"Aux Bal Se Te Maurice" - Happy Fats

Leroy "Happy Fats" Leblanc and the Rayne-Bo Ramblers, the hottest Cajun string band and western swing group on the radio before the war. When he and his band cut their first record in 1935 for the Bluebird label, which was an affiliate of RCA records, they were paid $25 for the whole band, and, Fats said, "all the drinking whiskey we needed."1  That was it. The records helped bands get dance club gigs, at places such as the Te Maurice, located between Bristol and Bosco, and that was important.2  

Allons au bal, la-bas chez ‘tit Maurice,

La-bas chez ‘tit Maurice, la-bas chez ‘tit Maurice,

Allons au bal, la-bas chez ‘tit Maurice,

Pour voir les petites, boire d’la biere, et attendre la belle musique.

J'ai juste vingt cinq sous dedans ma vielle poche,

Dedans ma vielle poche, dedans ma vielle poche, 

J'ai juste vingt cinq sous dedans ma vielle poche,

Pour une bouteille, pour bien m’souler et tourner tout la nuit.

Demain matin un gros mal de tête,

Un gros mal de tête, un gros mal de tête,

Demain matin un gros mal de tête,

Je va commencer et bien m'soinger, 

Pour les bals dans les nuits qui viennent.

Demain matin un gros mal de tête,

Un gros mal de tête, un gros mal de tête,

Demain matin un gros mal de tête,

Je va commencer et bien m'soinger, 

Pour le bal l'samedi qui vient.

Daily Advertiser
Mar 25, 1939

By 1938, Happy's band had fully embraced the western swing sound emanating from Texas dance-halls.  At the St. Charles Hotel in New Orleans where they recorded the song "Aux Bal Se Te Maurice" (#2074), Happy Fats' band included Ray Guidry on banjo, Willie Vincent on steel guitar, Nathan Guidry on bass, and Doc Guidry on fiddle.  Happy recalled,

The club I played longest at was the old O.S.T. club here in Rayne.  There was also the Club Rendezvous in Ville Platte and the Colonial Club in Mermentau, but I'd say Te Maurice was the club that had the biggest attendance of any for eight or ten years during the thirties.  One of the Rayne-Bo Ramblers records is called "Aux Bal Se Te Maurice".  I also had "La Valse De Te Maurice".1  

Originally built by Duplex Duplechin, his son-in-law Maurice "Te Maurice" Richard took ownership of the business in the 1930s, which later was run by his son Ellis Richard.  Happy recalled,

This old one, the dance floor was about 100 feet by 100 feet, so it was a pretty big dance floor. The bandstand was at one end with the bar at the other end.  They had chicken wire on the windows so they wouldn't come in, in some places they had chicken wire in front of the band.1  

Let's go to the ball, over there at Te Maurice's,

Over there at Te Maurice's, over there at Te Maurice's,

Let's go to the ball, over there at Te Maurice's,

To see the girls, drink the beer, and to wait for the beautiful music.

I only have twenty five cents in my old pocket,

In my old pocket, in my old pocket,

I only have twenty five cents in my old pocket,

For a bottle, to get me drunk and spin around all night long. 

Tomorrow morning, a big headache,

A big headache, a big headache,

Tomorrow morning, a big headache,

I'll get started, so treat me well,

For the dances in the nights to come.

Tomorrow morning, a big headache,

A big headache, a big headache,

Tomorrow morning, a big headache,

I'll get started, so, treat me well,

For the Saturday night dance that's coming up.

