"Valse De Mon Vieux Village" - Amede Ardoin

While many refer to Cajun as the domain of the Canadian exiles' white descendants and zydeco as that of French-speaking black Creoles, it was an African-American accordion virtuoso named Amede Ardoin who pioneered the sound we recognize today as Cajun music.4  

Although today, people recall hearing the stories of Ardoin playing with fiddler Dennis McGee, many do not realize Cajun fiddler Leo Soileau got his start playing with Ardoin as a teenager at many of the local area dance halls.   On one particular night, at a dance hall in Chataignier, they performed for 200-300 people.1   Leo recalled,

I played with that man there.  Ardoin...I started with him. He lived right there in Eunice. You know, we'd meet, we'd hear each other.1  

Oh, bonsoir, moi, je m'en vas,

Je m'en vas à la maison,

Dis bonsoir, mouman, moi, je m'en vas, catin,

Oh, j'après m'en aller,

Moi, je m'en vas tout seul à la maison,

Je m'en vas, je m'en vas moi tout seul.

Oh, ye yaille, je m'en vas, jolie,

Oh, j'suis après m'en aller,

Moi, j'ai été pour te voir à la maison, catin,

Toi, t'étais encore pas revenu.

Oh, t'es pas revenu, ye yaille,

Oh, toi, t'es pas revenu,

Quand j'étais te voir à ta maison, toi,

Ta mouman disait t'été pas là,

Quand j'ai arrêté, moi, j'ai demande pour toi,

Oh, pour toi, Caroline,

T'étais pas là, toi, Tante Carole, ye yaille,

Tante Carole, j'ai demande ayou tu t'es. 

Amede Ardoin

Leo's accordion partner Moise Robin recalled watching the duo early on.

When I was young, Amede Ardoin was playing with Leo Soileau at my brother-in-law's Pecaniere dance hall and he would bring crowds that the people couldn't come in.3  

In fact, Leo claims it was his invitation to Ardoin, enticing him to move from Columbia and RCA to the new Decca recording label in 1934, where Amede recorded "Valse De Mon Vieux Village (My Old Home Town Waltz) in New York City (#17003).   The session would be his last.  He spent the rest of his years inviting and avoiding trouble. According to Canary Fontenot, he was always composing new songs about what he'd observe.

Ardoin had a lot nerve.  Some of them fellas, them and their wife was in a feud or something and [he] would go sit there and play, and he'd sing about a certain thing the man done to his woman. And whoever it was, they knew what he was thinking about, and they didn't like it. Said he had a bad mouth.5,7   

The man who was the subject of the song, decided to do something about it. According to Canray Fontenot,

One time they had a dance hall in Basile and what saved him was some white guy who was learning how to play the guitar.  Somebody got mad, I guess. Threw a big ol' rock--whoever done it wanted to hurt him bad--and the guitar player put his guitar in front of Amede and the rock went through the guitar.  [The rock] broke that guitar to pieces. But Amede kept right on playing.6,7  

According to Wade Fruge, the songs he sang would cause Ardoin to have to flee the dance hall scene.

He'd leave the accordion and he'd run across the fields many a time.5   

Acadian Signal
Oct 5, 1933

Eventually, his troubles caught up to him.  In 1933, while playing alongside fiddler and friend, Douglas Bellard, at a festival in Mowata, LA, an argument broke out between the Bellard and two other gentlemen.   Either because of a recent jealous feud or a long bitter rivalry that finally came to head, John Abdalla and an unknown man named "Ogdell" waited patiently until Ardoin and Bellard began playing music. Abdalla walked around the outside of the building and fired several gunshots through the dance hall window, severely injuring Douglas and Amede in the back.    Luckily, both musician recovered and the culprits were captured by Acadia Parish sheriff Felix Lina.2   

Oh, goodnight, I'm leaving,

I'm going home,

Say goodnight, mama, I'm leaving, pretty doll,

Oh, I'm leaving to go,

I'm leaving all alone to the house,

I'm leaving to go, I'm leaving by myself, alone.

Oh, ye yaille, I'm leaving, pretty girl,

Oh, I'm leaving to go,

I have been (here in order) to see you at the house, pretty doll,

You hadn't returned.

Oh, you haven't returned, ye yaille,

Oh, you haven't returned,

When I had been (there) to see you at your house,

Your mama said you were't there,

When I stopped by, I aksed for you,

Oh, for you, Caroline,

You weren't there, you, Aunt Carole, ye yaille,

Aunt Carole, I asked where you were.

1. Interview with Leo Soileau and Ralph Rinzler. CLS.
2. Acadian Signal. Oct 5, 1933
3. http://arhoolie.org/moise-robin/.
4. https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-xpm-1993-07-04-9307040285-story.html
5. Searching For Amede Ardoin by Michael Tisserand.  "I'm Never Com in' Back". Liner notes.
6. PBS's American Patchwork 'Don't Drop The Potato'.  Alan Lomax. 
7. Mardi Gras, Gumbo, and Zydeco: Readings in Louisiana Culture edited by Marcia G. Gaudet, James C. McDonald

Release Info:
39196-B Le Midland Two Step (The Midland Two Step) | Decca 17003 A
39204-A Valse De Mon Vieux Village (My Old Home Town Waltz) | Decca 17003 B

Find:
I'm Never Comin' Back: The Roots of Zydeco (Arhoolie, 1995)
CAJUN-Rare & Authentic (JSP, 2008)
Mama, I'll Be Long Gone : The Complete Recordings of Amede Ardoin, 1929-1934 (Tompkins Square, 2011)