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Re: La Valse de Platin

I don't know where John got it, but it evolved from Ma Chère Bébé Creole by Dennis McGee. It's called Dan la Platin by Doc, Happy, and the Boys (Happy Fats) on Acadian All Star Special on Bear, from the late 1940s. Cheese Reed calls it 'Tit Canard Mulé on his Arhoolie album. The Balfa Brother do it on Cajun Music from the Southwest Prairies on Rounder, field recordings around 1964 for Ralph Rinzler and Newport. That's the version I have on my web site.

Two Step de Platain is a different tune to my ears, unrelated. A very catchy tune too! Ambrose Thibodeaux could really write 'em!

I am kind of confused about the term itself. All my life I have heard two terms, Platin and Platinne (like one is masculine and one is feminine) and they have to do with a low lying spot in a rice field where the water doesn't drain well. I am almost certain Happy Fats and Ambrose Thibodeaux would have used those words with the same meaning since we are from the same rice growing neck of the woods.

Looking forward to hearing what John has to say. I enjoyed his video!

Re: La Valse de Platin

I have around thirty versions under different titles (Chère bébé créole, Valse de Platin, Tit canard mulet).
Also "Valse du Samedi soir" by Renaissance Cadienne, "Frugé Waltz" by Wade Frugé, and a surprising version "Valse du platin two-step" by Harry Lafleur.

Marc.

Re: La Valse de Platin

The version I did was based on the one the Balfa Brothers performed.

http://npmusic.org/Balfa_Brothers_Valse_de_Platin.mp3

I've looked for other versions but have found nothing, so am surprised at all the interest.

There's really no story about this version I did. The Balfa Brothers version really caught my ear so I worked up a version with an A and B part, being that I only play accordion, have no-one else with whom to play, and can't sing while playing.

I'd love hearing more about the roots of the song. Learning the evolution of songs is always a delight.

@Jack - I listened to WHFS a lot when I was living in the D.C. area. Love the music of Ambrose Thibideaux also.

Thanks for the kind words, all.

John in Oregon

Re: La Valse de Platin

Nice, John. I love that song. Check out versions of La Valse De Samedi Au Soir (Saturday Night Waltz). Most I've heard have a turn.

If you don't have Horace Trahan's Ossun Blues cd, you really need to get it. It has my favorite version of the song, along with a bunch of other great songs.

Re: La Valse de Platin

The version of Renaissance Cadienne is named "La valse du samedi soir" in reference to another version "La nuit de samedi" by Jo Falcon (link # Neal's web site).

Marc.

Re: La Valse de Platin

Thanks Marc! I forgot about the Joe Falcon version!

Eddie LeJeune does Valse de Samedi au Soir on Cajun Soul, his first CD on Rounder. Pretty sure the Balfa Brothers also do it with that title on a Sonet lp.

The Louisiana French Dictionary edited by Valdman lists Platin as a low lying area with standing water. No entry for Platain. That looks like a misspelling by La Louisianne record company on the Ambrose Thidodeaux song. Not surprising, it's Louisiane with ONE n not two! They don't even spell their label name correctly! No entry for Platine that makes sense to me. The Valdman dictionary talks about a kind of sausage. That's not how the word was used where I am from. Maybe it's a word in Vermilion parish reserved for a poor draining area of a rice field as I was mentioning earlier. Next time I talk with my farmer I will ask him.

Re: La Valse de Platin

In my area, platin meant a low spot, usually I heard it used for a slight depression in a field. But like a lot of things, we used it as a place name. "where's the party at?" "mais, it's at the platin, couillon".

Re: La Valse de Platin

neal

Not surprising, it's Louisiane with ONE n not two! They don't even spell their label name correctly!

Maybe we could give them the benefit of the doubt and think they really intended to choose among the many possible old spellings before it became fixed: Louisianne, Louysiane, Loüisiane, Louisiaene, Louizianne, L'Alouisianne, L'Allouisiane...

http://www.persee.fr/web/revues/home/prescript/article/jsa_0037-9174_1929_num_21_1_3657

Re: La Valse de Platin

Also, Bayou Blanc by Pee Wee Broussard.

Re: La Valse de Platin

Ah oui !!! Merci Bryan, je ne connaissais pas.

Marc.

Re: La Valde de Platin

Wow... such a great discussion that my take on the song has caused. I'll be busy for some time tracking down all the songs of which I've heard discussed.

I just listened to "Le Nuit Samedi" by Joe Falcon for the first time. Wow... that's what I was doing - sort of..

Thanks to all.

John in Oregon

Re: La Valde de Platin

Well, I orignally asked John the question about "La Valse de Platin" quite innocently. Since then, there have been some great responses, and I have learned something - not sure what it all means; but it is interesting.

First, I got the reference to other recordings from an index of Cajun songs prepared by Nancy Weston. It turns out that all of the references she had about "La Valse de Platain" were misspelled in the book. I have listened to most of the recordings that she gave plus the one by Happy, Doc and the Boys that Neal identified; and all of them actually say "Platin."

And I do agree with Neal that all of the versions sound a lot like Dennis McGee's Chere Bebe Creole, although the notes to the recordings never mention Dennis.

Then I went back to Ambrose Thibodeaux's version, and it seems to have nothing to do with the other versions. This time, I kept listening to the Ambrose LP, and lo and behold, a couple of tunes later, another tune sounds a lot like the other recordings of La Valse de Platin, except that the listed title is "Merry Widow Waltz." Maybe the tune on Ambrose's LP is the one that is mislabelled.

Finally, during the course of my "investigation," I listened to Horace Horace Trahan's version on his Ossun Blues CD (One of the best Cajun recordings ever!) and underneath the French title (in very small letters) is the English title - Bottom Land Waltz. Also, the implication, with Horace's name right afterward' is that he wrote the song - maybe the lyrics.

Anyway, John's and Maz's accordion versions are obviously consistent with all of the other versions of "La Valse de Platin," not Ambrose's version. Both of the accordion tunes are very good.

Jack Bond



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