"Coosh Mal" - Leroy "Happy Fats" Leblanc

Happy Fats ran several radio shows during the 40s and 50s.  It created more demand for his music.   But by the 1950s, he was running his own TV show.   KADN and KLFY both aired his shows during the 1960s, including his popular show "Mariné".  According to Adam "Jack" Landry's son Morgan, both he and his father played with Happy on the show.

He played bass when I played with him at the dance hall. I know that he spoke very good French.  He always had something good to say. I never heard him say anything bad.  He loved to joke around.3  

Before his TV show however, his recording career was phenomenal.  His contracts with RCA Victor seemed to be never ending.  In 1946 he recorded "Coosh Mal" (#2034) with Francis “Red” Fabacher on lead guitar, Jimmy Gardiner on rhythm guitar, Giles ‘Candy Man” Castillo on steel guitar, Buel Hoffpauir on drums, and a fiddle player named Andrus "Uncle Ambros" Thibodeaux in New Orleans.   His song sings of a drunkard from Port Barre that flirts with all the women, but never amounts to much in life. 

Hé Couchemal, qui vient du Port Barré,

Oh Couchemal, il est tout le temps parlé, 

Hé Couchemal, il coursaille toutes les femmes,

Oh Couchemal, toutes les femmes lui regarde pas.

Hé Couchemal, il aime bien sa bouteille,

Oh Couchemal, il pard par sa bouteille,

Hé Couchemal, il fait jamais à rien,

Oh Couchemal, il regarde pas trop demain.

Hé Couchemal, qui vient du Port Barré,

Oh Couchemal, il est tout le temps parlé,

Hé Couchemal, il coursaille toutes les femmes,

Oh Couchemal, toutes les femmes lui regardaient pas.

Teche News
Apr 11, 1947

It's possible that the title is an ode to rhythm guitarist Jimmy Gardiner that joined the band that year.  Sung by Francis "Daddy Red" Fabacher, he refers to man with mischievous ways, usually in a bad way.  Possibly related to the mythical creature, le cauchemar (bad sleep), the nickname was used when Happy's stage show performances included more novelty acts as well as music, such as comedic entertainment. 

Hey Couchemal, who's coming from Port Barré,

Oh Couchemal, he's always talking (flirting), 

Hey Couchemal, he's courting all the women, 

Oh Couchemal, all the women don't notice him. 

Hey Couchemal, he likes his bottle,

Oh Couchemal, he does not lose his bottle,

Hey Couchemal, he never does anything,

Oh Couchemal, he never looks to tomorrow.

Hey Couchemal, who's coming from Port Barré,

Oh Couchemal, he's always talking (flirting), 

Hey Couchemal, he's courting all the women, 

Oh Couchemal, all the women don't notice him.

But by 1947, Victor called it quits and he teamed up with a new group of musicians but kept Ambrose as his fiddle player.  Morgan recalls the TV show:

[The show was] very professional. Me and my dad drove to Lafayette, it was actually a bit on the outskirts from what I remember. I also remember standing on the side of the set watching the show as it took place while waiting for me and my dad to go up. There was a background set up, some bales of hay if i remember correctly, then there were the microphones, the cameras were set up some 30 feet, pretty close to it if not, from the band. The lights were not too bad from what I recollect. If memory serves me correctly, the fiddle player was Uncle Ambrose and he kicked of the show with the rooster call.3

Happy would travel to different towns around Lafayette, promoting not only his band but his TV show as well.   He would advertise his "Mariné" show on the side of a van.   He even released a self-entitled LP on Swallow Records in 1964 with the lead song being the "Mariné Theme".

