Lyrics - Beausoleil
sus...@cruzio.santa-cruz.ca.us
Hello,
I've been really enjoying Beausoleil's "Bayou Deluxe" lately and particularly
like (amongst others) the tune "Travailler, C'est Trop Dur." Does anyone have
the complete lyrics for this one? I don't quite understand all of them and
my French is a little rusty. Thanks in advance!
Peace, Suz
C. E. Taggart
Your wish is my command ...
TRAVAILLER, C'EST TROP DUR WORKING'S TOO HARD
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Travailler, c'est trop dur Working's too hard
Et voler, c'est pas beau, And stealing's not right
Demander la charite', Asking for charity
C'est quelque chose je peux pas faire. Is something I can't do.
Chaque jour de my vie Every day of my life
On me demande de quoi je vis, Somebody asks me what I live on,
Je dis je vis sur l'amour I say I live on love
Et j'espere de vivre vieux. And I hope to live a long time.
,
Et je fais mon idee And I make up my mind
Et je quitte mon bebe, And I leave my baby,
Et je prends ma vieille selle And I take my old saddle
Et je selle mon vieux cheval. And I saddle up my old horse.
Je monte sur le chemin I go out on the road
Et je prends mon violon And I take my fiddle
Et je prends mon archet And I take my bow
Et je joue ma vieille valse. And I play my old waltz.
Je joue mon violon I play my fiddle
Et je joue les Kaplan valses, And I play the Kaplan waltzes,
Chaque fille que je rejoins Every girl that I meet
Elle me demande, "Eyou tu vas?" Asks me, "Where are you going?"
Chaque fille que je rejoins Every girl that I meet
Elle me demande, "Eyou tu vas?" Asks me, "Where are you going?"
Je dis, "Je vas dans Grand Gueydan I say, "I'm going to big Gueydan
Parce que ma belle m'a embete'." Because my girl did me wrong."
Pretty sweet lyrics ... I like this song a lot. And Annick Colbert's
harmony vocals are absolutely gorgeous.
That's a frequent complaint of mine: There aren't NEARLY enough women
singing Cajun songs. Ann Savoy is the main one, and now Sheryl Cormier.
Zydeco's got Queen Ida (who doesn't really gig much in Louisiana) and Miss
Ann Goodly.
BAYOU DELUXE: THE BEST OF BEAUSOLEIL, eh? That's a nice compilation ...
and pretty good liner notes, too ... :-)
Jusqu'a la prochaine,
Chuck
--
C. E. Taggart | | "Do not replace family
ea...@netcom.com | KCRW, 89.9 FM | traditions with media-
eam...@well.sf.ca.us | Santa Monica, California | imposed conventions."
gu...@genie.geis.com | | -- Marc Savoy
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
ghost
>
>Pretty sweet lyrics ... I like this song a lot. And Annick Colbert's
>harmony vocals are absolutely gorgeous.
>
>That's a frequent complaint of mine: There aren't NEARLY enough women
>singing Cajun songs. Ann Savoy is the main one, and now Sheryl Cormier.
>Zydeco's got Queen Ida (who doesn't really gig much in Louisiana) and Miss
>Ann Goodly.
At the Lowell MA Folk Festival this year they had 2 examples of French
women singers, Josee Vachon representing Quebecois style & Florence Martin
for Acadian, who were paired at several stages & who really hit it off
with each other & the audience, though they'd never met before the
festival. They knew a lot of each other's songs & sang with each other
or traded off doing the Quebecois version vs the Acadian. Lowell has a
huge population drawn from both these communities, who showed up at all
their appearances & more often than not sang along, sometimes with an
air of surprise & delight that anyone else knew some old song; it was
really nice to hear, even though I didn't understand a word.
One other pairing that seemed preordained was Florence Martin with
the Savoy Band (Doucet had to be elsewhere this trip), but at the start
of that workshop Ann Savoy launched into one of those trips she sometimes
gets on where she explained, for about 5 minutes, that she was really sorry
but that the North & South Acadian traditions had come so far apart that
they really didn't know any of the same songs, and that furthermore all
the things she & Marc do are in dance timings & Florence's material is in
other timings, but that in discussing it before they went on they had
found one song they both knew & that they'd try to do it, & then she &
Marc would have to catch their plane; they hadn't planned to fluff off the
workshop, but it was scheduled too close to plane time. There's no
reason to doubt her on any of the material specifics; she wrote the book,
literally, & she knows what she's talking about regarding timings & songs.
