Dans l’bon vieux temps, ça s'passait d'même (AU1998-1075-001)
Dublin Core
Title
Dans l’bon vieux temps, ça s'passait d'même (AU1998-1075-001)
Alternative Title
Dis-moi, te souviens-tu, ma vieille
Subject
Description
Excerpt from interview of Alberta Gagné (TC1998-1075-001) by Martha Pellerin. Part of a project (VFC1998-0007) on Franco-American song in New England funded by the Vermont Folklife Center and undertaken by Pellerin. Interview is one in a series of six conducted between 1995-01-09 and 1995-12-06 as an effort to document the French language song repertoire of Gagné.
“Dans l’bon vieux temps, ça s'passait d'même’’ (“In the good old days, that’s how it happened”) is a sentimental dialogue song in which an elderly couple reminisces about their rustic courting days. Both lyrics and melody are generally credited to Montreal singer, songwriter, actor, concert impresario, and jack-of-all-trades Conrad Gauthier (1885-1964) and the song is usually titled “Dans le bon vieux temps.”
Gauthier was at various times a director of silent movies, a journalist, an accountant, and a municipal officer, but it was as a singer, songwriter, and actor that he made his name in Canada and the United States. In the 1920s, Gauthier was a pioneer in radio and in the recording of Quebec folk music, making 78s of more than 100 songs and monologues for the Victor and Columbia labels, often with Elzéar Hamel. He also was a concert impresario, founder and lead vocalist at the immensely popular Veillées du bon vieux temps, a Montreal musical theatre show featuring skits, songs, dances, and monologues evoking rural Quebec traditions, music, and dances. Gauthier founded the Veillées in 1921 and produced them until 1941 at the Monument national theatre in Montreal.
In December 1927, Conrad Gauthier and Béatrice Lapierre-Latour recorded ‘’Dans le bon vieux temps’’ on the Victor label (issue #263513, side A). The recording was published in March 1928 and that same month, Eugène Daignault and his wife recorded the song on the Starr/Compo label (issue # 15438, matrix # 3255, side A).
Singer, storyteller, and actor Eugène Daignault (1895-1960) worked as a food inspector for the city of Montreal in the 1920s but moonlighted as a star of Conrad Gauthier’s Veillées du bon Vieux temps troupe. He signed a contract with Roméo Beaudry’s Montreal-based Starr label in 1926 and recorded 93 songs for that label. He was also a popular radio singer and radio, television, and film actor actor in Montreal. You can hear Mr. and Mrs. Daignault’s 1928 Compo/Starr recording of ‘’Dans le bon vieux temps’’ on the Library and Archives Canada website, The Virtual Gramophone: https://www.collectionscanada.ca/obj/m2/f7/15816.mp3
Gauthier also published the song in a 1932 compendium titled 40 Chansons d’autrefois (Montreal: Thérrien frères, limitée: 1932): 7.
Alberta Gagné’s version contains all the verses of the original song with a few minor changes and an essentially similar melody.
“Dans l’bon vieux temps, ça s'passait d'même’’ (“In the good old days, that’s how it happened”) is a sentimental dialogue song in which an elderly couple reminisces about their rustic courting days. Both lyrics and melody are generally credited to Montreal singer, songwriter, actor, concert impresario, and jack-of-all-trades Conrad Gauthier (1885-1964) and the song is usually titled “Dans le bon vieux temps.”
Gauthier was at various times a director of silent movies, a journalist, an accountant, and a municipal officer, but it was as a singer, songwriter, and actor that he made his name in Canada and the United States. In the 1920s, Gauthier was a pioneer in radio and in the recording of Quebec folk music, making 78s of more than 100 songs and monologues for the Victor and Columbia labels, often with Elzéar Hamel. He also was a concert impresario, founder and lead vocalist at the immensely popular Veillées du bon vieux temps, a Montreal musical theatre show featuring skits, songs, dances, and monologues evoking rural Quebec traditions, music, and dances. Gauthier founded the Veillées in 1921 and produced them until 1941 at the Monument national theatre in Montreal.
In December 1927, Conrad Gauthier and Béatrice Lapierre-Latour recorded ‘’Dans le bon vieux temps’’ on the Victor label (issue #263513, side A). The recording was published in March 1928 and that same month, Eugène Daignault and his wife recorded the song on the Starr/Compo label (issue # 15438, matrix # 3255, side A).
