"Donnez-Moi Mon Chapeau" - Iry Lejeune

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.2  Listeners 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.

1. https://www.theguardian.com/music/2004/mar/21/popandrock4
2. "Iry Lejeune rescued traditional Cajun music" by Gene Thibodeaux. The Church Point News.  Oct 11, 2008.  
3. Yé Yaille, Chère by Raymond Francois
4. "Iry Lejeune: Wailin the Blues Cajun Style" by Ron Yule

Release Info:
Donnez-Moi Mon Chapeau | Goldband 1103
La Branche De Muriee | Goldband 1103

Find:
The Legendary Iry LeJeune (Goldband, 1991)
Iry Lejeune: Cajun's Greatest: The Definitive Collection (Ace, 2003)