1. South to Louisiana: The Music of the Cajun Bayous By John Broven
2. Jim Bradshaw. "Happy Fats Heard Nationwide".  The  Abbeville Meridional, published in Abbeville, Louisiana on Sunday, January 29th, 2012
3. Lyrics by Smith S and Stephane F and Jesse L

Release Info:
BS-028501-1 La Vieux Two Step Francais | Bluebird B-2074-A
BS-028504-1 Aux Bal Se Te Maurice | Bluebird B-2074-B

Find:
Cajun Country, Vol. 2, More Hits from the Swamp (JSP, 2005)
Happy Fats & His Rayne-Bo Ramblers (BACM, 2009)

"The Death of Oswald" - Dixie Ramblers

The popular Lafayette-based Cajun string band group called the Dixie Ramblers had a large popular following in the mid 1930s.  They played in dance halls such as the Four Corners in St. Martin Parish, the O.S.T. and the Wagon Wheel hall in Acadia Parish, Sydney Duhon's hall and Esta Hebert's hall in Lafayette Parish.   But by 1935, their accordionist Octa Clark had moved on and the rest converted to a country string band.  The group was invited to a recording session for RCA's Bluebird records in New Orleans where they recorded a song written by pianist Lester Lalonde entitled "The Death of Oswald" (#2181).   The 1936 English guitar song, recorded by Willie Vincent on guitar and vocals, Jesse Duhon on guitar, Hector Duhon on fiddle, and Hector Stutus on fiddle, was an ode to the murder of a Louisiana man.


The story of Oswald entered into the local repertoire and the song's importance highlights one of the "few event songs" in the early Cajun music era.   It seems that in December of 1934, Cecilia native Oswald Devillier Jr. was killed by a beating after attending a dance near his home.1,2   According to records, Oswald was "beaten with posts" by the six accused men.3   Articles tell of the grand jury action which found a true bill against three of the men and a no-true bill against the other three who were allegedly involved in May of 1935.  Three men, Eugene Dupuis, Bennett Talley and Simon Guidry were sentenced to hard labor in Angola.3  

Teche News
Dec 22, 1934

I once had a true pal named Oswald,

A boy with a heart made of gold,

Whenever his honor was at stake,

He fought like a man brave and bold.

One evening he took out his sweetheart,

A wagon club dance was his goal,

But fate had a point in Nina’s Grand Point,

A tragedy cruel and cold.

A mug pulled a long white new saber,

Caused trouble among friends and foes,

He somehow perceived the danger,

For home he decided to go.

Three hostile men prompted by liquor,

They lay in wait for their prey,

I closed my eyes to the slaughter and cried,

Was far too atrocious to say.

For long weeks and cold in deep slumber,

You, neither mother nor friend,

His sweetheart at his bedside kept praying,

Good God, won't you please save my man.

His eyes fast and firmly towards heaven,

His hands became stiffen and cold,

He passed with a sigh to his maker on high,

He fought like a man brave and bold.

What alcohol do to good people,

In pain it will leave you torn,

A good man of fortune may bolster,

And wake up behind prison bars.

Dear Oswald, in your place in heaven,

Down as to where your killers now hide,

May they be forgiven by God and by man,

They were friends of yours and of mine.

Daily Advertiser
May 20, 1936

The following year, the Dixie Ramblers began advertising their new song.     As Lalonde's song became increasingly popular, word reached the accused murderers upon their release from prison.  However, the three inmates didn't take to kindly to the song written about their exploits and any future publicity was quickly extinguished.  Fiddler and Rambler front man Hector Duhon explained to folklorist Nicholas Spitzer,

They had got out of the pen and they came to the dance one night and told us, "Don't play that number if you want to stay here tonight!"4  

Both Hector Stutes and Lester Lalonde would leave the band and join Clovis Bailey's Southern Serenaders in the late 1930s.

1. Teche News (St. Martinville, Louisiana) 22 Dec 1934
2. Teche News (St. Martinville, Louisiana) 10 Oct 1984
3. The Daily Advertiser (Lafayette, Louisiana) 23 May 1935
4. Cajun Breakdown: The Emergence of an American-Made Music By Ryan Andre Brasseaux
5. Lyrics by Jeremy R

Release Info:
BS-99220-1 The Death Of Oswald | Bluebird B-2181-A
BS-99218-1 Lalita | Bluebird B-2181-B

"Dixie Ramblers Waltz" - Dixie Ramblers

In 1928, the first Cajun recording has emerged on the market and area bands were quick to popularize the genre.  Hector Duhon and his long-time music partner Octa Clark began playing traditional Cajun music that year but their career would go through many changes and the band had to evolve with those changes.  According to Duhon,

When we first started playing, a girl wouldn't go to a dance by herself.  She had to have her mother along. So all along the wall you'd see the mothers sitting, along with their smaller children, who had to come along too.1  

In 1930, Duhon and Clark changed their style form Cajun to country, calling themselves the Dixie Ramblers. There were other notable differences in those days. For instance, many of the country dance halls didn't have electricity. 

