A unique window into the world of Cajun music between 1928 and 1965. Compiled histories from websites, books, news articles, liner notes, and interviews. Most come from my personal 78 collection. Also covering Creole, Cajun-Country, and Cajun swing.
Starting in 1933, the Hackberry Ramblers played a blend of Cajun music, western swing, Gulf Coast swamp pop, early rock and roll, and classic country. The band was cofounded by fiddler Luderin Darbone and multi-instrumentalist Edwin Duhon, the duo who led the group. Beyond their remarkably long run, the Hackberry Ramblers are known for several important innovations. They were the first band to combine Cajun music, sung in French, with Anglo-American country music, sung in English; previously the two traditions were separate. Besides country music—especially the jazz-influenced country style known as western swing—the Hackberry Ramblers also played blues, traditional jazz standards, a wide range of miscellaneous popular songs, and novelty material. Whatever the genre, the band’s sole intent was to make people dance.1
Tu m'as quitté à la maison,
Oui, t'en aller, t'en aller,
T'en aller avec un autre,
Mais, ça sa fait pitié.
The Hackberry Ramblers are captured here in full flow giving a good indication of things to come. Formed by fiddler Luderin Darbon in 1930 and the first Cajun band to use amplification, they favored pop and hillbilly tunes, but could easily knock out a French tune when required such as "Mermentan Stomp" (#2003).2 It was an ode to the small community of Mermentau, located 30 miles east of Hackberry, along the bayou of the same name. The bayou was a safe haven for smugglers and even pirates along the Gulf. It was named after an old 18th century Atakapa chief Nementou who sold land to Frenchman in the area. Recorded for Bluebird records in 1936, the group contained Floyd Rainwater and Lennis Sonnier on guitars with Lennis on vocals, Johnny Puderer on bass, and Luderin Darbone on fiddle.
One early Cajun musician in the post-war era was Johnny William “J. W.” Billiot, known as the “Singing Frenchman”. He played around the Beaumont, Texas, area and recorded for Deluxe Records in 1949 with his wife Bessie. Throughout his lifetime he spelled his name various ways (Billiot, Billot and Billiott). According to his daughter Mary Cobb,
He began to speak broken French/English which his father could not understand so he took him back to Hamshire Hill to live. He actually went to work in the oilfield at the age of 12.1
Having learned from his godfather, a "Mr. Choat", he played the accordion from a very young age and spoke of playing in dance halls around Hamshire before he was a teenager. During his life, he played at many clubs, home parties, and church benefit dances throughout Texas and Louisiana.
J’ai passe devant ta porte,
J’ai crie, “By-bye ma belle.”
Et personne qui m'a répondu,
O ye yaille, mon cœur fait mal.
O ye yaille, mon cœur fait mal,
O ye yaille, mon cœur fait mal,
Et personne qui m'a répondu,
O ye yaille, mon cœur fait mal.
J’ai passe devant ta porte,
J’ai crie, “By-bye ma belle.”
Et personne qui m'a répondu,
O ye yaille, mon cœur fait mal.
O ye yaille, mon cœur fait mal,
O ye yaille, mon cœur fait mal,
Et personne qui m'a répondu,
O ye yaille, mon cœur fait mal.
Bessie "Grace" Billiot
As lead accordionist and vocalist, Johnny assembled a group with Bill Guillory on fiddle, Billy Rayon on guitar, Nick Guidry on fiddle, Lloyd Gilbert on guitar and Bill Guidry on guitar. His wife Bessie was a vocalist with the band, but Johnny did not feel that Bessie was a good stage name. So, she went by the name of “Grace.” Although she didn’t play any instruments, she remained their vocalist, including becoming the vocalist on some of their recordings. In a session believed be held in Sulphur, LA, she sang the iconic 1929 Cleoma Breaux tune "Mon Coeur T'Appelle (My Heart Aches For You)", entitled "Jay Pa Say Devout Tah Port" (#6042) for Joe Lieberwitz's DeLuxe label. His nephew Joseph recalls:
[Grace] could not speak French, so Johnny would stand behind her and lightly sing the words to her which she repeated on the microphone.1
As a Cajun bandleader, Lawrence Walker was a perfectionist. He carefully controlled and crafted the sound of his Wandering Aces band. He was also a gifted singer and composed several Cajun music classics such as "Johnny Can't Dance" (#615) on George Khoury's label.1 Author Raymond Francois said that his father told him the song entered the Cajun repertoire through a children's book called "The Rabbit Stole The Pumpkin", also a tune recorded earlier by John Bertrand.2 However, if you listen carefully to the intro, it sounds eerily close to the chorus of Jimmy Driftwood's song "Battle of New Orleans". Guitarist Sam Broussard explains some of the complexity in the song's chord changes:
Some Cajun songs are "crooked," meaning they drop and/or pick up beats. The opposite of crooked is square. Country songs are almost always square. Cajun music is vastly more organized, in that thee dropped beats and added pauses have become part of the song in many, many cases. After a while you don't notice it. A good example of a crooked song is Johnny Can't Dance.3
Khoury lined up Walker's group containing Uray Jules "U.J." Meaux on fiddle, Demus Comeaux on guitar, Valmont "Junior" Benoit on steel guitar, and Lawrence Trahan on drums. Some had thought that since swamp pop singer Johnny Allan had played with Lawrence when Allan was young, he was the subject of the song. However, during an interview, when asked, Johnny laughed saying:
Oh, while I am surely not a dancer, I have no idea where the song got the title. That song was much older than me. Lawrence could have gotten that title from anywhere.4
In 1989, Cajun rocker Wayne Toups took Walkers tune, added lyrics and created one of the most popular Cajun rock songs of the modern era: "Johnnie Can't Dance (Johnnie Peut Pas Dancer)".