1. http://bayoutechedispatches.blogspot.com/2013/02/a-glimpse-from-1968-historic-films.html
2. http://www.katc.com/story/36721057/medical-explanation-for-cajun-folklore-known-as-kooshma
3. Discussions with Morgan L
4. Lyrics by Jordy A

Release Notes:
D6VB 2985 Coosh Mal | Victor 20-2034-A
D6VB 2986 La Valse De Bosco | Victor 20-2034-B

Find:
Happy Fats & His Rayne-Bo Ramblers (BACM, 2009)
His Rayne-Bo Ramblers 1938-1949 (Master Classics, 2011)

"Ce Pas La Pienne Tu Pleur" - Moise Robin & Leo Soileau

By July of 1929, Paramount Records heard about Columbia and RCA's success with recording Cajun material.  Their scouts contacted Leo Soileau about recording again, this time in Richmond, Indiana.  Although Soileau had lost his accordion playing partner after a barroom brawl, he teamed up with Arnaudville native, Moise Robin.  Paramount arranged a trip via train that summer to Indiana and the two recorded six songs at the Starr Piano Company Building at Whitewater Gorge Park.   Robin wrote many of his songs:

I made the songs myself, when I was young. My dances and my tunes and my songs. I would write in French and understand my own language, you see. So, I would compose my songs and write them down and practice them.2  

Oh, toi, 'tit monde, 'gardez-donc, malheureuse,

Toi, 'tit monde, m'fais pas ça, avec moi, chère.

Oh, malheureuse, 'gardez-donc, toi, tit monde,

Ayoù ma fille* aujourd'hui, c'est pour toi, chère.

Oh, viens-donc voir toi, tit monde, toi, yé yaille, chère,

Toi, 'tit monde, pas la peine, tu vas m'faire pleurer, chère.

Oh, toi, 'tit monde, tu fuis dedans les chemins,

Toi, 'tit monde, tu peux r(e)mercier ton papa.

Oh, toi, 'tit monde, m'fais pas ça avec moi,

Toi, 'tit monde, tu vas pleurer, toi, tit monde, chérie.

Starr Piano Company

Following the lead of other major labels, it seems Soileau and Robin were paid per session.   Borrowing Joe Falcon's "Aimer et Perdre" melody, Robin reworked the song into "Ce Pas La Pienne Tu Pleur" (#12908). Leo would later record the tune as a string band song entitled "La Valse de la Rosa" for RCA in the mid 30s. The money they received--a hefty sum around The Depression--encouraged the duo to continue recording two more times that year.  Moise recalls:

It was all steam trains.  They would pay all expenses, and the year was, in that time money, it was Depression, $25 each, to make that first record. And it was great for us, $25.  And the second time we got again, $50.2  

Oh, you little everything, so look at that, oh my,

You, my little everything, don't do that to me, dear.

Oh, oh my, so look, you little everything,

Where are you today, my girl? I'm here for you, dear.

Oh, come and see, you little everything, yé yaille, dear,

You little everything, it's not worth you hurting me, crying, dear,

Oh, you little everything, you fled down the road, 

You little everything, you can thank your dad (for all of this).

Oh, you little everything, don't do that to me, 

You little everything, you're going to cry, you little everything, dearie.

1. Photo by Chris Strachwitz
2. http://arhoolie.org/moise-robin/
3. Lyrics by Stephane F

Release Info:
G15345-A Ce Pas La Pienne Tu Pleur | Paramount 12908 A
G15344-B Je Te Rencontrais De Le Brulier | Paramount 12908 B

Find:

The Early Recordings of Leo Soileau (Yazoo, 2006)

"La Valse De Bayou Chene" - Iry Lejeune

Iry Lejeune sang the story of his people, and made them remember who they were.1 The traditional Cajun music would resurface first in his recordings, a young accordion player and singer from the Pointe Noire area of Acadia Parish.  Iry Lejeune became a pivotal figure in a revival fueled by the return of homesick GIs seeking to soothe their soul.2

Iry, who drew heavily from the recorded repertoire of Creole musician, Amede Ardoin and who died at twenty-seven in a car crash in 1955, along with Ardoin is one of the most storied figures in Louisiana French music.3 One of many Ardoin recordings he resurrected was "Valse Des Opelousas" in which was retitled as "La Valse De Bayou Chene" named after a small bayou south of Welsh in Jeff Davis Parish.  After recording the tune for Eddie Shuler's Goldband records, it later became the "Duson Waltz" by Aldus Roger and much later, the "St. Landry Waltz" by Austin Pitre.