Cajun music kind of went out of style for a while and country music was the big thing.  We used to rent a car for the night and put a 110-volt generator in it to run power to our equipment.  We'd have to take breaks just to go check on our car.1  

Dixie Ramblers, 1933
Jessie Duhon, Hector Duhon,
Hector Stutes, Willie Vincent

Duhon reformed his group and added Hector Stutes on fiddle, Jesse Duhon on guitar and Willie Vincent on guitar.  When KVOL became the first radio station in Lafayette, with studio in the old Evangeline Hotel, Duhon and his band were billed to play the first broadcast.   About that time, they were also in high demand for live radio programs in Port Arthur and Beaumont, Texas.1  Soon, they were discovered by RCA Bluebird's Eli Oberstein and were invited to travel to New Orleans in 1936 to record the "Dixie Rambler Waltz" (#6352).   Radio show host and record collector Brody Hunt explains:

I for one think it is a stunningly beautiful side. Regarding the tuning, I think the fiddle is in fine pitch, and the bass, as a fret-less instrument, is being played with a brilliant dissonance rarely heard in American Music!3  

When the recording made it's way to Bluebird's factory, Eli had decided to reuse the song in a marketing ploy down in south Texas. To appeal to his Spanish Mexican market, Oberstein re-titled the instrumental as "Vas Dixie" (#2500) and co-pressed it under the pseudonym El Violinista Campestre as well as the Dixie Ramblers.2   He neither understood nor cared about how the music would be received in ethnic communities.    He would do this with Mexican artists as well.   If there was a way to sell more records during the Depression Era, Eli and his Bluebird team found a way.

1. The Daily Advertiser (Lafayette, Louisiana) 21 Dec 1983
2. http://frontera.library.ucla.edu/recordings/vals-dixie
3. Discussions with Brody H.  

Release Info:
BS-99224-1 Dixie Ramblers Waltz | Bluebird B-6352-A
BS-99223-1 The Waltz You Saved For Me | Bluebird B-6352-B

"Mabelle Tete Catin" - Happy Fats

During the 1930s and early 1940s, country music and Cajun music, which is also rurally based, engaged in a long-term fascination with each other.  It became popular for Cajun bands to adopt elements of Western swing, emphasizing fiddles and pedal steel guitars in lieu of the Cajun button accordion.   The result was the development of a viable style of Cajun swing, played by bands like the Hackberry Ramblers and Happy Fats' Rayne-Bo Ramblers.  

Allons, mais, priez quand je 'joins,

Chère, je t’auras, ma belle petite catin,

J'vais voir ses chères yeux brillent encore, 

Elle m'a promis de m'aimer toujour.

Mais la door était bien close,

Et avant l'hiver a passé,

Les anges a venu à ma porte,

Si je t’auras, ma belle petite catin.

Oh ma belle petite catin,

Ma fleur qu'a pas déflorer, 

Mon cœur est comme mon guitare, 

J’ai passé ma belle petite catin,

Mon cœur est comme mon guitare, 

J’ai passé ma belle petite catin.

Daily Advertiser
Feb 17, 1939

After learning to play the guitar as a child, Leroy "Happy Fats" Leblanc picked up several recording opportunities laid down by RCA Victor's chief R&A executive, Eli Oberstien. His group, containing Ray Guidry on banjo, Willie Vincent steel guitar, Nathan Guidry on bass and, Doc Guidry on fiddle, would leave for New Orleans and record "Mabelle Tete Catin" (#2072), a song about losing a lover who's heartbreak is expressed through his guitar.  But the money was not enough. During the 11 years that Happy recorded for RCA, he had many other jobs.

