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Don't forget Steve Riley's version

This might be one of my favorite Cajun songs of all time. There are interesting and worthwhile aspects of all of the recordings.

Don't forget Steve Riley's version - it really rocks!

Riley and company deal with the weirdness of the B part in the most effective way I have heard. Most all versions of the song kind of fudge and fumble their way through the B part, but Riley's version is very definite.

The bass line is excellent by the way. It is played with great authority.

geno delafose did my favorite version

i really think steve riley heard geno;s version and incorporated some of the tricks and feel

geno was playing it way before steve and company

i like steve riley's verion too but geno REALLY rocks it

wle

Re: Who wrote "My True Love"? / A video of the tune on new Acadian

T-monde has a good version. You can listen to it at the Valcour website on link #1. It's called voyage d'amour on their cd.

Belle by Mr. Bornu, near Morse, 1934

http://npmusic.org/19_MrBornu_Belle.mp3

Songs about going to Texas were very common, even in the older, unaccompanied ballad singing tradition. See below for some similarities to Denus McGee's text.

from Louisiana Cajun and Creole Music, 1934: The Lomax Recordings (for the Library of Congress)

"In her Louisiana French Folk Songs, Irene Whitfield reports that Lomax dubbed this otherwise unidentified song "Cajun blues from near Morse, Louisiana." The Lomaxes call it Belle in Our Singing Country, and attribute it only to a Mr. Bornu, from Kaplan. It already develops the now-ubiquitous theme of going away to Texas. Texas has long been important as a place of adventure and opportunity in Louisiana French tradition. Just after the Civil War, vigilante groups in South Louisiana exiled many "undesireable" Cajun families to Texas. Later, Cajun cowboys went there on cattle drives. At the turn of the century, Cajuns and Creoles went to Texas to work in the construction and shipbuilding industries and later in the petroleum industry. Here the singer alludes to his reasons for going to Texas without explaining them fully, but he is apparently caught between a new love and an old one who sends word that she is fatally ill. He returns only to find her unconscious. He pawns his horse Henry to help save her life, but eventually goes back to Texas. The jilted lover in Lawrence Walker's classic waltz, Chère Alice, rides a horse of the same name."

Si j'ai une belle ici, belle
C'est par rapport à toi, belle

J'ai pris ce char ici, belle
Pour m'en aller au Texas, belle

Il y avait juste trois jours, belle
Que j'étais là-bas
J'ai reçu une lettre de toi, belle
Que t'étais bien malade, belle

Que t'étais bien malade, belle
En danger de mourir, belle

J'ai pris ce char encore, belle
Pour m'en revenir ici, belle

Quand j'arrivé à toi, belle
T'étais sans connaissance, belle

J m'en ai retourné de bord, belle
J m'en ai retourné la-bas, belle

J'ai hypothéqué mon cheval, belle
Pour te sauver la vie, belle

O si j'ai plus Henry, belle
C'est par t'avoir eu aimée, belle

S'abondonner, c'est dur, belle
Mais s'oublier, c'est long, belle

Transcription by Barry Ancelet and Florence Perinet

If I have a sweetheart here it's because of you

I took this very train to go to Texas

I was only there for three days
When I received a letter that you were very ill

That you were very ill,
in danger of dying

I took this train again
To come back here

When I reached you, you were unconscious

I turned right around and returned there

I pawned my horse to save your life

Oh, if I no longer have Henry
It's because I loved you

Parting is hard, but forgetting takes long

Joe Falcon, Cleoma and Ophy Breaux

I like their version very much. (Missing on your site, Neal ).
http://www.amazon.com/Cajun-Origins-Various-Artists-Falcon/dp/B00005LW2A

They add a part about how it upsets the "emigrant's" old parents.

Quand j'ai quitté d'la maison
Mais pour aller dans l'Texas
Ma pauvre maman ça lui met-z-à pleurer.
Alle m'a demandé, alle dit : "Mon cher garçon,
Fais pas ça, ça va peiner deux vieux."

Mais moi j'ai dit : "Mais oui, ma chère maman,
Ça m' fait d'la peine de quitter ici
Mais je suis obligé de partir."
Elle, elle m'a dit : "Mais pourquoi tu veux t'en aller ?"
J'ai dit : "Ma chère 'tite fille
M'avait dit d'aller la rejoindre."

Quand moi j' (ai) arrivé mais de sus ce grand voyage
Ma chère mignonne p'tite fille a venu m' rejoindre moi.
Là elle m'a dit : "Mais j'croyais don(c) jamais,
Jamais de ma vie je t'aurais don' revu-z-encore."
J'ai pris parole mais moi j'ai dit à ma mère
Même ton amitié avait jamais été perdue.



Jamey Hall's most excellent Cajun Accordion Music Theory

Brett's all new Cajun Accordion Music Theory for all keys!

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