O, catin, comment tu veut que moi je m'en vais tout seul,

O, mon nèg, à pas être capable d'aller me rejoindre,

O, bébé, mon j'ai pris et je roulaillé,

Quo faire tit monde c'est dur comme ça d'être dans ma maison.

O, catin, tu m’avais dit que tu pouvais pas me marier,

O, d’autre que toi moi je va’s plaider à tes parents,

O, catin, t’as passé dimanche après-midi,

T’as passé pour me donner ta main, t’as parti en pleurant.

O, catin, c’est les dernières paroles que je veux dire,

Je savais c’est juste rapport à ta famille qui veut plus de moi,

Oh, ye yaille, c’est pas la peine que moi je reste comme ça,

Tout le temps dans les misères à pas être capable, être capable t’avoir.

At his home, he was accompanied by Milton Vanicor on fiddle and Eddie Shuler on guitar. Although venerated for his accordion skills, it is Lejeune's singing that draws the strongest superlatives from writers--that it can "bite and burn and blister the heart" and "encompassed all the pain, loneliness, and hardship of the isolated praire farmers".3  In 1955, leaving the Green Wing Club, he caught a ride home with Lake Charles fiddler J.B. Fuseilier.  As the two men were fixing a flat tire, another car plowed into them.  Fusilier lived but Iry was not so lucky.

Lake Charles American Press
Oct 9, 1955

If this young traditionalist had not appeared when he did, Cajun music would have drowned in the American melting pot of assimilation.1  The late Acadia Parish author Pierre Varmon Daigle wrote:

In [Iry's] music is all the cruel loneliness of our Cajun history.  Not only the loneliness at the time of our exile, but the later years of poverty...It's all there in the music of this almost blind man.  It's there like a dirge, as lonesome as the howl of a March wind around the house at night.  There is his greatness. The feeling , the heart of his music reaching like fingers to your heart.1

Oh, pretty doll, how do you want me to do this all alone?

Oh, my friend, you're not capable of going to join me,

Oh, baby, my I picked up and I roamed around,

What's done, my little everything, it's hard like that to be home.

Oh, pretty doll, you told me you could not marry me,

Oh, other than you, I'm going to plead with your parents,

Oh, pretty doll, you passed by Sunday afternoon, 

You passed by to give me your hand, you left crying.

Oh, pretty doll, this is the last words I want to say,

I knew it's just related to your family, who wants more from me,

Oh, oh my, it's not worth it, for me to stay like that,

Always in misery to not be able, to be able to have you.

1. "Iry Lejeune rescued traditional Cajun music" by Gene Thibodeaux. The Church Point News.  Oct 11, 2008.  
2. Cajun Music: Origins and Development by Barry Jean Ancelet
3. Cajun and Zydeco Dance Music in Northern California: Modern Pleasures in a ... By Mark F. DeWitt
4. Lyrics by Francis M

Find:
The Legendary Iry LeJeune (Goldband, 1991)

Iry Lejeune: Cajun's Greatest: The Definitive Collection (Ace, 2003)

"Cajun Crawl" - Hackberry Ramblers

It was the mid-'30s, a period when the Louisiana music scene was practically under unending assault from the gargantuan state of Texas directly to the west. Western swing was something that had the ear of both musicians and public, and was being broadcast throughout the Bayou State over the radio. Louisiana musicians who became interested in the style gravitated toward membership in a new type of Cajun string band in which the traditional kingpin accordion player was often told to stay at home.2  

Tu m'as pris dans ma maison,

Comme un pauvre orphelin,

Tu m'as promis de me soigner,

Jusqu'a le jour de ma mort,

Et aujourd'hui, t'es après me quitter,

'Près quitter pour t'en aller,

T'en aller avec un autre,

Chère 'tite fille, que de l'amour.

