Juanita (MS2011-3222-037)

Juanita (MS2011-3222-037)

Ma Juanita

Juanita, A Song of Spain

French language song text from VFC2006-0002 Beaudoin Family Collection. MS2011-3222-037 Eva Lacourse Songbook. Pp. 65-66.

Strophic song; two verses with a refrain after the first verse.

“Juanita” is a transcription of songwriter, composer, pianist, and recording studio owner/producer Roméo Beaudry’s ca. 1926 song “Ma Juanita,” based on British social reformer, society figure, poet, novelist, and songwriter Caroline Norton’s 1853 song “Juanita, A Song of Spain,” with music by T. G. May. “Juanita” was a smash hit in Victorian middle-class parlors in England and the United States and was the first ballad by a British woman composer to achieve massive sales. As in the Norton original, Beaudry’s song tells of unrequited love for a dark-eyed young woman named Juanita,; however, as is frequently the case, his “translation” is actually a complete rewriting of the song. Moreover, his melody is completely unrelated to that of T. G. May—Beaudry’s is a brisk, “Latin-tinged” melody with a distinctly more modern feel.

Roméo Beaudry 1882-1932) was, along with his friend Herbert Berliner, the most important producer of Canadian artists in the first half of the 20th century. During the 1920s, Beaudry’s Montreal-based Starr studio produced 693 francophone records, featuring almost every great name in Quebec lyric, folk and variety song with equal success. produced songs with original lyrics and melodies as well as French-language translation of popular American hits of the era.

By the 1920s, the Norton-May setting of “Juanita” had been commercially recorded numerous times on cylinder and sound disc in the U.S. and England, and was widely spread in printed collections of parlor songs.In 1927, Montreal baritone Jean Cartier recorded Beaudry’s French-language setting for the Compo/Starr label (issue # 15368, matrix # 3033).

You can hear Cartier’s recording on Library and Archives Canada’s website, The Virtual Gramophone: http://amicus.collectionscanada.gc.ca/gramophone-bin/Main/ItemDisplay?l=0&l_ef_l=-1&id=212476.61809&v=1&lvl=1&coll=24&rt=1&itm=31398513

Suitor sings of serenading his dark-eyed sweetheart at her window.

VFC2006-0002 Beaudoin Family Collection. MS2011-3222 Eva Lacourse Songbook. Vermont Folklife Center Archive, Vermont Folklife Center, Middlebury, Vermont, United States of America.

Juanita

Vers toi ma brune

Beaudry, Roméo
May, T. G.

Beaudry, Roméo

1
Vers toi ma brune
Je reviens chaque soir
Au claire de lune le coeur tout plen d’espoir
Te dire encore dans un brulant aveu
Que je t’adore
Que c’est toi que je veux

Refrain
O Juanita ma belle
Vers toi l’amour m’appelle
Je reviens chaque soir sur ton balcon
Te chanter ma jolie douce chanson
Et je donnerais ma vie
Pour t’avoir un instant dans mes bras
Oui c’est mon coeur qui t’en prie
Repond repond Juanita

2
Mais ta fenetre reste close pour moi
N’as-tu peut-etre pas entendu ma voix
Pourtant je chante mon plus joli refrain
Viens ma charmante
N’attend pas a demain

Fin