Cajun Music: Its Origins and Development by Barry Jean Ancelet
Negotiating Difference in French Louisiana Music: Categories, Stereotypes ... By Sara Le Menestrel
Discussions with Johnny A
Release Info: Evangeline Waltz | Khoury's KH 615-A Johnny Can't Dance | Khoury's KH 615-B Find: A Legend At Last (Swallow, 1983) Essential Collection of Lawrence Walker (Swallow, 2010)
The Crawfish in the Marsh! Texas was a place where many Cajun-string bands headed to in order to record their music and Dallas was no exception. Bluebird had brought several bands over to record in Dallas including Lawrence Walker for their Texas Centennial celebration in 1936. Later, others were headed west to take part in the opportunities there. In 1937, Happy Fats took several band members on a tour of east Texas, playing in such places like Galveston and Port Arthur. By 1938, Happy Fats had swapped members of his group for a recording session in Dallas where they recorded "Les Escrives Dan Platin" for Bluebird Records. According to author Ryan Brasseaux:
"Les Escrives Dan Platin" and "Les Tit Filles de Lafayette" embody the synthetic nature of Cajun swing. Both songs contain a unique blend of Cajun fiddling, Western swing, jazz back beats, solo "takeoffs" and tight Southern gospel harmonies rendered as French choruses.1
Ma p'tite fille est bien si belle,
Viens t'en donc ma chérie,
Mais, j'connais y a pas juste elle,
Viens t'en donc ma chérie,
Viens t'en donc, viens t'en donc,
Viens t'en donc ma chérie,
Viens t'en donc oui quand tu veut,
Mais, viens t'en donc ma chérie.
Des ecrevisses dedans l'platin,
Viens t'en donc ma chérie,
Va attraper demain matin,
Viens t'en donc ma chérie,
Viens t'en donc, viens t'en donc,
Viens t'en donc ma chérie,
Viens t'en donc oui quand tu veut,
Mais, viens t'en donc ma chérie.
Ouai de gumbo et d'la sauce,
Viens t'en donc ma chérie,
Si n'y a pas, c'est pas d'ma faute,
Viens t'en donc ma chérie,
Viens t'en donc, viens t'en donc,
Viens t'en donc ma chérie,
Viens t'en donc oui quand tu veut,
Mais, viens t'en donc ma chérie.
Rayne Tribune June 18, 1937
While some today use the word "platin" to refer to a low lying marshy area, at the turn of the century, Cajuns referred to a "platin" as a small circular pond, formed from rain water deposits, of which there were thousands on the prairies. The melody, similar to Happy's "O.S.T. Girl", was an adaptation of the familiar folk-tune called "Polly Wolly Doodle". It was sung by Dan Emmett's Virginia Minstrels, which premiered in 1843. Later, it was recorded by many musicians later including Harry C. Browne in 1917, Gid Tanner and the Skillet Lickers in 1926 and the Carter Family in 1939.3
Happy rounded out his group with Oran "Doc Guidry on fiddle, Ray Guidry on banjo, Roy Romero on steel guitar, Nathan Guidry on bass, and Robert Thibodeaux on piano. According to Ryan Brasseaux:
Oran "Doc " Guidry's smooth fiddling and Robert Thibodeaux's swinging stride piano solos carried the band through several sophisticated arrangements such as "Les Escrives Dan Platin".1
Cajun Sketches From The Prairies Of Southwest Louisiana by Lauren Post
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polly_Wolly_Doodle
NOTE: B-2091 is a re-release
Release Info: BS-022040-1 Aux Long De Bois | B-2034-A BS-022032-1 Les Escrives Dan Platin | Bluebird B-2034-B BS-022038-1 Jus Pasque | Bluebird B-2091-A BS-022032-1 Les Escrives Dan Platin | Bluebird B-2091-B Find:
Gran Prairie: Cajun Music Anthology, Vol. 3: The Historic Victor Bluebird Sessions (Country Music, 1994)
One of the most mysterious recordings of Cajun accordion player Iry Lejeune. Nearly blind, Iry Lejeune spent his days in music and solitude. The loneliness in his singing may have originated from his childhood. He listened intently to the recordings of former greats, such as Amede Ardoin. He was also greatly influenced by his relative Angelas Lejeune.2 "Donnez-Moi Mon Chapeau" (#1102) was the same tune as "Give Me My Hat" or "Catch My Hat", made popular by the Hackberry Ramblers. Originally, it was recorded by his older cousin Angelas Lejeune as "Petite Te Canaigh". Leo Soileau's 1935 "Attrape-moi, Je Tombe" used the same melody. It can also be found spelled "Attrapez-moi Mon Chapeau."3
Attrape-moi donc mon chapeau,
J'vois c'est l'heure, moi je m'en vas,
Écoutez-donc ton papa,
Mais, comme il est à peu près fâché,
Écoutez-donc ta maman,
Elle me ressemble contente,
Ton papa est sus la galerie,
Mais, moi, je l'entends après quereller fort.