However:
They launched into that one song they both knew, & it was immediately
apparent that had it not been for that plane, Marc Savoy & Ken Smith
could had spent the rest of the afternoon backing Martin on whatever she
sang, & Martin could have caught the lyrics & sang along on anything
they played, fitting in perfectly. It sounded like a missing piece of
Cajun culture (which it was). Ann Savoy doesn't sing Cajun style, &
doesn't claim to; she sounds more like the style Josee Vachon sings in,
or like a spritely, unaffected American singing in French; it doesn't
have any of that characteristic tilt that some people think is off-key.
Florence Martin has a low, raspy voice, with plenty of tilt;
picture Edith Piaf sings Cajun style, but with far less emoting
than Piaf was famous for, & you've got it.
I've heard Cajun performers explain at workshops that women traditionally
sang, they just didn't sing in dance halls; macho culture didn't allow
it. I've heard a record called Bayou Memories with Gerard Dole
& Marie-Paul Vadunthun (a woman, if its not clear from the name, unless
I really am remembering the wrong record) that
I didn't like as much as I thought I would when I heard it; maybe I
should listen again.
The other Cajun woman singer I've heard perform is Christine Balfa,
Dewey's daughter, who sometimes sang with Dewey the last few years
before he died. She sings in the high-voice style he & many other
male Cajun singers sing in. Steve Riley at this year's
Cajun & Bluegrass Festival in Escoheag RI announced several times
that Christine & her sister (Maureen?) have a record coming out of
all original songs, & that they're all good.
C. E. Taggart
hear her sometime; I've just seen her sit in on triangle with Steve Riley
and with her dad when he was alive.
Regarding women singers, there =was= a very strong tradition of female
singing in Cajun music, the house ballad singers such as Lula Landry and
Inez Catalon. But as you remarked, they didn't sing in dance halls, which
were a bit rough in the old days. The ballad singing tradition has,
unfortunately, almost completely died out. Inez Catalon was still active
a few years ago, and had taken on an "apprentice" by the name of Marci
Lacouture.
The "traditional" singing style, being somewhat loud and nasal but not
necessarily "off-key", developed in the old dance halls,
pre-amplification, where the singer had to sing high and clear to be heard
not only above the loud accordion but also over "the din of the Cajuns!"
Also, singing on tunes played on the D accordion was more difficult, and
perhaps some musicians had a harder time singing in key. Both C and D
accordions are traditionally used, but some of the earlier and most
influential Cajun singer/accordionists like Amedee Ardoin and Iry LeJeune
played and sang with D accordions.
I happen to love Ann's singing, and despite any claims I wouldn't say it's not
"Cajun-style". She's the queen of the back-door Cajuns, and no other
female singers are at it as prominently as she. It's so beautiful and so
danceable that it's Cajun enough for this Louisiana boy!
Cheers,
ghost
>hear her sometime; I've just seen her sit in on triangle with Steve Riley
>and with her dad when he was alive.
A few years ago at the festival in RI (it's been 2 festivals since he
died) he introduced Christine with tears in his eyes & voice, saying
something like "when she was younger she said "Dad, why do you play
that old music? No-one young wants to hear it anymore", but that recently
she had told him she liked it after all & wanted to learn it.
She sang a few songs with his group, & with Steve Riley's group also,
& played triangle on many more. I had always wondered why Dewey's
students were never his own kids; I had read that his only son had died
young, & didn't know he had any kids left.
>Regarding women singers, there =was= a very strong tradition of female
>singing in Cajun music, the house ballad singers such as Lula Landry and
>Inez Catalon. But as you remarked, they didn't sing in dance halls, which
>were a bit rough in the old days. The ballad singing tradition has,
>unfortunately, almost completely died out. Inez Catalon was still active
>a few years ago, and had taken on an "apprentice" by the name of Marci
>Lacouture.
Is this the same Marci Lacouture who was singing with Butch Hancock a few
years ago (7 or 8) & may still be? She's something else even without
the Cajun ballad training. The musical saw was also singing with him
on that trip.