Crowley Daily Signal
Jul 17, 1936

Throughout this period, the Hackberry Ramblers took the lead in promoting this sub-genre of Cajun music.  The group ended up playing throughout the Cajun country side and by 1936, they were featured three times a week on the local radio station KVOL.  The following year, Luderin Darbone and guitarist Lennis Sonnier grabbed Crowley native Joe Werner and headed to New Orleans to record "Cajun Crawl" (#2013)

You took me into your home,

Like a poor orphan,

You promised to look after me,

Until the day that I die,

And today, you are leaving me,

Leaving to go away,

Going away with another,

Dearl little girl, which I love.

The song features Joe's hard driving harmonica playing.   It was his only recording stint with the Ramblers.  Joe would eventually leave the group to form his own series of bands after his hit song "Wondering".  Behind RCA's back, Decca approached Werner to leave RCA.   Quick to get his own act up and running, he pleaded with Darbone to jump to Decca with him.  Luderin turned him down, telling him:

RCA has been real good to us. They call us every time to come to New Orleans to make records...I don't feel like I should leave.1   

KVOL, Lafayette, LA
Joe Werner, unknown, Luderin Darbone, 
Robert Escudier, Lennis Sonnier

1. Cajun Breakdown: The Emergence of an American-Made Music By Ryan Andre Brasseaux
2. https://www.allmusic.com/artist/willie-vincent-mn0001716219
3. Lyrics by Stephane F

Release Info:
BS 07221-1 Cajun Crawl | Bluebird B-2013-A
BS 07226-1 Jai Pres Parley | Bluebird B-2013-B

Find:
Cajun Early Recordings (JSP, 2004)
Cajun Louisiane 1928-1939 (Fremeaux, 2003) Cajun Early Recordings (JSP, 2004)
Les Cajuns Best Of 2002 Les Triomphes De La Country Volume 12 (Habana, 2002)

"Louisiana Boogie (Honky Tonk Boogie)" - Harry Choates

Raised in a Cajun household at a time when many young Cajuns didn’t learn English until they reached adulthood, those who knew Harry Choates have often stated that he spoke very little French, if any at all. When it came to singing it convincingly, however, he was a natural, and in the wake of “Jole Blon’s” success, most of the music he recorded was in the French style. For this reason, Choates is remembered primarily as a Cajun musician, when in fact, the music that he featured on dance jobs was almost exclusively western swing.1 

Choates’ blending of styles reached its apex with “Louisiana Boogie” shortly after 16-year-old steel guitarist Carrol Broussard began playing with him. Broussard remembers the song being born on the bandstand at the Rendezvous Club in Lake Charles.  A Cajun rice farmer approached the bandstand and requested a boogie-woogie selection.  Harry at first ignored the request.6

A guy came up and he was talking French and I know how to talk French. Harry very seldom spoke French—believe it or not, I never talked in French to Harry. This guy wanted to know if we could play a French boogie. And Harry says ‘Well, I don’t know any words to that.’ So I told Harry, well look, just make some up as you go along. So he come up and started with the song, so we recorded that.1

The band traveled to Houston to record in mid 1949 and recorded "Louisiana Boogie" (#1380) at Bill Quinn's studio.  What started as a chance suggestion turned out to be one of Harry Choates' finest fiddle performances.6 

Te m'as quitte, pour t'en aller,

T'en aller, mais chere, si loin,

Ses pour faire le boogie-woogie,

(faire le boogie-woogie),

Apres faire le boogie-woogie,

(faire le boogie-woogie),

Apres faire le boogie-woogie,

J'connais par rapport à longtemps.

Honky tonk ici, honky tonk là-bas,

Honky tonk, tu honky tonk, tu honky tonk tout le temps,

Apres faire le boogie-woogie,

(Faire le boogie-woogie),

Apres faire le boogie-woogie,

(Faire le boogie-woogie),

Apres faire le boogie-woogie,

J'connais par rapport à longtemps.

Une jambe ici, une jambe là-bas,

Chere petite, tu fais ca tout t'en,

Apres faire le boogie-woogie,

(Faire le boogie-woogie),

Apres faire le boogie-woogie,

(Faire le boogie-woogie),

Apres faire le boogie-woogie,

J'connais par rapport à longtemps.

