"Saturday Night Waltz" - Harry Choates

Raised in a Cajun household at a time when many young Acadians didn’t learn English until they reached adulthood, those who knew Harry Choates have often stated that he spoke very little French, if any at all. When it came to singing it convincingly, however, he was a natural, and in the wake of “Jole Blon’s” success, most of the music he recorded was in the French style. For this reason, Choates is remembered primarily as a Cajun musician, when in fact, the music that he featured on dance jobs was almost exclusively western swing.1  Ivy Gaspard who had sung with the band in 1950 recalled,

Our band, during the time I played with Harry, was a western swing band that played French music. We played a lot more country and western than we did French.4  

Quoi t'as fais, mais-z avec moi, chérie,

Qui m'as laissé pour t'en aller avec un autre,

Oh, ça fait d'la peine, 

Ça fait d'la peine, tu m'as laissé, mais, pour un autre.

Moi j'connais, mais, quoi t'as fais,

Oh, quoi t'as fais, ça fais pitié,

Oh, mignonne, quoi t'as fais, mais, z-avec moi, 

Il y a pas longtemps, j'mérite pas ça.

Austin American
Jun 12, 1951

By this point, Harry was filling in as a side-show fiddler in the Austin-based band Jesse James and All The Boys.  But the relationship didn't last long.  Harry's carefree demeanor clashed with Jesse's clean cut stage presence and he left the group.  The Bob Tanner 1951 session at KCOR radio station in San Antonio seems to be done last minute, impromptu, not long before his death.  His Texas-based band consisted of Lucky Ford on guitar, Lloyd Baker on steel guitar, and Junior Keelan on bass. According to Baker, 

It was some of the worst playing I ever did, but Harry really liked what I did.  He drank a fifth of liquor, he said to keep his vocal cords open.  He was really hoarse. He drank that whole fifth of liquor, but it didn't faze him. He was a nice guy.  I really liked Harry.4  

Jesse James and All The Boys

His band remaining inconsistent during these later years, with long periods of time between recording sessions and performances.  Although he managed to re-join Jesse James' band again, there were several occasions when Harry would simply show up at at beer joint, and the house band would oblige and let him sit in.  It was during one of these appearances in Austin that Harry's amplifier caught fire.  Harry continued to play, sing and put out the fire on his amp all at the same time it did not seem to distract him as it would other musicians.  Harry was obsessed with his music; equipment failures and fires did not seem to faze him.2  

What have you done, well, with me, dearie,

Who has left me to go away with another,

Oh, that hurts,

That hurts, you left me, well, for another.

I know, well what you've done,

Oh, what you've done, that's pitiful,

Oh, cutie, what you've done, well, with me,

Over there, it won't be long, I don't deserve that.

By the time Tanner had gotten around to releasing the records, Harry had already passed away.  The label Allied was a name associated with Tanner that was most likely created just for Harry's pressings.  There's no surviving information on where the label name came from, other than Tanner using his address.   Given the label design, the iconic "waves" across the logo, it's clear they weren't pressed at his San Antonio plant but rather in Cincinnati.  According to researcher and author Kevin Coffey:

Allied, like several other labels that listed Tanner's address, was an independent with nothing to do with Tanner's own labels (Tanner, TNT). For example, Everstate, a label owned by John Currie/The Texas Top Hands, used the address. It was just Tanner's habit or policy or whatever to use the address for the labels he pressed (and in most cases, though probably not all, recorded).3

Saturday Night Special - 1951 - Allied

1. https://tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/xdd03
2. "Poor Hobo: The Tragic Life of Harry Choates: A Cajun Legend" by Tim Knight
3. Discussions with Kevin Coffey
4. Devil In The Bayou by Andrew Brown.  Liner notes.

Release Info:

101-1 Austin Special | Allied AL-101-A

101-2 Saturday Night Waltz | Allied AL-101-B

Find:
Louisiana Cajun Music Volume 4: From The 30s To The 50s (Old Timey, 1972)

Harry Choates: Five-Time Loser 1940-1951 (Krazy Kat, 1990)
Cajun Fiddle King (AIM, 1999)
NOTE: Krazy Kat #KK-CD 22 lists "Saturday Night Waltz" and "Austin Special" in reverse.