Jole Blon

Jolie Blonde is a traditional cajun waltz, often called "the cajun national anthem" because of the popularity it had in cajun culture. The song was then later popularized on a nationwide scale by a series of renditions and references in late '40s country songs. It has been the subject of occasional cover later in the 20th century by cajun and classic country revival bands. Becoming a part of the band's repertoire in 1951, "Joli Blon" became the official fight song of McNeese State University in 1970, and it is played by the "Pride of McNeese" band upon scoring at athletic events.[1]

Music

Origins

1929 recording of "Ma Blonde Est Partie" by the Breaux Brothers.

The original cajun version is a brief address to a "pretty blonde" who had left the singer and moved back in with her family, and is also now in the arms of another man. The singer concludes that there are plenty of other pretty blonde women. The fiddle-based melody dates to before the 1900s.[2][3]

The earliest recording of the song is believed to be a 1929 version by the family trio Breaux Brothers entitled "Ma blonde est partie", recorded in Atlanta.[4] There is some mystery to its origin. While Amede Breaux is credited with writing the song, it was his sister Cleoma who actually wrote the lyrics and Amede sang the song. Dennis McGee claims the original song was written by Angelas Lejeune as "La Fille De La Veuve (The Widows Daughter)"[5] during WWI and Cleoma rewrote the lyrics,[3] allegedly about Amede's first wife. Lejeune and Ernest Fruge would eventually record this song on November 19, 1929 in New Orleans (Brunswick 558, Melotone M18052). In 1934, Alan Lomax traveled to Louisiana recording artists including the Segura Brothers and their version of "La Fille De La Veuve".[6] Eventually, in 1951, Amede Breaux would form the band Acadian Aces and record the song with the title "Jole Blonde" for J. D. "Jay" Miller's Feature Records (F-1023).

In January 1929, John Bertrand and Milton Pitre would travel to Chicago and record "La Valse de Gueydan" for Paramount Records (12748A), using the same melody. It would appear again in a 1930 recording of "La Valse de Gueydan" (Brunswick 513) by Amade Ardoin. Here, he and Dennis McGee traveled to New Orleans and recorded this song discussing a "small young girl". This version would be re-recorded with slightly different lyrics by Leo Soileau and his Three Aces. The title would be "La Valse Gueydan [Jolie Fille]", recorded by Bluebird (B-2086) on January 18, 1935.[7]

The following year, the song would appear with the title "Jolie Blonde" for the first time on two records. Both the Hackberry Ramblers and J. B. Fuselier and his Merrymakers would travel to New Orleans and record the song on October 17, 1936 for Bluebird Records. J.B. Fuselier named the song "Te Ma Lessa Jolie Blonde" (Bluebird B-2006)[8] and the Hackberry Ramblers simplified the name to "Jolie Blonde" (Bluebird B-2003).[9]

By 1937, the melody was popular among very small regions of Louisiana. On Feb 21st, the Jolly Boys of Lafayette traveled to Dallas and recorded "Jolie (Brunette)" for Decca (#17032), a similar take on the song with different lyrics. Later in the year, Happy Fats traveled to New Orleans and recorded "Nouveau Grand Gueyan" for Bluebird (B-2024).

Country Popularization

1946 recording of 'Jole Blon' by Harry Choates.

During the late 40s, as country's nationwide market had solidified, a number of country artists popularized the song Jole Blon. The popularization began in 1946 with Harry Choates and his French version of "Jole Blon" for Goldstar records. Later, he would record an English version and several different versions for different labels.

Jole Blon (1946 Recording) Listen (MP3)

As is not infrequent in country music, once a song is popularized, several other contemporaries covered it. In this case, it was common for the covers to be not so much reproductions as they were songs in the same spirit, making use of the same subject, melody, or cajun theme. Several of them used "Jole Blon" as the name of subject of the song, instead of using the original meaning of 'pretty blonde.'

Many of the covers included self-referential humor in regard to the production context of the song. A popular rendition, first published by Moon Mullican (and Moon Mullican's first major hit), consists of a purposeful mix of unrelated English, French, and nonsense words: a joke attempt at "translation" of the original. Johnny Bond's "The Daughter of Jole Blon" exemplifies this contextual humor, describing the titular character as "so round, so firm, so fully packed" (itself the title of a popular country song at the time), and "Jole's only daughter... but she knows all the tricks that Jole taught her."

The following contemporary artists' renditions or songs which make reference to Jole Blon. Listed next to each song is if, and the year when, that version reached the Billboard 100 for country at the time (The country billboard charts began in 1946).

Waylon Jennings recorded it as his first single in 1958 with Buddy Holly on guitar and King Curtis on saxophone.

Late 20th century and recent covers

There has been some recent covers of the song by cajun revival and popular artists, though these have not enjoyed the same widespread popularity. The following are some of the artists have covered Jole Blon:

In 2002, Bear Family records released "Jole Blon: 23 Artists One Theme". In 2009, an unknown publisher, T. Basco, released a 3-volume set called "Peepin' Thru the Keyhole" which contains virtually every version of Jolie Blonde that has ever been recorded and popularized. In 2013, Goldenlane Records released "Jole Blon & The Cajun Music Story" compilation CD with many of the popular versions.

The title of the song is referenced in Mary Chapin Carpenter's 1991 song "Down at the Twist and Shout".

Art

In 1974, artist George Rodrigue painted several iconic portraits of his vision of who Jolie Blonde would have looked like. His paintings can be found in the restaurant "Jolie's Louisiana Bistro" in Lafayette, Louisiana. [10] Rodrigue claims the origins of Jolie Blonde stem from a prisoner in Port Arthur, Texas whose lover left him for someone else. [11] [12] [13]

References

  1. ↑ http://library.mcneese.edu/depts/archive/encyclo/encyclosz.htm#song. Retrieved 2013-12-07.
  2. ↑ Horstman, Dorothy (January 1996). Sing Your Heart Out, Country Boy. Country Music Foundation. p. 182. ISBN 978-0915608195.
  3. 1 2 Sullivan, Steve (October 4, 2013). Encyclopedia of Great Popular Song Recordings. Scarecrow Press. p. 462. ISBN 978-0810882959.
  4. 1 2 "Early Cajun Music". Archived from the original on 2012-04-23. Retrieved 2012-04-23.
  5. ↑ Horstman, Dorothy (January 1996). Sing Your Heart Out, Country Boy. Country Music Foundation. p. 171. ISBN 978-0915608195.
  6. ↑ "John and Alan Lomax in Louisiana, 1934. Segura Brothers. La Fille De La Veuve.". Retrieved 2014-07-23.
  7. ↑ "KnowLA. Le Valse de Gueydan.". Retrieved 2014-01-07.
  8. ↑ "Te Ma Lessa Jolie Blonde-waltz". Retrieved 2014-07-11.
  9. ↑ Yule, Ron; Burge, Bill (October 5, 2009). Sing Your Heart Out, Country Boy. University Press of Mississippi. p. 94. ISBN 978-1604732955.
  10. ↑ "Jolie Blonde, 1974". Retrieved 2014-08-05.
  11. ↑ Rodrigue, George; McAninch, David (1999). Blue Dog Man: Chapter One: BLUE DOG'S BLUES. ISBN 1-55670-976-5. Retrieved 2014-08-05.
  12. ↑ "Jolie Blonde". Retrieved 2014-08-05.
  13. ↑ ""From Jolie Blonde to Bodies: Paintings of Women"". Retrieved 2014-08-05.

External links

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