>The "traditional" singing style, being somewhat loud and nasal but not
>necessarily "off-key", developed in the old dance halls,
>pre-amplification, where the singer had to sing high and clear to be heard
>not only above the loud accordion but also over "the din of the Cajuns!"
>Also, singing on tunes played on the D accordion was more difficult, and
>perhaps some musicians had a harder time singing in key. Both C and D
>accordions are traditionally used, but some of the earlier and most
>influential Cajun singer/accordionists like Amedee Ardoin and Iry LeJeune
>played and sang with D accordions.
Hey, Its not me that thinks its off-key! I don't know any music theory,
& so don't know how to describe exactly what it is that they're doing that
irritates some people so much. The fiddle style irritates some people too.
I only know I like it all very much.
A word on "scratchy" Cajun fiddle: David Greeley, Riley's fiddler,
who describes himself as "half Cajun, half redneck" & has played other
kinds of music, produces a very smooth, sweet sound,
but everything else about his style when playing with Riley sounds Cajun,
so he doesn't "sound wrong". He said he'd been a student of Dewey's,
& that Dewey had said to him "now that you know how I do it, its fine to
do your own style". (Dewey said, his last year at one of those workshops
at the RI festival, that when you learn how to play something
by trying to imitate what you hear on the records, you may get it,
but you may get it the hard way; its easier to learn from someone who
can show you their techniques.)
>I happen to love Ann's singing, and despite any claims I wouldn't say it's not
>"Cajun-style". She's the queen of the back-door Cajuns, and no other
>female singers are at it as prominently as she. It's so beautiful and so
>danceable that it's Cajun enough for this Louisiana boy!
I like Anne's singing too, it was just amazing to hear Florence Martin
sing in a completely different style & fit together with the Savoy's band
so well.
I've only been listening to this stuff in seasonal but very large doses
for 12 or 13 years, as long as I've been going to this festival, so what
do I know anyway?
I wonder what is happening when you hear a kind of music you did not grow
up on & it just clicks like you've been hearing it always? This happened
to me with Cajun music, & with Andean music. The only Cajun music I heard
as a child was "Jolie Blonde", & some things by Hank Williams & others that
I now realize were Cajun-flavored, & the only Andean music I *ever* heard
til I moved to Cambridge was "El Condor Pasa", from back when Paul Simon
toured with Inti-Illimani.
There are other kinds of music to which I can listen & listen & never
develop more than a grudging admiration for technical proficiency
without ever caring if I hear any of it again, & one of these kinds
is Romantic Era Classical, which was "in the air", although not forced
on me, when I was growing up.
I think for me it has to be something you can either sing without
instruments or beat patterns to, that is, something either very
lyrical or very rythmic, or both, but that isn't the whole explanation
as there are kinds of music I don't like that certainly fit this picture.
C. E. Taggart
ghost <j...@endor.harvard.edu> wrote:
>In article <eamonCD...@netcom.com> ea...@netcom.com (C. E. Taggart) writes:
>>I'm very glad to hear that Christine Balfa has been singing! I'd love to
>>hear her sometime; I've just seen her sit in on triangle with Steve Riley
>>and with her dad when he was alive.
>
>A few years ago at the festival in RI (it's been 2 festivals since he
>died) he introduced Christine with tears in his eyes & voice, saying
>something like "when she was younger she said "Dad, why do you play
>that old music? No-one young wants to hear it anymore", but that recently
>she had told him she liked it after all & wanted to learn it.
>She sang a few songs with his group, & with Steve Riley's group also,
>& played triangle on many more. I had always wondered why Dewey's
>students were never his own kids; I had read that his only son had died
>young, & didn't know he had any kids left.
Luckily, younger kids =do= want to hear the music now, and if not for the
music the Cajun language would be almost completely dead. In fact, last I
heard Christine had started a group of her own, but I don't have the
details yet. Dammit, I've got home more often ...
>Is this the same Marci Lacouture who was singing with Butch Hancock a few
>years ago (7 or 8) & may still be? She's something else even without
>the Cajun ballad training. The musical saw was also singing with him
>on that trip.
I'm not sure ... I've just seen her sing with Miss Inez, but she's the
friend of a friend and I suppose I could find out more.