Singer, storyteller, and actor Eugène Daignault (1895-1960) worked as a food inspector for the city of Montreal in the 1920s but moonlighted as a star of Conrad Gauthier’s Veillées du bon Vieux temps troupe. He signed a contract with Roméo Beaudry’s Montreal-based Starr label in 1926 and recorded 93 songs for that label. He was also a popular radio singer and radio, television, and film actor actor in Montreal. You can hear Mr. and Mrs. Daignault’s 1928 Compo/Starr recording of ‘’Dans le bon vieux temps’’ on the Library and Archives Canada website, The Virtual Gramophone: https://www.collectionscanada.ca/obj/m2/f7/15816.mp3
Gauthier also published the song in a 1932 compendium titled 40 Chansons d’autrefois (Montreal: Thérrien frères, limitée: 1932): 7.
Alberta Gagné’s version contains all the verses of the original song with a few minor changes and an essentially similar melody.
Abstract
Tell me my old lady, do you remember when I came courting? My cap on my ears, Close to your home, I headed, my old mare trotting along, to spend the evening with you. I seated myself next to the window and all a-flutter waited for you; you, who always placed your chair right next to mine upon arriving; “He’s too close!” said my mother, who was watching us as she knit. When your mother took a nap with her knitting on her knees, and your father, the good man, smoking his pipe, was nodding off; I seized the opportunity to tenderly embrace you. You embraced me, you old pest, and your beard itched my chin. I couldn’t stop you—to tell the truth, I found it nice! Oh! I couldn’t stop you, and three days later you were back at it again.
Source
VFC1998-0007 Martha Pellerin Collection. TC1998-1075 interview with Alberta Gagné. Vermont Folklife Center Archive, Vermont Folklife Center, Middlebury, Vermont, United States of America.
Date
Rights
Copyright (c) Vermont Folklife Center
Relation
Full Interview: vfc1998-0005_tc1998-1075
Language
fra
Identifier
vfc1998-0007_tc1998-1075-001a-001
Song Item Type Metadata
Supplied Title
Dis-moi te souviens-tu ma Vieilie (first line)
Standard Title
Dans le bon vieux temps
First Line
Dis-moi te souviens-tu ma Vieilie
Transcription
[BEGIN SINGING]
Dis-moi, te souviens-tu, ma vieille,
Du temps où je te courtisais ?
Ma tuque par-dessus l'oreille,
Près de chez vous je m'en allais.
Au trottement d’ma 'tite jument,
Veiller chez vous, à St-Constant.
[Refrain] :
Dans l’bon vieux temps ça s'passait d'même,
Ça s'passait d'même dans le bon vieux temps.
Moi j'm'assisais près d'la fenêtre,
Et tout émue, je t'attendais ;
Toi qui plaçais toujours ta chaise,
Près de la mienn’ quand t'arrivais ;
“ I’ est bien trop proche ! ” disait ma mere,
Qui tricotait en nous r'gardant.
Refrain
Quand ta mère piquait son sommeil,
Avec son tricot sur ses genoux,
Et que ton père, le brave homme,
Fumait sa pipe, cognait des clous,
Moi, j'profitais d'ce p'tit moment,
Pour t'embrasser bien tendrement.
Refrain
Tu m'embrassais, vieux haïissable,
Ta barbe piquait le menton.
De t'arrêter, j’étais pas capable,
Pour dir’ franch’ment, j’trouvais ça bon.
Oh ! t’arrêter, j’tais pas capable,
Au bout d’trois jours, tu r’commençais,
Refrain
[END SINGING]
Translation
Refrain:
In the good old days that’s how it happened,
That’s how it happened in the good old days.
strophic; dialogue, four verses, one refrain.
In the good old days that’s how it happened,
That’s how it happened in the good old days.
strophic; dialogue, four verses, one refrain.
Interviewer
Location
Original Format
sound cassette (analog)
Files
Citation
“Dans l’bon vieux temps, ça s'passait d'même (AU1998-1075-001),” Vermont Folklife Center Digital Collections, accessed October 17, 2024, https://vtfolklifearchive.org/collections/items/show/348.
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