"La Valse Du Grande Chemin (The Waltz Of The Big Road)" - Iry Lejeune

By the late 1940s, almost all commercially recorded Cajun music was little more than Texas swing music sing in French.  But in 1948, Iry Lejeune recorded the "Love Bridge Waltz" and the pendulum began to swing back again. His cousin Angelas Lejeune, who had an accordion, recalled there was no money to buy Iry and accordion, so almost each day, Iry would come. Iry would play all morning while Angelas worked in his fields. His first accordion was a give from his uncle Stephen Lejuene.6   

During Eddie Shuler's first session at Iry Lejeune's home, Eddie picked up his guitar and with Milton Vanicor on fiddle, they belted out six tunes in a session that lasted into the night. One of those tunes was "La Valse Du Grande Chemin (Waltz Of The Big Road)" for Shuler's Goldband records in 1952 (#103).  The melody is essentially the same tune as "The Waltz That Carried Me To My Grave" recorded by Joe Falcon and Cleoma Breaux in 1928.

Oh, chère.

Dis "bye-bye" à ton pop,

Et ta mom, chère,

Pour t'en revenir à la maison,

Pour me rejoindre,

'Gardez-donc, quoi t'as fait,

Fait souffert, chère,

Un petit cœur qui t'aimaint,

Malheureuse.

Oh, bebe!

'Gardez-donc, chère 'tite fille,

Toi, t'es là, chère,

Après m'espérer,

Dans la porte de ma maison,

Moi, je croyais, chère 'tite fille,

Donc, jamais, chère, 

'Garde voir mon cercueil là, après m'espérer.

Oh yé yaie, chère c'est dur, c'est dur.

Asa Vanicor, Iry Lejeune, Milton Vanicor

The husband or lover who has been abandoned is a common figure in Cajun music, and he often uses the image of the empty house to refer to his unhappy state, complaining that he is left alone there, suffering, as he hopes for his wife's return. His request for reconciliation likewise takes the form of asking her to return to his house, as Iry LeJeune suggestion in "La Valse De Grande Chemin". According to Linus Bertrand,

Every Saturday morning, Iry would walk the half-mile from his house out to the gravel road with accordion in a sack.  From there, he would catch any ride he could, no matter where it was going., and go play his accordion for whomever would listen.  Often he would sit in with Alphee Bergeron and the Veteran Playboys during their dances at the popular Dixie Club in Eunice.6  

Milton was one of the Vanicor family members that played with Iry after his success with the Oklahoma Tornados.  During the late 1940s and early 1950s, Vanicor and his brothers, Ellis and Ivy, along with nephew Orsy Vanicor and brother-in-law Asa Lejeune and Iry Lejeune, performed as the Lacassine Playboys.  Vanicor recorded on many of Lejeune’s albums and hits, including "La Valse Du Grande Chemin". According to musician D.L. Menard: 

"[Milton's] music and the way he played, it was one-of-a-kind...he played his own style."

Oh, dear.

Say "bye bye" to your dad,

And your mom, dear,

You're coming home,

To join me,

So, look what you've done,

Suffered, dear,

A little sweetheart that love you,

Oh my.

Oh, baby!

So, look, dear little girl, 

You, you're there, dear,

Expecting me,

In the door of my home,

I couldn't believe it, dear little girl,

Never, dear,

See my coffin here, waiting for me.

Oh, ye yaille, dear, it's hard, it's hard.

Shuler re-issued the tune on 45RPM twice, once listed as G-1024 and then much later as G-1024-2 in which he labeled the pressing a "Collector's Item". The recording would become "Dis Bye Bye à Ton Pap" by Allie J. Young in 1975 for Gerard Dole.  Eddie, who produced almost every recording he ever made, never understood Iry's popularity.  He recalled,

He could go out-I've seen him do this-he'd go out there, get drunk, and start cussing all the people out in the club.  Of course, it would be late at night and they're all half-looped anyway. They'd all get mad, go home, and threaten that they're never gonna come to his dances again.  The next time they came to play, two weeks later, there they all were, right back in there. I didn't understand that at all. But that's the kind of following he had.  He was bigger after that than he was before.7  

1. Iry Lejeune: Wailin the Blues Cajun Style by Ron Yule
2. SENATE CONCURRENT RESOLUTION NO. 15.  2015 Regular Session.  Notes to commend Milton Vanicor for his passion, devotion, and his nearly eighty-year commitment to Cajun music.
3. Image by Linda M
4. http://www.louisianafolklife.org/lt/articles_essays/creole_art_oral_poetry_caj.html
5. http://www.americanpress.com/Milton-Vanicor-dies
6. The Daily Advertiser (Lafayette, Louisiana) 29 Dec 1998
7. Louisiana Music by Lyle Ferbrache and Andrew Brown

Release Info:
Grande Nuit Especial (Big Night Special) | Goldband G-F103-A
La Valse Du Grande Chemin (The Waltz Of The Big Road) | Goldband G-F103-B

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

Les Cajuns Best Of 2002 Les Triomphes De La Country Volume 12 (Habana, 2002)
J'ai Ete Au Bal - Vol. 1 (I Went To The Dance) (Arhoolie, 2011)