to Hackberry, the kid next door was Edwin Duhon, a native of Lake Charles whose hobbies were playing an old accordion and a newer guitar. Darbone and Duhon became friends when they started playing music together.1 

C'est pas le peine tu me dis "non",

Faudra toujours tu me dis "ouais",

C'est pas le peine tu me dis "non",

Faudra toujours tu me marries.

KVOL, Lafayette, LA
Joe Werner, unknown, Luderin Darbone,
Robert Escudier, Lennis Sonnier

By 1937, the group had been recording for two years and arrived at the Masonic Temple in New Orleans to record "Se Pas La Pan" (#2017).   The title means "it's no use", spelled in French as "c'est pas la peine".   The group had added members  Lennis Sonnier on guitar and Joe Werner on guitar/harmonica.   Melodies such as this one can be found earlier tunes such as the Fawvor Brother's "La Valse De Creole", the Segura Brother's "A Mosquito Ate Up My Sweetheart", and later songs such as Lawrence Walker's "Tu Le Du Po La Mam" and Nathan Abshire's "La Valse de Holly Beach".  

It's no use for you to tell me "no",

You will always have to tell me "yeah",

It's no use for you to tell me "no",

You will always have to marry me.

1. "Hackberry Ramblers Making music since 1933". DON KINGERY. American Press, Friday, September 24, 2004
2. Lyrics by Stephane F

Release Info:

BS 07224-1 Se Pas La Pan (It's No Use) | Bluebird B-2017-A

BS 07224-1 Rice City Stomp | Bluebird B-2017-B

Find:

Cajun String Bands 1930's: Cajun Breakdown (Arhoolie, 1997)