La Pitoune (AU1998-1070-011)
Dublin Core
Title
La Pitoune (AU1998-1070-011)
Subject
Description
Excerpt from interview of Alberta Gagné (TC1998-1070-011) 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.
“La Pitoune” (“The Gal”) is a 1930 original song by Québécois singer-songwriter, fiddler, and harmonica player Madame Édouard Bolduc (1894-1941, née Mary Rose Anne Travers). “La Bolduc,” as she was affectionately known by her audiences, learned to play fiddle, jaw harp, and to sing traditional songs from her family before leaving her small village in the Gaspé region in her teens to work as a domestic in Montreal. She married factory worker Édouard Bolduc when she was barely twenty. By the second half of the 1920s, a poor housewife and mother struggling to help her invalid husband make ends meet, Bolduc joined a Conrad Gauthier’s popular theatrical company, Les veillées du bon vieux temps, which presented “old-fashioned country-style” stage shows in Montreal to the delight of large, working class audiences.
Bolduc’s popularity with audiences led to her being signed on as a Compo studio artist in 1929 by songwriter, composer, pianist, and recording studio owner/producer Roméo Beaudry (1882-1932). Beaudry was, along with his friend Herbert Berliner, the most important producer of Canadian artists in the first half of the 20th century. Bolduc’s songs, often set to fiddle tunes she had learned back home or on the Montreal stage, humorously related current events and the tribulations of the working poor of French-speaking Montreal. Her recordings sold by the thousands in Quebec and she also had a dedicated following among Franco-Americans in the mill towns of New England, where her records were distributed by Columbia. In addition to her talents as a singer, songwriter, and instrumentalist, Mme. Bolduc was an excellent “lilter”; songs like “La Pitoune,” with its banjo-imitation chorus, showcase this talent.
You can hear Mme. Bolduc’s 1930 recording of this song on the Compo/Starr label (issue # 15730, matrix # 4431) at Library and Archives Canada’s website, The Virtual Gramophone: https://www.bac-lac.gc.ca/eng/discover/films-videos-sound-recordings/virtual-gramophone/Pages/Item.aspx?idNumber=1007638615
Alberta Gagné’s version presents fewer verses in a somewhat different order with one verse which does not appear in the Bolduc recording, a similar melody and slightly abbreviated chorus.
“La Pitoune” (“The Gal”) is a 1930 original song by Québécois singer-songwriter, fiddler, and harmonica player Madame Édouard Bolduc (1894-1941, née Mary Rose Anne Travers). “La Bolduc,” as she was affectionately known by her audiences, learned to play fiddle, jaw harp, and to sing traditional songs from her family before leaving her small village in the Gaspé region in her teens to work as a domestic in Montreal. She married factory worker Édouard Bolduc when she was barely twenty. By the second half of the 1920s, a poor housewife and mother struggling to help her invalid husband make ends meet, Bolduc joined a Conrad Gauthier’s popular theatrical company, Les veillées du bon vieux temps, which presented “old-fashioned country-style” stage shows in Montreal to the delight of large, working class audiences.
Bolduc’s popularity with audiences led to her being signed on as a Compo studio artist in 1929 by songwriter, composer, pianist, and recording studio owner/producer Roméo Beaudry (1882-1932). Beaudry was, along with his friend Herbert Berliner, the most important producer of Canadian artists in the first half of the 20th century. Bolduc’s songs, often set to fiddle tunes she had learned back home or on the Montreal stage, humorously related current events and the tribulations of the working poor of French-speaking Montreal. Her recordings sold by the thousands in Quebec and she also had a dedicated following among Franco-Americans in the mill towns of New England, where her records were distributed by Columbia. In addition to her talents as a singer, songwriter, and instrumentalist, Mme. Bolduc was an excellent “lilter”; songs like “La Pitoune,” with its banjo-imitation chorus, showcase this talent.
You can hear Mme. Bolduc’s 1930 recording of this song on the Compo/Starr label (issue # 15730, matrix # 4431) at Library and Archives Canada’s website, The Virtual Gramophone: https://www.bac-lac.gc.ca/eng/discover/films-videos-sound-recordings/virtual-gramophone/Pages/Item.aspx?idNumber=1007638615
Alberta Gagné’s version presents fewer verses in a somewhat different order with one verse which does not appear in the Bolduc recording, a similar melody and slightly abbreviated chorus.
Abstract
PItoune is a pretty girl, not too fat and not too tiny; Hurray for Pitoune! One day Pitoune began to yell; a big wasp had stung her, right on a place which I may not reveal, Oh! Poor Pitoune; One day the neighbor’s boy, seeing Pitoune in her garden, blew her a kiss, Ah! Pretty Pitoune; one day while dancing, Pitoune tripped and fell on her nose, Ah! Poor Pitoune.
Source
VFC1998-0007 Martha Pellerin Collection. TC1998-1070 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_tc1998-1070
Language
fra
Identifier
vfc1998-0007_tc1998-1070-001b_006
Song Item Type Metadata
Standard Title
La Pitoune
First Line
La Pitoune ça c'est une belle fille
Transcription
La Pitoune ça c'est une belle fille,
Pas trop grosse pis pas trop p'tite.
La Pitoune ça c'est une belle fille,
Hourra ! pour la Pitoune !
[Refrain] :
Elle joue du banjo, paparalatourelalirelire [x2]
Elle joue du banjo, papara,
Hourra ! pour la Pitoune ! [x2]
Un jour Pitoune s'est mis t-à crier,
Qu’un’ gross’ guêp’ venait de la piquer,
Just’ une plac’ que j’ne peux pas vous nommer,
Oh ! la pauvre Pitoune !
Refrain
Un jour le garçon du voisin,
Voit la Pitoun’ dans son jardin,
ll lui envoie des becs avec sa main,
Ah ! la belle Pitoune !
Refrain
Un jour qu'elle était à danser,
La Pitoun’ s'est enfargée,
Sur son p'tit nez elle a tombé
Oh ! la pauvre Pitoune !
Refrain
Translation
Refrain:
She plays the banjo, paparalatourelalirelire [x2]
She plays the banjo, papara,
Hurray for la Pitoune!
strophic with a chorus, four verses
She plays the banjo, paparalatourelalirelire [x2]
She plays the banjo, papara,
Hurray for la Pitoune!
strophic with a chorus, four verses
Interviewer
Location
Original Format
sound cassette (analog)
Files
Citation
“La Pitoune (AU1998-1070-011),” Vermont Folklife Center Digital Collections, accessed November 23, 2024, https://vtfolklifearchive.org/collections/items/show/378.
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