L'autre jour ma femme me dit (AU1998-1072-003)
Franco-Americans--New England
French-Canadians--New England
Folk Songs, French--New England
Folk Songs, French--Québec (Province)
Franco-Americans--Music
French-Canadians--Music
Excerpt from interview of Alberta Gagné (TC1998-1072-003) 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. “L'autre jour ma femme me dit” (”The other day, my wife says to me“) is a version of a 1924 comic song of male protest against the vogue of women “bobbing” their hair, which swept the western world during the “flapper” era of the 1920s. The song, (”Elle s'était fait couper les cheveux)” was created in Paris by composer René Yves Auguster Mercier and lyricist Vincent Telly. The earliest known printing was in Paris (Éditions L. Maillochon, 1924). Little is known about the life of Mercier (18??-1973). He is best known as a conductor, rather than composer, and his best-known song is perhaps this one. Vincent Telly (1881-1957) was a prolific song lyricist. His real name was Joseph Vincentelli, brother of Parisian singer and comedian Dréan (1884-1977), who popularized ”Elle s'était fait couper les cheveux” on the stage and on recordings. In 1926, Montreal tenor Alexandre Desmarteaux made two recordings of this song, one for the Victor label (issue # 263202, side B) and the other on Starr/Compo label (issue # 15250, matrix E1996). Before singing this song, Alberta Gagné told Martha Pellerin’ that she wanted to sing a song about the period in the 1920s when women “bobbed” their hair, and related how, as a newly-wed, her mother opposed the new fashion, but her Québécois in-laws encouraged her to get the new cut while she was visiting them, and she did so. Her version of this song presents the first two of the three original verses. There are a few substitute lines and words in her setting, but the narrative is essentially the same. In the original setting, the exasperated husband seeks out first his mother-in-law, then his grandmother, believing both will repudiate his wife’s decision to bob her hair, only to find that they have done the same.
VFC1998-0007 Martha Pellerin Collection. TC1998-1072 interview with Alberta Gagné. Vermont Folklife Center Archive, Vermont Folklife Center, Middlebury, Vermont, United States of America.
Full Interview: vfc1998-0005_tc1998-1072
sound cassette (analog)
digital audio file (MP3)
sound recording
text
Vermont (state)
New England (general region)
Quebec (province)
Highgate Center (inhabited place)
Le chignon de ma sœur [first line] (AU1998-1072-004)
Excerpt from interview of Alberta Gagné (TC1998-1072-004) 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. “Le chignon de ma sœur” (”My sister’s hair-do “) is a 1924 satirical song with words by Albéric Bourgeois, with poetical references to and melody borrowed from the 1879 comical song “Les pieds de ma sœur” (lyrics by Gaston Villemer and Lucien Delormel; melody by Charles Pourny). “Les pieds de ma sœur” was a popular success in the late 1800s on the Paris music hall stage and the song went through a number of printings. “Les pieds de ma soeur” apparently enjoyed some success in Quebec. In 1930, singer, songwriter, actor, concert impresario, and jack-of-all-trades Conrad Gauthier (1885-1964) recorded it on the Victor label (issue #263756, side A) and included it in his songbook 40 autres chansons d'autrefois : (mélodie et paroles) : deuxième série (Montréal: Ed. Archambault inc. [several editions between 1930 et 1947]). 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. 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. By contrast, Albéric Bourgeois’s spoof setting of the Villemer/Delormel song became a widespread hit song in Quebec in the 1920s and early 1930s. Bourgeois, a well-known Montreal cartoonist, political satirist, and playwright, penned a new set of lyrics poking fun at the vogue of women “bobbing” their hair, which swept the western world during the “flapper” era of the 1920s. Charles Marchand introduced it to the Montreal music hall stage in 1924. The earliest known printing of this song, (“Nos bonnes chansons : L’chignon d’ma soeur et Le pont d’Longueuil par Albéric Bourgeois, créées par Charles Marchand au Théâtre Saint-Denis, Montréal“ [Montréal, Le Carillon, 1924]), references Marchand’s performance of it at Montreal’s Saint-Denis Theater. Charles Marchand (1890-1930) was raised in Montreal and settled in Hull in 1910 to begin a career as a civil servant. He was, however, passionately interested in singing and after a number of years of voice training, his successful debut performance in Hull landed him a number of additional engagements. He took his repertory to Montreal in 1919, where he was captivated by American soprano Lorraine Wyman’s performance traditional folk songs at the Veillées du bon vieux temps, a series of concerts organized by folklorist Marius Barbeau at the Saint-Sulpice Library. Marchand decided to abandon his civil service career and focus on developing a stage and recording career as a singer of traditional and original “folksy” songs. He founded a vocal quartet, Le Carillon canadien, as well as a publication series by the same name, in order to promote his performances. Marchand toured widely in Quebec, Ontario, and Franco-American New England before his sudden death in 1930. “Le chignon de ma sœur“ appears to have been one of Marchand’s signature songs. He recorded it on the Starr/Compo label in 1925 (issue #15198, matrix #1691, side A) and newspapers from various parts of Quebec mention his performance of it during his concert tours. After singing ”Elle s'était fait couper les cheveux” (AU1998-1072-003) for Martha Pellerin, Alberta Gagné went on to further relate her experience of getting her hair bobbed while visiting her in-laws in Quebec as a newlywed. She mentions that this is one of several songs which she learned her Quebec cousins during family visits. They would sing the song and she would notate the lyrics. Her version of this song is very faithful to the Bourgeois original printing and the Pourny melody, with one missing verse.