Honky tonk ici, honky tonk là-bas,

Honky tonk, tu honky tonk, tu honky tonk tout le temps,

Apres faire le boogie-woogie,

(Faire le boogie-woogie),

Apres faire le boogie-woogie,

(Faire le boogie-woogie),

Apres faire le boogie-woogie,

J'connais par rapport à longtemps.

Milton "Pee Wee" Calhoun

Not to be confused with Harry's 1950 recording of "Louisiana Boogie" for Macy's, Harry recycled his old theme of his lover leaving him, but this time, he inserted lyrics having to do with dancing the boogie-woogie.  With Carrol on steel, Harry rounded off the group with Bill Boyd on guitar, B.D. Williams on bass, Milton "Pee Wee" Calhoun on piano accordion and Harold Broussard on piano.   Lake Charles native Pee Wee Calhoun was a staple among east Texas musicians.  He had worked closely with Moon Mullican and Clyde Brewer the year before Choates' recording.  In later years, he would work with the Brazos Valley Boys, Arkansas fiddler Bill Kirkpatrick, and one of earliest studio bands for Patsy Cline led by Leon McAuliffe. 2,3,4,5

You have left me, for you have gone away,

You've gone, well dear, so far,

Let's do the boogie-woogie,

(Do the boogie-woogie),

You're doing the boogie-woogie,

(Do the boogie-woogie),

You're doing the boogie-woogie,

I know it's been a long time.

Honky tonk here, honky tonk there,

Honky tonk, you honky tonk, you honky tonk all the time,

You're doing the boogie-woogie,

(Do the boogie-woogie),

You're doing the boogie-woogie,

(Do the boogie-woogie),

You're doing the boogie-woogie,

I know it's been a long time.

One leg here, one leg there,

Dear little one, that's all you have to do,

You're doing the boogie-woogie,

(Do the boogie-woogie),

You're doing the boogie-woogie,

(Do the boogie-woogie),

You're doing the boogie-woogie,

I know it's been a long time.

Honky tonk here, honky tonk there,

Honky tonk, you honky tonk, you honky tonk all the time,

You're doing the boogie-woogie,

(Do the boogie-woogie),

You're doing the boogie-woogie,

(Do the boogie-woogie),

You're doing the boogie-woogie,

I know it's been a long time.

Once Pappy Daily bought the rights to "Louisiana Boogie" in 1959, he re-titled the song "Honky Tonk Boogie" (#224) for his Starday label. 

1. http://www.offbeat.com/articles/harry-choates/
2. Billboard Magazine. Jul 20, 1959
3. Billboard Magazine. Apr 9, 1949
4. Louisiana Fiddlers By Ron Yule, Bill Burge
5. Patsy Cline: The Making of an Icon By Douglas Gomery
6. Poor Hobo: The Tragic Life of Harry Choates, a Cajun Legend by Tim Knight
7. Lyrics by Jordy A

Release Info:
1380A Louisiana Boogie | Goldstar 1380-A
1380B Sidewalk Waltz | Goldstar 1380-B

ST-2318 Louisiana Boogie | Starday 224
ST-2296 Port Arthur Waltz | Starday 224

Find:
Devil In The Bayou - The Gold Star Recordings (Bear Family, 2002)

"The Lafayette Playboy Waltz" - Aldus Roger

Aldus Roger was considered by many as one of the few remaining true artists of the French accordion during the 1950s.  Roger began playing the accordion at age 10 and for 20 years, had his own band, The Lafayette Playboys.1  For many, his weekly television show was their first exposure to traditional Cajun music.  Starting on June 3rd, 1955, the show lasted for over a decade on KLFY in Lafayette.  Roger was a gifted accordion player, keeping the music hard and traditional, with the only English being spoken a brief "Thank you" at the end of the broadcast.  He was a carpenter by day and leader of the Lafayette Playboys by night.2

When KLFY was first opened in Lafayette, I was playing dances at 'Tit Maurice and at the Midway Club between Lafayette and Breaux Bridge. Ellis Richard and Norris Breaux sponsored our band, The Lafayette Playboys, to advertise their dance halls. I announced the advertisements for the dance hall schedules and Dixie and Blatz beer.3   

Tu m'as dit, bébé, tu m'aimais,

'Gardez-donc, jolie, comment moi je vas faire,

J'ai p'us personne, tit monde, pour m'aimer, chère,

Tu connais ça c'est dur pour m'endurer.