Lejeune performed regularly on Eddie Shuler's radio how on station KPLC in Lake Charles. The station's manager objected to Iry's style, but disc jockey Shuler convinced him that Iry's accordion was riding on the wave of the future.2Listeners demanded more of Iry and other traditional French music. Iry's music on the radio had influences on other Louisiana music genre's, such as zydeco. Zydeco musician Willis Prudhomme recalls:
My idols in Cajun music were Nathan Abshire and Iry LeJeune. White folks. They were playing their music on the radio, and I fell in love with it. I love French music. I listened to those guys singing, and I wanted to sing like them. Very few black people played Cajun music in them days. But I still play Cajun music. I like it a lot.1
Catch me my hat,
I see it's time, I'm going to go,
So, listen to your father,
Well, how he is a bit mad,
So, listen to your mom,
She seems to be happy,
Your father is on the porch,
Well, I hear him yelling loudly.
It is not known when or where this tune was recorded. Iry's son Ervin thinks that "Chapeau" was a spliced-together engineering feat of Eddie Shuler since Ervin notes that Iry only sings one verse of this song. Drummer Robert Bertrand told him that Eddie--using "splicing technology"--added the subsequent sections which are a repeats of the first verse.4 Although pressed on Shuler's original yellow label, once Iry's music became popular again after his death, he re-issued the song as a "Collector's Item" on a red label. It's one of the few pressings of Iry's music solely on 45 RPM and one of the earliest Cajun releases on this new format. Shuler used two different publishing companies, with both issues containing misspelled titles. Re-recorded around the same time by Amede Breaux as "Acadian Two Step", the tune has been covered by many artists such as Ambrose Thibodeaux, Sady Courville, Preston Manuel and Hadley Fontenot.
Chuck Guillory's group became the backup band for several Cajun musicians after the war. Primarily a country string band, he helped headline Jimmy Newman, Al Terry, Papa Cairo, and Milton Molitor. Recorded in Crowley at the J.D. Miller studio, Milton sang the tune "Walfus Two Step" for Miller's Feature label. Wafus (misspelled Walfus) is named after the Wafus Club dance hall in Oakdale, Louisiana.
While the exact origins of the name "Wafus" is unknown, rumor states it's named after Walter Roy "Pete" Fuselier, a native of Kinder, LA in Allen Parish. He grew up not far from the town of Oakdale--the town's name Chuck used on the flip-side of his recording and near the home of Molitor. According to author Lyle Ferbrache:
Milton Molitor lived on a farm between Mamou and Oakdale and was close enough to have played at both clubs.1
Eh, chérie, depuis la première fois,
Eh, 'tit monde, j't'avais vu ma chère bébé.
Eh, bébé, depuis la première fois,
Eh, j't'ai vu, j'avais vu tes grands nœilnœils,
Eh, si capoté sur le bord, p’tit monde,
Eh, je m’ai rentourné à ma maison j’t’avait dit t’aurais eu.
Eh petite, je connaissait qu’y aurait eu,
Pour l’agrément, bébé, t’es partie pour s’en aller.
Opelousas Daily World July 18, 1948
Milton's use of "grands nœilnœils" is unique since this is a phrase unusual to Louisiana French. It's similar to the word "canoeils" in Quebec. A colloquial combination of the word "un œil", it's commonly used in France to refer to someone having "child-like eyes", generally in a cute way. Afterwards, Milton would join up with Austin Pitre in 1957, giving these songs new life. This one would later become the "Midway Two Step".
Hey, dearie, since the very first time,
Hey, my little everything, I've seen my dear baby.
Hey, baby, since the very first time,
Hey, I saw you, I saw your big child-like eyes,
Hey, (I'm) so turned over the edge, my little everything,
Hey, I went back home, I already told you what you had.
Hey, little one, I knew what would would happen,
For fun, baby, you're leaving to go away.
Although the label reads 'Chuck Guillory featuring Milton Molitor on accordion, it's hard to believe that Chuck Guillory is on either side.1 It's quite possible that that the fiddle player is Austin Pitre instead. Over time, the song title has been jokingly referred to as the "Waffle Two Step" as well as the "Pancake Two Step".2