I worked in the rice mills during the day and used to play country dances at night.  And in the tomato season, I'd go over to the Rio Grande Valley and East Texas to work the harvest.1  

Church Point News
May 14, 1943

Going, well, praying (as to) when I can return,

Dear, I'll come get you, my beautiful little doll,

I have to see her dear eyes shine again,

She promised to love me forever.

Well, the door was closed,

And before the winter had passed,

The angles came to my door,

So, I'll come get you, my beautiful little doll.

Oh, my beautiful little doll,

My flower that never wilted,

My heartache is part of my guitar,

(As) I pass by my beautiful little doll,

My heartache is part of my guitar,

(As) I pass by my beautiful little doll.

This particular tune must have had some remarkable sales since Bluebird reissued the tune on #2087 later on.  By 1940, he expanded the group and got horn players and even a piano accordionist.  However, by the time WWII began, the invitations to record ceased and Happy relaxed into a career playing music on the radio. After the war, everything would change again, with his music launching him into his second musical career.  

1. Interview by John Uhler. 1954.  CDS
2. Lyrics by Stephane F and Jordy A

Release Info:
BS-028505-1 Mabelle Tete Catin | Bluebird B-2072
BS-028508-1 La Mellaige | Bluebird B-2072

BS-028505-1 Mabelle Tete Catin | Bluebird B-2087-A
BS-027887-1 My Little Cajun Girl | Bluebird B-2087-B

"La Nouvelle Marche De Marris" - Happy Fats

The New Wedding March.   The song has it's origins in colonial French Louisiana and folklore connects it to the old Acadian ancestors in Europe.  Leroy "Happy Fats" Leblanc, with Willie Vincent on steel guitar, teamed up with the Guidry brothers, Ray on banjo, Nathan on bass and Doc on fiddle, to cover a Cajun classic tune called the Wedding March.   Happy took the song, which was first recorded by Joe Falcon as "La Marche De La Noce", and created a fiddle-led string band version, entitled "La Nouvelle Marche De Marris" (#2057).    The 1938 Bluebird recording session was held at the St. Charles Hotel in New Orleans.

One old convention still found in south Louisiana is le bal de noce, or wedding dance, often held in a dancehall.  In the old days when people were poor, the owner paid the wedding couple ten or fifteen dollars to have the adance at his hall, and charged fifteen cents entrance fee.  During the first song, "La marche des maries", the newlyweds link arms and, followed by the wedding party, walk around the dance floor at least twice.  Then they dance the first waltz. Afterwards all dance, and every man present is expected to dance with the bride and pin money on her veil.1

(Je vas) te prendre dans mes bras pour toujours, ma tite fille,

(Je vas) te soigner et t'aimer pour toujours, jolie fille, malheureux,

Mais, aujourd’hui, tu me promets de m'aimer, pour toujours,

Moi j'connais ce promis, c'est pour vrai.

Mais, aujourd’hui, tu me promets de m'aimer, pour toujours,

Moi j'connais ce promis, c'est pour vrai.

Happy Fats recalled these wedding dances and how different they were from regular dances:

Now they were different when there was a wedding dance, a bal de noce.  They had a wedding dance, the wedding couple and their attendants would come in, and they had possession of the floor for the march.  They'd make a march around the hall a couple of times, the music they'd play would be the wedding march, and the first tow dances were theirs, just them and their attendants.  And they'd dance a waltz and a two-step, then their mothers would come in.2

In 1936, folklorist Lauren Post remarked about Acadians and their wedding dance:

The bal de noce followed and the wedding crowd augmented the regular Saturday night group of dances.  The big crowd, the wedding, and the festive spirit all combined to make the dance a memorable one, and many an Acadian housewife takes pleasure in recalling so many present that they could not all enter the fais-do-do.3

(I'll) take you in my arms forever, my little girl,

(I'll) care for you and love you forever, pretty girl, oh my,

Well, today, you promised you'll love me, forever,

I know that this promise, it's for real.