La belle Françoise [first line] (AU1998-1072-005)
Excerpt from interview of Alberta Gagné (TC1998-1072-005) 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 belle Françoise” (”Lovely Françoise “) is one of the most widely documented traditional songs in Quebec dating back to the mid 17th century. Its roots go back to France, where it has been widely collected. The documentation of versions from Prince Edward Island, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Ontario, and Missouri attest to its wide circulation in French North America. Alberta Gagné’s version presents the most widespread melody and refrains.
M'y promenant dedans la ville [first line] (AU1998-1072-006)
Excerpt from interview of Alberta Gagné (TC1998-1072-006) 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. “M'y promenant dedans la ville” (”While walking in the city“) is a traditional French song dating back to at least to the early 18th century with at least two distinct song text variants with clearly different verse structures, as well as two distinctly different melodic types, each of which exist in many versions. The other version of the song is catalogued by Laforte as “Le galant a fait l’amour à cinquante“, II-E-29, which Coirault catalogued as “La chasse à la bécasse”, 3908. There are relatively few documented versions of Alberta. Gagnè’s version of this song in Canada and, to the cataloguer’s knowledge, this is the only known version of this song in Franco-American New England. In 1964, Eddie Comeau recorded Georges Comeau, then 89 years old, of Comeauville in Nova Scotia, singing an astonishingly similar version to that of Alberta Gagné (AFEUL, coll. Eddie Comeau, 89).
Pour t'écrire, chérie, je pensais toujours [first line] (AU1998-1072-007)
Excerpt from interview of Alberta Gagné (TC1998-1072-007) 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. “Pour t'écrire, chérie, je pensais toujours” (”To write to you, dear, I was always thinking“) is a sentimental song which Alberta Gagné dated to WWI. No printed settings or recordings have been found to date; tracing the provenance of this song is particularly challenging because the first half of the first stanza is missing.
La prière d’un aveugle (AU1998-1072-008)
Excerpt from interview of Alberta Gagné (TC1998-1072-008) 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 prière d’un aveugle” (”The blindman’s prayer“) is an original song by guitarist, harmonica player, singer-songwriter Willie Lamothe. The lyrics are his; the melody is perhaps borrowed from a popular American country song of the era. The earliest known recording of this song dates to Lamothe’s 1963 album, Willie Lamothe (London Records – MB103, 1963). “Willie Lamothe” was the stage name of Joachim Guillaume Lamothe (1920 -1992). Born and raised in Ste-Hyacinthe, he began his career as a teacher of dance and then turned to singing, his act including imitations of French pop singers Maurice Chevalier and Charles Trenet. Lamothe was signed on as an RCA Victor recording artist and made a number of 78rpms with western and country music themes starting in 1946. Ultimately, he recorded over 500 songs, both originals and translated renditions of English language country music hits. Lamothe had an active career as a stage and touring performer in Quebec in the 1950s, and hosted his own television variety show, Le Ranch à Willy, in the 1970s. He also performed as an actor in a number of films in the 1970s. Alberta Gagné told interviewer Martha Pellerin she learned “La prière d’un aveugle” from someone who listened to a recording, wrote out the words, and gave them to her.
strophic, eight-line verses; three verses (AU1998-1072-009)
Excerpt from interview of Alberta Gagné (TC1998-1072-009) 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. “C’est dans tous les cantons” (”In all the townships“) is a song originating in Quebec, most probably in the mid-19th century, which warns, by turns seriously and jokingly, of the risks of entering into marriage. The first known documented version of this song appeared in composer, musician, and song collector Ernest Gagnon’s groundbreaking 1865 collection, Chansons populaires du Canada (Quebec City: Bureau du “Foyer canadien”, 1865), the first major published collection documenting traditional songs of Quebec. A handful of settings of this song have been documented in Alberta and New Brunswick, while a good number of versiions (field recordings, commercial recordings, printed settings) have been documented in Quebec. Alberta Gagné’s version is the first known documentation of this song in Franco-American New England.
