"You're Small And Sweet" - Segura Brothers

One of the earliest Cajun musical families was the Segura family of Delcambre where two brothers, Dewey and Edier, learned to play some of the earliest Cajun melodies.   During the 1920s, Dewey's parents raised their children near a bayou known as the Petite Anse Canal, not far from the local dance-halls.   Dewey's mother not only played the accordion, but also knew the secret of making moonshine in the cornfield.  To accommodate their income, she would sell the liquor at the local dance halls, keeping a wary eye out for the "revenues". She taught Dewey how to play the accordion as well as make liquor.1  

Toi, petite, t’es mignonne,

Si aimable, t’es trop canaille, malheureuse.

Quoi j’ai fait à ton papa,

Pour être puni aussi longtemps,

Lord, Lord, c’est dans la maison,

Je peux p’us revenir icitte.

En demander à ton papa et ta maman,

Pour t’amener avec ton vieux nègre, malheureuse,

Papa dit "non", chère, maman veut pas,

Parce que ma robe est pas jolie,

(J’après mourir)*, quoi moi, je vas faire, mais, d’être toute seule?

Ta maman, mérite etre content,

'Vec une corde là, oh, la corde au cou,

Tu connais, chère, la corde au cou, c’est dur pour moi,

Que toi tu est dis t'abandonner, c'est mieux d’avoir la corde au cou.

Dewey and Edier Segura

He, his brother Eddie and a local guitarist named Didier Hebert traveled to New Orleans at the end of 1929 to catch a Columbia recording session where other Cajun musicians such as Dennis McGee and the Amede Ardoin were lined up.  The Seguras recorded an old Cajun tune about a lover commenting on a love interest's desperation entitled "You're Small And Sweet" (#40512).  Not to be confused with the 1928 Fawvor Brothers's title  "T'Est Petite a Ete T'Est Meon (You Are Little and You Are Cute)", a different tune that would become the standard for future generations. Attributed to "E. Segura", it's believed the company mistakenly left off Dewey's name.  In the song, he refers to "la corde au cou", or "rope around the neck", however, the phrase signifies extreme frustration, more closely aligned to a person being "at the end of his rope."

You're small, you're cute,

Even though friendly, you're too mischievous, oh my.

What did I do to your dad,

To be punished for so long?

(Lord, Lord, in that house,

I can't come back here.)

Ask your dad and your mom,

To bring you to your old man, oh my,

(Your) dad says "no", dear, (your) mom doesn't want to,

Because my clothes aren't nice,

(I'm dying), well, what am I going to do, but to be all alone?

Your mom, deserves to be happy,

With a rope there, oh the rope around my neck,

You know, dear, the rope around my neck, it's hard for me,

That you have said you've abandoned me, it's better to have the rope around my neck. 

In 1949, Cajun music was back in demand.  Dewey started a full-time band, The Delcambre Playboys, where they group played around Vermilion Parish dance-halls such as The Blue Moon in New Iberia, the Grand Terasse near St. Martinville and the Rock-A-Bye Club in Forked Island.  Dewey always insisted his family come see him play.  He stated: 

If my family don't come, nobody else is going to come.  They'll think I'm not good.1  

1. Discussions with Lorraine S D
2. Lyrics by Stephane F and Jordy A

Release Info:
W111392-2 Rosalia | Columbia 40512-F
W111393-2 Your Small And Sweet | Columbia 40512-F

W111392-2 Rosalia | Okeh 90012
W111393-2 Your Small And Sweet | Okeh 90012


Find:
Cajun Dance Party: Fais Do-Do (Legacy/Columbia, 1994)
Les Cajuns Best Of 2002 Les Triomphes De La Country Volume 12 (Habana, 2002)
Cajun Country, Vol. 2, More Hits from the Swamp (JSP, 2005)