Well, today, you promise you'll love me, forever,

I know that this promise, it's for real.

After the wedding, gaiety prevailed.  There was a wild and joyful procession back to the bride's home with the newlyweds buggy--drawn by the fastest horse around.  The fathers rode in the second buggy also with a fast horse, and others followed fast on their heels.  Men along the way often saluted the couple with shotgun lasts.  A sumptuous feast was laid at the bride's home and the size or importance of the wedding was sometimes judged by the number of cakes brought by the guests. Dancing lasted until daybreak, although the newlyweds had retired around midnight.4  




Other marriage customs existed.  One marriage custom observed in the remote marshes was "sauter le manche de balai", or jumping over the broomstick.   This allowed a young couple to marry without a priest, who might live far away.  "Witnesses" held the stick about a foot or so above the ground and the couple simply hopped over it together.  The couple was then wed and the merrymaking could begin.4   

Another custom determined who would boss the home.  Old people would get together to make quilts for the girl's trousseau.  When they were through, the boy would stand on one side of a quilt and the girl on the other.  A cat was placed on the quilt and the quilt was tossed into the air.  Whichever side the cat jumped to would determine the boss of the family.4 

1. Cajun Dancing by Ormande Plater
2. South to Louisiana: The Music of the Cajun Bayous By John Broven
3. The Acadians of South Louisiana--Their Courtships and Weddings.  Lauren Post. Rayne Tribune.   May 22, 1936
4. Cajuns Had Unusual Courtship Customs.  Crowley Post Signal. Jun 6, 1976
5. http://www.louisianafolklife.org/LT/Articles_Essays/cajun_wed.html
6. Lyrics by Jordy A

"La Musique Encore, Encore" - Dixie Ramblers

During the period of the 1930s, there were at least four different groups recording under the name Dixie Ramblers, one of them being a Cajun group from Lake Charles.  Hector Duhon, at the age of nine or ten, constructed his first fiddle from a cigar box and the first tune he played was T'es Petite mais T’es Mignonne ("You're little but you're cute"). Accordion music faded from public favor and was hardly heard in southwest Louisiana during the 1930's, the popular music of that day being heavily influenced by hillbilly string band music. Accordingly, Hector quit playing traditional Cajun music and created the Dixie Ramblers, a family string band of twin fiddles and two guitars. They traveled to New Orleans in 1936 during the peak of their popularity and cut six sides of blues and swing on the Bluebird label.3

Un jour, j’étais près musicien attablé comme un Parisien, 

Une dame s’approchait vite et bien, elle le regarde un musicien!

Quand moi je soufflais comme ça, le son qui s'en va au bout de là,

Oh, oh, oh, oh écoute là bas.

Si tu souffles ta trompette trop bien, le sang monte à tes reins,

Oh, oh, oh, oh compte du job demain.

Essaye encore, encore, 

La musique quand elle descend,

Comme ci, comme ça, comme ci, comme ça,

Et si quelqu’un qu’écoute là, qu'entendent (ils)*.

Et si tu peux taper dans tes bras, et ça fait tourner le destin venu,

Oh, oh, oh, oh qui choisit.

Quand moi je soufflais comme ça, je sens t’auras écouté,

Oh, oh, oh, oh écoute là bas.

Si tu souffles ta trompette trop bien, le sang monte à tes reins,

Oh, oh, oh, oh compte du job demain.

Essaye encore, encore, 

La musique quand elle descend,

Comme ci, comme ça, comme ci, comme ça,

Et si quelqu’un qu’écoute, qu'entendent (ils)*.

Et si tu peux taper dans tes bras, et ça fait tourner le destin venu,

Oh, oh, oh, qui choisit écoutez.

