"Valse A Pap" - Dennis McGee & Ernest Fruge

Born in 1893, Dennis McGee absorbed the repertoire of a man who was almost one hundred years old at that time.  This music, which pre-dated the accordion by at least one hundred and fifty years, was destined to undergo many changes until it finally resulted, through the hands of countless musicians, in the synthesized form we know today.2 By the time he reached his 30s, he was offered three different recording opportunities in New Orleans.  On his third and last trip, he traveled with his accompanist fiddler Ernest Fruge and togther they recorded "Valse A Pap" (#532)  Dennis remembered the song being a very early tune that his father loved to play, who learned it from his father.  According to McGee:

His father played it too, Eraste Courville and John McGee. They liked this waltz very much.1  

Dennis McGee

Dennis spent much of his early years living at his grandmother's home.  It was here where he was initially exposed to his father's fiddle playing.  Dennis recalls,

Ninety years ago, I'd hear my daddy play.  He'd tap his foot like this and I'd sit on the floor and listen.  I learned my first tune with my daddy, "La Valse A Pop."  I learned to hold my bow like my daddy and I learned to move it just like him, back and forth just like him.3  

Dis "Bye bye," malheureuse, malheureuse, tous les jour,

Malheureuse, 'gardez-donc ça t'as fait,

Malheureuse, Dieu connaît tu vas pleurer.

Malheureuse, si t'aurais, mais, jamais écoute,

Ton papa et maman, ça c'aurait jamais arrive,

Malheureuse, le le rai!

Gardez-donc, malheureuse, gardez-donc, tu connais,

J'f'rais pas ça avec toi ça t'as fait avec moi,

Par rapport a toi, malheureuse.

(vocal rambling)

Daily Advertiser
May 1, 1931

Dennis McGee's father, John McGee Sr, was an accomplished fiddler in his own right. John had learned from his father, Pierre Hugo McGee of Irish ancestry.    When asked why he named it after his father, Dennis cried:

 When my father was dying, I went over to see him and he asked me to play this waltz. Afterwards, I promised that I would never play this waltz for anybody dying. He started to cry, the old man. It broke my heart. I played the waltz for him and I said, "Pop, I can't play if you cry."   And he said, "It's alright. Play it.  I know that I'm not going to be here for long."1  

Say "Bye-bye", oh my, oh my, always,

Oh my, so look at what you've done,

Oh my, the Lord knows you have cried.

Oh my, if you had, well, ever listened,

To your father and mother, that would have never happened,

Oh my, le le rai!

So look, oh my, so look, you know, 

I will not do that to you, that you've done to me,

Because of you, oh my.

1. "Accordions, Fiddles, Two Step & Swing: A Cajun Music Reader" by Ron Brown, Ryan A. Brasseaux, and Kevin S. Fontenot
2. The Eunice News (Eunice, Louisiana) 09 Nov 1989.  Marc Savoy.
3. The Complete Early Recordings of Dennis McGee.  Liner notes. 

Release Info:
NO-6733 Valse A Pap | Brunswick 532
NO-6734 Two Step De Ville Platte | Brunswick 532
Find:
The Early Recordings Of Dennis McGee: Featuring Sady Courville & Ernest Fruge (Morning Star, 1977)
The Complete Early Recordings of Dennis McGee (Yazoo, 1994)