Adieu, Marie, je quitte le rivage (AU1998-1072-010)
Excerpt from interview of Alberta Gagné (TC1998-1072-010) 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. “Adieu, Marie je quitte le rivage” (“Farewell, Marie, I am leaving the shore”) focuses on a time-honored theme in French song: the sailor’s departure from his beloved. The cataloguer has found evidence of transmission of this song in Acadian Nova Scotia (Georges Comeau, Comeauville) and New Brunswick (Anthime Downing, St-Léolin). In the Vendée region of western France, versions of this song have been widely documented and are available for listening and viewing at the online site of the Réseau d’archives et de documentation de l’oralité (RADdO). In spite of the clear evidence of this song having originated in France and circulating in oral tradition in France, French folksong cataloguer Patrice Coirault provided no reference for this song. Laforte’s catalog classification is more of a typology which groups a number of songs which treat the same theme but with unrelated poetic structure and text. Alberta Gagné’s version is slightly jumbled compared to some documented versions from Vendée and is missing two verses.
Dans un vieux pays [first line] (AU1998-1072-011)
Excerpt from interview of Alberta Gagné (TC1998-1072-011) 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. “Dans un vieux pays" (“In the old country”) is a setting of “Ma Miette,” a romantic narrative French popular song of the early 1900s, first published in Paris by L. Digoudé-Diodet in 1909 under the title “Ma miette: Idylle provençale”. The song was created by the prolific composer Vincent Scotto (1874-1952), who penned some 4000 songs, sixty operettas, and two hundred film score--and lyricist Jean Rodor (born Pierre Philippe Jean Coulon, 1881-1967). Scotto and Rodor collaborated on a number of songs, including the hit song “Sous les ponts de Paris.” “Ma miette” was published in numerous editions between the early1910s and 1930 by Montreal singer, actor, and impresario Alfred Rochon (1885-?) under his theatrical name “Nochor.” Nochor published more than 120 French hit songs during the 1920s.
Dans une sombre solitude [first line] (AU1998-1072-012)
Excerpt from interview of Alberta Gagné (TC1998-1072-012) 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 une sombre solitude" (“In sombre solitude") is a sentimental, melodramatic French song from the first half of the 1800s with lyrics by Charles Paul de Kock, set to the melody of a well-known melody of the era, “l'Ermite de Saint-Avelle.” Charles Paul de Kock (1793-1871) lived in Paris for most of his life, first earning his living as a banker's clerk. He began to write for the stage very early and composed many opera libretti. His first novel, L'Enfant de ma femme (1811), was published at his own expense. In 1820, he began his long and successful series of novels dealing with Parisian life with Georgette, ou la Nièce du tabellion and went on to write about 100 novels. The earliest known publication of this song is from a collection of Paul de Kock’s works entitled Bulle de savon : ou Choix de chansons, published in Belgium I 1837 by the Société belge de librairie. It appeared in the song compilation, Nouvelle lyre canadienne : recueil de chansons canadiennes et françaises (Montreal: C.O. Beauchemin & fils, 1896, p. 440) and was included in Daniel Boudreau and Anselme Chiasson’s song collection series, Chansons d’Acadie (Moncton, N.B.: Éditions des Aboiteaux, 1979, vol. 2, p. 50). Alberta Gagné learned this song from her mother.
Excerpt from interview of Alberta Gagné (TC1998-1072-013) 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 un bosquet tout rempli de fraicheur [first line] (AU1998-1072-014)
Excerpt from interview of Alberta Gagné (TC1998-1072-014) 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 un bosquet tout rempli de fraicheur" (“In a cool glade") is a sentimental French song titled “Sous les roses,” with lyrics and music by Eugène Breton de Courgains. The only known printing is a sheet music version published Paris by C. Joubert in 1890. De Courgains created at least a handful of songs which were published at the end of the 1800s. Lyrics to this song appear in a family collection entitled Recueil de mille et une chansons” compiled by Fr. Joseph Elzéar Bonin during his residency at the seminary in Nicolet, Québec, in 1928. You can see this collection online at: https://www.famillesbonin.com/millechansons/Recueil%20de%20Mille%20et%20une%20Chanson%20-%2018%20juin%202017%20version%20finale%20(003).pdf Although the original song is an elegy for a young lady, Alberta Gagné’s version memorializes a young man.