Hector Duhon

The 1936 song "La Musique Encore, Encore" (#2180) is of particular interest.  It's a 1935 jazz cover made famous by Tommy Dorsey, Hal Kemp, and jazz trumpeter, Wingy Manone.  Originally written by Edward Farley and Mike Riley, the lyrics by Red Hodgson, it's a Cajun version of their tune "The Music Goes Round And Round".   It featured Jesse Duhon on guitar; Hector Stutes on fiddle; Hector Duhon on fiddle; Larry LaLonde on vocals, and Willie Vincent on guitar and vocals.   According to annotator Pat Harrison:

It is a a wonderful side by the Ramblers and at times reminds the listener of something that a French cabaret performer might have used; perhaps not surprising because Hector Duhon himself pointed out that their repertoire included country songs, French numbers and songs they had heard on the radio.4

Many of the original lyrics had changed in Duhon's version, causing alot of confusion on certain lines.   It's quite possible he's trying to state "je sens que t’auras le goût d’là" or "boude là", possibly "I feel they'll get a taste of it over there".  Interestingly, "peux taper dans tes bras" signifies "clapping with your arms", which is another way of saying clapping with your hands, excitingly. *NOTE: "Qu'entendent (ils)" is a bizarre phrase, one which listeners can't quite make sense of.   It's quite possible he wants the audience "to choose to listen" as in "entendent choisir".   It's a phrasing in the song which has been lost to time and the vocalist could be singing something completely different.

Crowley Daily Signal
Jan 17, 1935

Willie Vincent was a versatile multi-instrumentalist, who like a good studio player, used the different varieties of instruments that are at least slightly related to the guitar to bring different blends to various songs. This included the pedal-steel guitar, which has been barely used in Cajun music, although its predominance in western swing bands, known for dueling pedal steels on either side of the stage.  Vincent's very existence on certain sessions is debated however, he definitely worked on and off with the Rayne-Bo Ramblers, the historic Cajun band under the leadership of the rotund, ecstatic Happy Fats.

Other instrumental contributions by Vincent took the music in different directions, such as when he played the banjo, also not the normal choice for a Cajun combo. At times he stayed in the background and played bass, developing primitive versions of the bass lines that would eventually become common currency on the zydeco market. Vincent's name does not show up on credits much past the '40s.1

Daily Advertiser
Apr 10, 1936

One day, I was a musician seated like a Parisian,

A lady approached quickly and well, she looked like a musician!

When I blew like that, the sound which comes out over there,

Oh, oh, oh, oh listening over there.

If you blow your trumpet real good, the blood rushes giving chills down the back,

Oh, oh, oh, oh you can count on a job tomorrow.

Trying again and again, 

The music when it goes down,

Like this, like that, like this, like that,

And if someone is listening, then they'll understand.

And if you clap with your arms, and it turns out it's destiny,

Oh oh oh, which chooses (you).

When I blew like that, I feel you'll listen,

Oh, oh, oh, oh listening over there.

If you blow your trumpet real good, the blood rushes giving chills down the back,

Oh, oh, oh, oh you can count on a job tomorrow.

Trying again and again, 

The music when it goes down,

Like this, like that, like this, like that,

And if someone is listening, then they'll understand.

And if you clap with your arms, and it turns out it's destiny,

Oh oh oh, which chooses to listen.

Daily Advertiser
Nov 7, 1952

Hector had abandoned music when he married, however, he would reform the group in the 1950s, this time with accordion player Octa Clark and his son Bessyl on steel guitar. They performed Saturday evenings on the Bayou Jamboree radio program in Lafayette and even wrote a song together called the "Dixie Rambler Special".  Later, after Bessyl left, the two older gents still played regularly, mainly at Mulate's and occasional festivals. In 1981, Arhoolie's Chris Strachwitz was the first to record the two legends accompanied by Michael Doucet on guitar at Doucet's home.2  Surprisingly, Octa had never before cut a record, turning down a number of offers in the past.3

1. http://www.allmusic.com/artist/willie-vincent-mn0001716219/biography
2. http://www.rootsworld.com/reviews/clark.html
3. http://www.hechicero.com/louisiana/octaclark.html
4. CAJUN-Rare & Authentic.  Pat Harrison.  Liner notes.
5. Lyrics by Stephane F, Stephanie D, and 'ericajun'

Find:

CAJUN-Rare & Authentic (JSP, 2008)