>>The "traditional" singing style, being somewhat loud and nasal but not
>>necessarily "off-key", developed in the old dance halls,
>>pre-amplification, where the singer had to sing high and clear to be heard
>>not only above the loud accordion but also over "the din of the Cajuns!"
>>Also, singing on tunes played on the D accordion was more difficult, and
>>perhaps some musicians had a harder time singing in key. Both C and D
>>accordions are traditionally used, but some of the earlier and most
>>influential Cajun singer/accordionists like Amedee Ardoin and Iry LeJeune
>>played and sang with D accordions.
>
>Hey, Its not me that thinks its off-key! I don't know any music theory,
>& so don't know how to describe exactly what it is that they're doing that
>irritates some people so much. The fiddle style irritates some people too.
>I only know I like it all very much.
That's okay ... that term has been used on more than one occasion, most
likely by the very irritated folks you mention. Oh well, their loss. :-)
>A word on "scratchy" Cajun fiddle: David Greeley, Riley's fiddler,
>who describes himself as "half Cajun, half redneck" & has played other
>kinds of music, produces a very smooth, sweet sound,
>but everything else about his style when playing with Riley sounds Cajun,
>so he doesn't "sound wrong". He said he'd been a student of Dewey's,
>& that Dewey had said to him "now that you know how I do it, its fine to
>do your own style". (Dewey said, his last year at one of those workshops
>at the RI festival, that when you learn how to play something
>by trying to imitate what you hear on the records, you may get it,
>but you may get it the hard way; its easier to learn from someone who
>can show you their techniques.)
While always remembering the importance of the tradition and being true to
it, Dewey always knew and taught that Cajun music isn't a static thing,
that it must change and grow or it'll die. As Mike Doucet put it, "Cajun
music is not a fly in amber." And as Dennis McGee said, "Play like YOU!
Play like you'self!" The perfect combination is someone who has their own
strong expressive style who's gotten the chance to study with an old
master. I'm not worried ... I see people like Steve Riley and Christine
Balfa and I know that this music will thrive well into the next century.
In fact, I can't wait to hear the first Cajun album released in 2001 ... :-)
>>I happen to love Ann's singing, and despite any claims I wouldn't say it's not
>>"Cajun-style". She's the queen of the back-door Cajuns, and no other
>>female singers are at it as prominently as she. It's so beautiful and so
>>danceable that it's Cajun enough for this Louisiana boy!
>
>I like Anne's singing too, it was just amazing to hear Florence Martin
>sing in a completely different style & fit together with the Savoy's band
>so well.
I would have loved to hear that myself. Despite Ann's disclaimers (and
Marc's self-professed dislike or non-interest for most other kinds of
music), it's great to hear great musicians jam together, and that lot can
do it.
>I've only been listening to this stuff in seasonal but very large doses
>for 12 or 13 years, as long as I've been going to this festival, so what
>do I know anyway?
>
>I wonder what is happening when you hear a kind of music you did not grow
>up on & it just clicks like you've been hearing it always? This happened
>to me with Cajun music, & with Andean music. The only Cajun music I heard
>as a child was "Jolie Blonde", & some things by Hank Williams & others that
>I now realize were Cajun-flavored, & the only Andean music I *ever* heard
>til I moved to Cambridge was "El Condor Pasa", from back when Paul Simon
>toured with Inti-Illimani.
Quelle coincidence ... I love Andean music also. And I'm lucky to get
lots of it in California.
Cajun music clicks with quite a lot of people. It's a very simple music
on the surface, but passionate and emotional, expressing both great joy
and sorrow within the confines of a single song. I've almost never seen
it fail to move people, except that "aah, it all sounds the same to me"
lot that dog both of my main musical passions, Cajun music and Irish music.
A la procahine,
Steve Goldfield
C. E. Taggart <ea...@netcom.com> wrote:
#>In article <1993Sep27....@das.harvard.edu>,
#>ghost <j...@endor.harvard.edu> wrote:
#>>In article <eamonCD...@netcom.com> ea...@netcom.com (C. E. Taggart) writes:
#>>>I'm very glad to hear that Christine Balfa has been singing! I'd love to
#>>>hear her sometime; I've just seen her sit in on triangle with Steve Riley
#>>>and with her dad when he was alive.
If you ever get to see the film, "The Big Squeeze," (it's shown
on television, which is where I saw it again recently) in which
Randy Quaid plays a cajun cop in New Orleans, Christine sings
with her Dad after Quaid stops singing to chase Ellen Barkin.
