Good catch, Neal! I never caught that, before, but it is pretty obvious in Jim Reeves' version. The sharing of melodies seems to be a pretty common thing not only cross genre, but also within genre. For example, the songs "over the waves" and "what is a home without love" both share a melody from an old German Folk song that was made famous by merry-go-rounds.
Thanks Ganey! I am interested in melody overlap in country music. I listen to Woody Guthrie a lot and he uses many melodies that the Carter Family sang, and of course the Carters got so many of their melodies through A.P.'s song hunting trips! Also interested in how Joe Falcon and Cleoma Breaux (and Leo Soileau) picked up so many Anglo songs from country music and even jazz.
I ought to add a Leo Soileau section to my web site. He's really a giant of Cajun music history, yet so many of his recordings are unavailable. I've said as much to some people who produce those reissue sets like Amede Ardoin and Angelas LeJeune.
Neal, I remember that when Bee Cormier had The Church Point Playboys, they did a french version of Faded Love called L'amour faune'[I am not sure about the spelling]. It was Reggie Matte singing. It could have been Felton LeJeune as well. I don't remember. It's out their somewhere
I wonder why they didn't say l'amour déteindu for faded love? Shirley Bergeron used that word déteindu in one of his songs. "Sa robe déteindu et hailloné" (her faded and tattered dress).
Neal, "Amour fané" is a good expression because "fané" can be used both in the literal sense (for a flower) and in the figurative (love, beauty, etc.) in French; whereas "déteint" (or "déteindu" in CF?) is ok for a dress or any material, but "un amour déteint / déteindu" does not make sense in French. I suppose it must be the same in CF.
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If you decided to put what you have found out about the American roots of some Cajun songs on your site, no doubt that that would be very interesting for many of us.
Thanks! The Dictionary of Louisiana French by Valdman confirms that fané means wilted. Déteindre means faded, as in colors fading. Sometimes these metaphors don't translate from one language's idiomatic expressions to another's! It's a different way of seeing the world, I guess! In English we speak of someone's popularity fading, or a fade away jump shot in basketall, and it doesn't mean losing color!
I will try to put in a section on Leo Soileau. It was interesting to see a picture of him in the Country Music Hall of Fame in Nashville, the picture of him on the bandstand with a grinning mandolin player leaning back, almost falling off the stand, and Papa Cairo on lap steel!