Oh bébé, 'garde-donc quoi j'ai fait, chère,

C'est pour toi j'ai rimé toutes ces paroles,

Aujourd'hui, bébé, t'après m'quitter, chère,

Pour t'en aller aussi loin avec un autre.

Phillip Alleman, Aldus "Popeye" Broussard,
Aldus Roger

He claimed that Lawrence Walker was his inspiration, which is no surprise that both bands played at many of the same dance halls throughout the 1950s.  Roger remembers watching Lawrence play and imitating his style. He quickly moved from the simple fingering style to "playing double" (two notes at the same time).  Walker's earlier career in the 30s were well known to Aldus as a teenager.  Aldus states:

At the age of sixteen, when I started playing house dances, the hat was passed around to collect money for the musicians. We usually picked up a dollar and a half, two dollars.  That was a lot of money then; cotton sold for one and a half or two cents a pound. It took a large bale of cotton to bring in twenty-five dollars.  Now you know it was rough, eh?3 

Having made a name for himself on television, it was no surprise he would eventually be invited by J.D. Miller to record some of his signature tunes in the studio.  One of those tunes was simply titled after his band, "The Lafayette Playboy Waltz".   It was a rendition of Cleoma Breaux's "La Valse Crowley" sung by fiddle player Aldus "Popeye" Broussard.  

Crowley Daily Signal, 1954

You told me, baby, you loved me,

So, look, my pretty, how can you do that to me?

I have no one, my little everything, to love me, dear,

You know that it's hard for me to bare.

Oh baby, so look what you've done, dear,

It's for you that I rhyme all of these words,

Today, baby, I've left, dear,

To go away so far with another.

His Lafayette Playboys were the first Cajun band to have a consistent run on television throughout south Louisiana.  

I played ten years on television.  We had a full hour on Saturdays from noon till one o'clock to advertise and play. Our band wasn't paid for this. We just announced where we were playing every night. We played dances seven days a week for almost three years. Everyone who had a television set would turn it on and listen.  Even those without sets would visit their neighbor and listen to us. Oh, that was something in those days!  I was the first Cajun band to play on Channel 10.3  

Roger was an unassuming man, not at all flashy, playing it right and consistently right for decades.  He was a vehement critic of modern trends in Cajun music, stating that you could not play authentic Cajun music with "a rock and roll".2   By 1960, he retired but his retirement was short lived for in 1962, he was chosen by the State of Louisiana in the National Folklore Festival in Washington, DC.   As a result of the honor, Roger was persuaded to reorganize his band.  He would continue to record and play into the 1970s.1

KLFY in Lafayette
Phillip Alleman, Gerald Touchet(?), Aldus Roger,
Harry Lee Bart, Doc Guidry, Louis Foreman, Clarence Alleman

1. Rayne Tribune. May 16, 1976
2. Gravesites of Southern Musicians: A Guide to Over 300 Jazz, Blues, Country ... By Edward Amos
3. Ye Yaille Chere by Raymond Francois
4. Lyrics by Jordy A and Stephane F
5. Photo identification by Michael Dupuy

Release Info:
-A The Lafayette Playboy Waltz | Feature F-1028-A
-B Hix Wagon Wheel Special | Feature F-1028-B

Find:

Acadian All Star Special - The Pioneering Cajun Recordings Of J.D. Miller (Bear, 2011)

"Madame Atchen" - Amede Ardoin

Another iconic duo of Cajun music was Amede Ardoin and Dennis McGee.  The duo cut their first recordings together in 1929 at a joint Columbia/Okeh field session in New Orleans under the direction of the Okeh A&R man and talent scout Polk C. Brockman.  All of these sides, credited on the record labels only to Ardoin, were released in both Columbia's and Okeh's small special series of Acadian French, or Cajun, records.3  