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
Steve Goldfield :<{ {>: s...@hera.eecs.berkeley.edu
**********Email should be sent to s...@coe.berkeley.edu*********
University of California at Berkeley Richmond Field Station
Gary Martin
Not really in response to anything in this thread, but seeking info
about a woman who sings Cajun songs.
Gina Forsyth, a fiddle player, singer, and songwriter from New Orleans
is supposedly in the cast of a made-for-TV movie that NBC will air
this fall. (This much was in the latest issue of Zassafras.) I
assume it's a bit part, and I don't know the name of the movie or
when it will air, so I don't know how to find out. Anybody out there
know? I suppose I could watch NBC in search of ads for upcoming movies
and watch the ones that look plausible :-(.
--
Gary A. Martin, Assistant Professor of Mathematics, UMass Dartmouth
Mar...@cis.umassd.edu
ghost
>#>>>I'm very glad to hear that Christine Balfa has been singing! I'd love to
>#>>>hear her sometime; I've just seen her sit in on triangle with Steve Riley
>#>>>and with her dad when he was alive.
>If you ever get to see the film, "The Big Squeeze," (it's shown
>on television, which is where I saw it again recently) in which
>Randy Quaid plays a cajun cop in New Orleans, Christine sings
>with her Dad after Quaid stops singing to chase Ellen Barkin.
The Big Easy! (Now that one was easy. Unless they've made a sequel.
I'm not going to say "The Big Squeezy".)
I remember Dewey playing for the cops' family's lawn wedding dance,
& I think Michael Doucet playing with him, but I didn't know who Christine
was back then if I saw her in that scene. That cop's family *did*
have connections everywhere. (The movie wanted to convince you
(& Barkin's character) that every small lawn wedding party
in New Orleans had local wedding bands that sounded that good...
& maybe they do.)
ghost
Steve Goldfield's name off of this, & misappropriated it to
C. E. Taggart, who didn't say it:
>>If you ever get to see the film, "The Big Squeeze," (it's shown
>>on television, which is where I saw it again recently) in which
>>Randy Quaid plays a cajun cop in New Orleans, Christine sings
>>with her Dad after Quaid stops singing to chase Ellen Barkin.
And *then* I said:
>The Big Easy! (Now that one was easy. Unless they've made a sequel.
& etc.
So the story is that no mailer is perfect.
Steve Goldfield
ghost <j...@endor.harvard.edu> wrote:
#>>#>>In article <eamonCD...@netcom.com> ea...@netcom.com (C. E. Taggart) writes:
#>>#>>>I'm very glad to hear that Christine Balfa has been singing! I'd love to
#>>#>>>hear her sometime; I've just seen her sit in on triangle with Steve Riley
#>>#>>>and with her dad when he was alive.
#>
#>>If you ever get to see the film, "The Big Squeeze," (it's shown
#>>on television, which is where I saw it again recently) in which
#>>Randy Quaid plays a cajun cop in New Orleans, Christine sings
#>>with her Dad after Quaid stops singing to chase Ellen Barkin.
#>
#>The Big Easy! (Now that one was easy. Unless they've made a sequel.
#>I'm not going to say "The Big Squeezy".)
Sorry about turning easy into squeeze; blame it on misfiring
neurons.
#>I remember Dewey playing for the cops' family's lawn wedding dance,
#>& I think Michael Doucet playing with him, but I didn't know who Christine
#>was back then if I saw her in that scene. That cop's family *did*
#>have connections everywhere. (The movie wanted to convince you
#>(& Barkin's character) that every small lawn wedding party
#>in New Orleans had local wedding bands that sounded that good...
#>& maybe they do.)
I saw a rerun of the film just after I returned from the Festival
of American Fiddle Tunes at Port Townsend in July, where Christine
taught a cajun dance class. So I immediately recognized her when I
saw her on the screen. Her name appears in the credits since she is
on the screen. (A friend of mine plays guitar in the forthcoming
"Beverly Hillbillies: the movie" but gets no credits since he
doesn't appear except in the soundtrack.)
Also, I don't think it was a wedding dance. The party was
celebrating Quaid's acquittal on corruption charges brought
by the Barkin character.