"Setre Chandelle" - Happy, Doc and the Boys

"Seven Candles".  In the late 1940s, Leroy "Happy Fats" Leblanc and Oran "Doc" Guidry teamed up together with Louis Noel and Jack Leblanc and headed to New Orleans to record at Cosimo Matassa's J&M Studio.  Fais Do Do Records producer J.D. Miller had heard about Matassa's studio and grabbed the musicians for his very first recording session.  Miller recalls the trip down old Highway 90 to New Orleans and their time there:

Doc had a friend who was a custodian of a private school in New Orleans.  He and his family lived on the top floor of the school and we were invited to stay overnight.  With this recording session being what we thought to be one of the highlights of our lives we did a little celebrating, Cajun style.  There was plenty of food, plenty of drink, and plenty of music (which) lasted nearly all night--at least as long as the participants were able to celebrate.  The next day is when the records were cut.1

Cosimo Matassa

T’as parti un an passé,

J’espérais, belle coeur, cassé,

La grande rêve, t’as plus, chérie,

C’a cassé mon cœur en deux.

La bataille t’avais clamée,

Sur la table t'as sont vidée*,

Les paroles, les derniers dit,

Ramenez-moi dan mon pays.

Poussez-moi près de mom et pop,

Pour toujours et près d’elle,

Sept chandelles étaient petite peu,

Pour montrer mon aime était.

Tout ma vie j’ai coursaillé,

J’ai roulé et j’ai traîné,

Là, asteure, j’après mourir,

Un jeune homme de vingt année.

Dans pays j’après mourir,

Prends entend ça, je serai préservé*,

Rêve pas pour moi, j’sus satisfié,

Dans le ciel j’apres t’espérer.

Doc Guidry

Miller traveled to New Orleans between 1946 and 1948 with Happy, Doc Guidry and Jack Leblanc. The three musicians each cut a record at the Cosimo Matassa recording studio, the only one then in the state.  In typical Cajun fashion, they put down the excellent pairing to be heard, "Setre Chandelle" and "Allons Dance Colinda", with no evidence of the previous night's partying.  "Setre Chandelle" (#1001) was Happy's rendition of the famous Cleoma Breaux song "Mon Coeur T'Appelle (My Heart Aches For You)" more popularly known as "J'ai Passe Devant Ta Porte".  The song discusses the loneliness of losing a loved one who is laying in a coffin, surrounded by "sept chandelles".  It's one of the finest recordings of Doc's smooth fiddle solos.  According to Miller:

Each guy cut two sides of a 78. We didn't have 45s yet. The records had to be sent to the West Coast to be pressed. They weren't the best records, but they sold.1

Teche News
Jun 8, 1951

You've left a year ago,

I was hoping, my beautiful heart, broken,

The big dream, you no longer have, dearie,

It broke my heart in two.

The fight had claimed you,

On the table feeling empty*,

The words, the last ones spoken,

Take me back to my countryside.

Gather me close to mom and pop,

Forever and close to her,

Seven candles were too little,

To show my love.

All my life I've been chasing around,

I had rolled around and dragged around,

Here, right now, I'm dying,

A young man of twenty years.

In the countryside, I'm dying,

Understand that, I'll be remembered*,

Don't dream of me, I'll be fine,

Up in the sky, I'm begging you.

Miller then decided to produce his own records of local musicians.  He went to the Gates Record Company in Houston and purchased a portable recorder, a microphone, an amplifier and a speaker for about $3000. The Jay Miller Studio was founded.2

1. Fais Do Do Breakdown - Volume One - The Late 1940's.  Liner notes.
2. Interview with J.D. Miller. By Stacey Courville. Crowley Post Signal. 1983.
3. Lyrics by Smith S

Release Info:
Setre Chandelle | Fais Do Do F-1001-A
Allons Dancer Colinda | Fais Do Do F-1001-B
Find:
Fais Do Do Breakdown - Volume One - The Late 1940's (Flyright, 1986)
Acadian All Star Special - The Pioneering Cajun Recordings Of J.D. Miller (Bear, 2011)