It’s hard to say what stands out more in his music, his singing or playing. The former is his real audio signature, a pleading tone, almost the edge of a cry that emerges from the accordion-fiddle flurry and grips the ears right from the the waltz "Madame Atchen" (#40515).  Torn between anguish, threat, plea and regret he queries his “chere ‘tite femme” in Creole French: “I’m going away, oh little woman / But what did you do with your little heart?” Confused, desperate, ultimately defeated—it’s heartbreaking whether you understand the words or not.2  Recorded at the end of 1929 for Columbia records in New Orleans, the alleged origins of Mrs. Atchen are explained by the Savoy family:

A pure old Cajun waltz written about the daughter of Marc's great grandfather's French yardman. She would wear a striped dress and was very tall, so at the dance a song was written about her, Grande Barree (Tall Woman in Stripes) Amede Ardoin later recorded it and called it Madame Atchen as a tribute to Marc's grandmother's housekeeper of this name.4  

The song would later become "Ta Robe Barre" by Bois Sec Ardoin and the Carriere Brothers

Malheureuse, quoi t'a fait. Ouis, avec moi?

Ca me fais du mal chaque fois je tu regarde, ouais malheureuse.

Quoi t'as fait? Chere Jouline, ca me fait du mal,

Quoi faire t'as fait mais tout ca, t'as fait si long (temps) avec moi?

Je vas m'en aller, je vas m'en aller, a la maison,

Je vas me'en aller, ouais, a la maison, sans tu Jouline.

Malheureuse, quoi t'as fait a ton petite coeur,

Moi j'ai pas pu juger ton histore rapport a tu,

Ta bonne histoire est aussi bonne que tesparoles,

Ca tu m'as dit, ma belle Jouline, ca m'a fait du mal,

Je suis pas sur d'etre capable de m'en aller,

Mon coeur fait mat juste assez, chere pour moi pleurer.

Amede Ardoin

"Madame Atchen" was covered by Leo Soileau as "Embrace Moi Encore" Milton Vanicor recalled playing with Amede Ardoin in his earlier years.  On certain occasions, they would host a dance.  In fact, Milton points out they had built a big living room in the house, in part, so they could host dances.  Probably the first consideration would be to get the right musicians for the dance.  Only the best accordion player would be right for the job.  In the Vanicor's case, that musicians was Amede Ardoin.  According to Milton's interview with Ron Yule, Amede always brought a big crowd.  Amede's presence would mean a successful dance.  Other accordionists played at the Vanicors off and on, but Amede was the favorite.1

Oh my, why did you do this, yes, with me?

It makes me feel bad every time I look at you, yeah, oh my,

What did you do, dear Joline? It makes me sad,

What you've done, well, all of that, you've done for a longtime with me,

I am going to go, I'm going to go, to my house,

I am going to go, yeah, to my home, without you Joline.

Oh my, what you did to your little sweetheart,

I have not been able to judge based on your information,

Your good story is as good as your words,

That you told me, my beautiful Joline, it hurt me,

I'm not sure I'll be able to go,

My heart hearts just enough, dear, to make me cry.

1. When The Fiddle Was King by Ron Yule
2. https://www.offbeat.com/music/amede-ardoin-mama-i%E2%80%99ll-be-long-gone-the-complete-recordings-of-amede-ardoin-tompkins-square-records/
3. Hidden in the Mix: The African American Presence in Country Music edited by Diane Pecknold
4. The Savoy Family Band - Turn Loose But Don't Let Go.  Liner notes.

Release Info:
W111386 -2 Madam Atchen | Columbia 40515-F | Okeh 40515
W111387 -1 Two Step De La Prairie Soileau | Columbia 40515-F | Okeh 40515

Find:
Cajun Dance Party: Fais Do-Do (Legacy/Columbia, 1994)
Cajun Origins (Catfish, 2001)
Cajun Country, Vol. 2, More Hits from the Swamp (JSP, 2005)
J'ai Ete Au Bal - Vol. 1 (I Went To The Dance) (Arhoolie, 2011)