"La Valse De Boutte Dechuminen" - Nathan Abshire & Rayne-Bo Ramblers

End Of The Road Waltz!   It's one of Happy Fats and Nathan Abshire's very first recordings.  Happy was always interested in music from the earliest years.  It all started in the early 20's when Happy was earning his summer spending money by shining shoes of Rayne businessmen.  He recalls getting his first guitar through a pharmacy in Rayne owned by Walter McBride:

I made a deal with Mac, though. I traded him a sack of rough rice that Mama gave me for the guitar.1  

In those days, rice sold for approximately per sack, so Happy Fats felt he got the better of the bargain.

Ma 'tite fille ça t'as fait avec moi,

Tu m'a quitté, mais, aujourd'hui,

Fallait écouter tous les conseils de nous autre.

Malheureuse, tu peux voir, que mon j'suis tout seul,

Aujourd'hui dans la misère,

Et les chagrins par rapport à tes manières.

Malheureuse, mais, quoi tu veux?

Happy Fats

By 1935, he had teamed up with accordion player Nathan Abshire to record for Bluebird records creating some of the earliest Cajun-country music. Happy and Nathan were backed by Warnest "Tee Neg" Schexnyder on guitar and Norris Savoy on fiddle. They recorded "La Valse De Boutte Dechuminen" (#2178), a corrupted spelling of bout du chemin or "end of the road".   It was Happy and Nathan's version of the Breaux Brother's "Ma Blonde Est Partie".   It would become one of many recordings using this familiar melody, one that Abshire had been playing since at an early age.  He recalled:

I was six years old when I started to play French music.  I put [the accordion] on my lap and I started playing with it.  It was my uncle's.2    

My little girl, what you've done to me,

You left me, well, today,

Should have listened to the all the advice of others.

Oh my, you can see, that I'm all alone,

Today, I'm in misery,

And suffering because of your nasty ways.

Oh my, well, what do you want?

Nathan Abshire

When Nathan got a chance, he would sneak into his uncle's room and play the accordion, but the marks left on top of the furniture gave him away.  

He was working....and we have them old closets which we put clothes in, that's called an armoire.  And he hid it on top and it would mark.  He would put that accordion between the marks and I would not see that.  And when he would go to work, I would get the accordion and start playing. When he'd come back, he'd give me a good whip again.   I would never say a word.  When he'd go back to work, I'd go get the accordion and start playing again. That went on about two months and he'd whip me twice a day, but I never stopped.  He got mad at me and sold it to me for $3.50.2  

1. Interview with John Uhler.  1954. CDS.
2. "The Good Times Are Killing Me".  PBS, 1975.
3. Lyrics by Stephane F and Jordy A

Release Info:

BS-94412-1 One Step De Laccissine | Bluebird B-2178-A

BS-94413-1 Le Valse De Boutte Dechuminen | Bluebird B-2178-B