"Valse des Vachers" - Dennis McGee & Ernest Fruge

Waltz of the Cowboys!  It was during this period, just after the turn of the century, that the stock repertoire of Cajun and Creole music took shape, based on a blend of influences from French, Acadian, Spanish, German, Native American, Scotch-Irish, Anglo-American, and Afro-Creole traditions.  "Valse des Vachers" (#15848), for example, recorded in 1929, is a bluesy description of the life of a cowboy sung in French to the tune of an Old World mazurka.2,3  According to record producer Christopher King:

This is essential since mazurkas, polkas, gallopades, varsoviannas,  and cotillions held a strong place in the early Cajun fiddle and dance repertoire but became less popular with the introduction of the diatonic accordion.1  

Malheurese, j'attrape-moi mon cable et mes éperons,

Pour moi aller voir à mes bêtes,

Mon cheval est selle, c'est malheureux de m'voir,

M'en aller moi tout seul ma chérie!

C'est malheureux de m'voir m'en aller au si loin,

Moi tout seul pour trouver que' chose que j'peux pas,

Perdu mais dans l'bois, malheureuse.

(Dit) 'bye-bye,' chérie, ma chérie, chère,

Dans les chemins, chère, moi tout seul, yaille,

Comment je va' faire, malheureuse, yaille?

Toujours, moi tout seul, malheureuse, chérie.

Ma chérie, viens-donc me r'join', chère!

Au si loin que moi j'sus de toi, belle!

Welsh, LA, 1915
Courtesy of 
Louisiana Sea Grant Digital Images Collection

Cajuns in the prairies had a strong relationship with cattle culture, specifically working alongside black Creole cowboys.  Creole cowboys helped manage thousands of cattle in pre-Louisiana Purchase days of southwest Louisiana and led cattle drives to keep New Orleans fed.  Cowboys found themselves moving their livestock from San Antonio and Dallas to Opelousas and further to New Orleans.   Following an ancient cattle trail along a highway known as the Old Spanish Trail, both Dennis McGee and Ernest Fruge recorded this song in New Orleans in 1929. Some musicians sing about going out to find their belle instead of bêtes.  

Oh my, catch me my rope and my spurs,

For I'm going to go see about my cattle.

My horse is saddled, it's sad to see me,

I'm going all alone, my dearie.

It's sad to see me going away so far,

I'm all alone to find something that I can't have,

Lost, well, in the woods, oh my.

Say "bye bye" dearie, my dearie, dear,

On the roads, dear, i'm all alone, yaille,

How will I handle this, oh my, yaille?

Always, I'm all alone, oh my, dearie.

My dear, so come rejoin me, dear,

So far that I've been from you, beautiful one.

Dennis, like many fiddlers of traditional American music, liked to retune his fiddle for certain sounds.  On "Valse des Vachers", he uses the ADAD tuning so he can basically play the same thing on the high and the low strings.4  By the 1930s, it's influence would span to Leo Soileau's group where they picked up the pace, converted into a bluesy two-step and re-titled it "Le Blues de Port Arthur".   Other related songs are "My Rope and Spurs" by Adam Hebert and "Valse Du Passe" by Shirley Bergeron. 

1. https://oldtimeparty.wordpress.com/2014/06/18/himself/#more-10194
2. Cajun Country By Barry Jean Ancelet, Jay Dearborn Edwards, Glen Pitre
3. Cajun Music and Zydeco By Philip Gould
4. Dennis McGee ‎– The Complete Early Recordings.  Liner notes.
5. Lyrics by 'Hornisdas'

Release Info:
NO-248 Valse des Vachers | Vocalion 15848
NO-249 Jeunes Gens Campagnard | Vocalion 15848

Find:
The Early Recordings Of Dennis McGee: Featuring Sady Courville & Ernest Fruge (Morning Star, 1977)

Times Ain't Like They Used To Be: Early American Rural Music. Classic Recordings Of The 1920’s And 30's. Vol. 8 (Yazoo, 2003)
Dennis McGee ‎– The Complete Early Recordings (Yazoo, 2006)