"Fais Do Do Two Step" - Jimmy Durbin

Some of the earliest Cajun string band music were still being recorded in the early 1950s.   Bands like Chuck Guillory and Jimmy Newman were latching onto the style, sometimes landing large recording contracts with MGM, Decca, and Columbia.   Around this same time, one would gather that a certain Jimmy Durbin lead a group of Cajun musicians backed by Chuck Guillory's band members and recorded "Fais Do Do Two Step" (#1008) for J.D. Miller's Fais Do Do label.  It was a version of Amede Ardoin's "One Step de Chameaux".   

Misspelled "fias", it was an ode to the common Cajun house dance event known as a "fais do-do".   Literally meaning "make sleep", the word "do" became a shorted form of the French word "domir" (to sleep).   In the same manner a mother was tell a child "beddie-bye" in English, legend has it that mothers who attended these dances with their children, tried to quickly get their babies to sleep in the back room, less their husbands be caught dancing with someone else!

Oh, ma jolie fille, 'tit fille, m'fais pas ça,

Cherie, ma jolie cœur, 'tit fille m'fais pitié,

Oh, ma malheureuse, tit fille, m'fais du mal, 

Eh, ma ça ta fais ton nègre, il y a pas longtemps.

Chérie, mais, j'vas mourir, 'tite fille, mais, ça me va pas,

Tite fille, auprès de toi, chérie, mais, que j'vas voir,

Eh, mais, malheureuse, m'j'connais te m'fais pitié,

Chérie, t'es, joli cœur, tite fille, tu me fais du mal.

Jimmy Newman, Curzy Porkchop Roy,
unknown, Papa Cairo, unknown,
Herman Durbin

Image courtesy of Johnnie Allan Collection, 

Center for Louisiana Studies, 

University of Louisiana at Lafayette

It would seem that Chuck's band had this recording led by a man named Jimmy Durbin.  Except, there's one problem: there was no such person as Jimmy Durbin!  In a strange identity crisis, no one has been able to determine who this person was, leading to several theories. The name is most likely Miller's attempt at listing Jimmy Newman and his regular piano-playing sidekick, Herman Durbin, together.  Instead of Benny Fruge on piano, it could very well be Herman with Miller attempting to list them as "Jimmy & Durbin". 

Author and producer of the Acadian All-Star box set, Lyle Ferbrache explains:

For some reason when JD released the record, he put the name "Jimmy Durbin" on the record.  Shelton Manuel had no idea why.  As far as I can tell there us no Jimmy Durbin.  J.D. did things that sometimes made no sense.1

Oh, my pretty girl, little girl, don't do that to me,

Dearie, my pretty sweetheart, little girl, make me pitiful,

Oh, my unfortunate little girl, that hurts me,

Hey, that was done to your man, over there not long ago.

Dearie, well, I'll die, little girl, well, I'm not going,

Little girl, with you, dearie, that I can see,

Hey, well, oh my, I know you made me pitiful,

Dearie, you are a pretty sweetheart, little girl, you've hurt me.

Regardless, the band was most of Chuck Guillory's backup group with Jimmy Newman on guitar, Shelton Manuel on vocals and fiddle, Francis "Red" Fabacher on steel guitar, Howard Thibodeaux on bass, Curzey "Pork Chop" Roy on drums, and either Herman Durbin or Benny Fruge on piano.   The record was recorded on a tape machine that J.D. had just started using and wanted to see if he could make a remote recording.  So, Miller and the band recorded the session at Benny's Fruge Piano House in Eunice about 1949.  It was recorded around the same time Nathan Abshire used the melody for his "Lake Charles Two Step".   Later, Chuck Guillory would record it as "One Step De Chameaux".   Generally, both songs are known as the same tune.  

1. Discussions with Lyle F
2. Lyrics by Stephane F

Release Info:

-A Drunkard Waltz | Fais-Do-Do F1008-A

-B Fais Do Do Two Step | Fais-Do-Do F1008-B

Find:

Acadian All Star Special - The Pioneering Cajun Recordings Of J.D. Miller (Bear, 2011)