Lison était gentille et sage [first line] (AU1998-1072-015)
Excerpt from interview of Alberta Gagné (TC1998-1072-015) 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. “Lison était gentille et sage” (“Lison was kind and maidenly”) is a sentimental song about a young woman who succumbs to the charms of a young man at the village dance, but after two months of happiness, believes herself to be abandoned, until, suddenly, her “Jean” returns to ask her hand in marriage. It has all the hallmarks of a late 19th or early 20th century “pop” song, but to date no references to printed or recorded sources have surfaced. Alberta Gagné sang this song twice during Martha Pellerin’s field recording visits; the other recording is AU1998-1075-009.
La crise règne comme un fléau (AU1998-1073-001)
Excerpt from interview of Alberta Gagné (TC1998-1073-001) 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. “La crise règne comme un fléau ” (“The Depression holds sway like a plague”) is actually the second line of the first verse of a Depression-era song which Alberta Gagné learned from her sister-in-law. The song paints a sympathetic portrait of the plight of an unemployed father whose youngest child dies of hunger because he is unable to find work. The melody is actually from a much older song, “Le petit mousse noire,” first published in Paris in 1840, with words by Pierre-Jacques Cheret (1793-1864) and music by Marc Constantin (1810-1888). No other printed or recorded versions of this song are available, although Québécois folk singer Robert Payant of Vaudreuil, QC has in his personal archives an uncatalogued field recording he made of a version in 1983 from Anne-Marie Lafrance, then a resident at the Centre d’Accueil in Vaudreil, Quebec. Payant believes that this song may have been locally composed during the Depression [SOURCE: Facebook correspondence January 2021].
VFC1998-0007 Martha Pellerin Collection. TC1998-1073 interview with Alberta Gagné. Vermont Folklife Center Archive, Vermont Folklife Center, Middlebury, Vermont, United States of America.
Full Interview: vfc1998-0005_tc1998-1073
Jeune fillette, engagez-vous [first line] (AU1998-1073-002)
Excerpt from interview of Alberta Gagné (TC1998-1073-002) 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. “Jeune fillette engagez-vous” (”Young maiden, are you involved “) is a song on a theme which appears in a number of French-language songs passed down through oral tradition: a dialogue song between a young maiden who rebuffs the offers of her would-be older seducer. What makes this song a stand-out is that, to the best of the cataloguer’s knowledge, this is the first time this song has been documented. There are no known versions in either the Coirault or Laforte catalogues.
Vive la Canadienne [first line] (AU1998-1073-003)
Excerpt from interview of Alberta Gagné (TC1998-1073-003) 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. Alberta Gagné’s “Vive la Canadienne” (”Long Live the French-Canadian Woman“) presents five of sixteen verses penned by Abbé F.-X. Burke (1851-1923). Abbé Burque was born in St-Hyacinthe, Quebec. He studied at the St-Hyacinthe Seminary and was engaged there to teach philosophy while still a student. Following his ordination as a priest in 1874, he was made a professor of philosophy and mathematics at the Seminary He abruptly left Quebec in 1882 and served briefly as a vicar before becoming parish priest for the St-Louis parish of Fort Kent, ME until 1904. He returned to Canada in 1904 and retired in Quebec City. During his retirement, he published original poems and, in 1921, a collection of songs titled Nouveau Chansonnier canadien-français, recueil de chansons populaires, chansons nouvelles et chansons restaurées (= A New French-Canadian Songster: Collection of folk songs, new songs, and restored songs). Abbé Burque wished to champion the cause of authentic French-Canadian song, which he feared was being polluted by the influences of modern pop music. He did not, however, feel that the old French-language songs could survive on their own merits; they were too unpolished, too full of degrading subject matter, their lyrics too marred by process of oral transmission. What these songs needed was to be “rehabilitated” through a process of polishing, purification and textual “restoration.” His songbook includes some fifty traditional songs, along with contemporary songs on patriotic, religious, nostalgic and anti-modernist themes. The folk songs were classified as either first-class (songs requiring little or no touch-ups), second class (songs requiring considerable touch-ups, but whose original narratives were still recognizable) or third class (songs whose defects were so massive that they required a complete overhaul and rewriting). Into the “third-class” category, Abbé Burque placed “Vive la Canadienne,” a traditional chanson en laisse which appears in some of the earliest published collections of French-Canadian folk song, such as Ernest Gagnon’s Chansons populaires du Canada recueillies et publiées avec annotations, etc. (Québec, City: Bureau du Foyer canadien, 1865-1867). The song appears to have originated in Quebec; Folk song scholar Conrad Laforte classified it in his catalogue under the title “Vive la Canadienne,” code I, M-16. Abbé Burque took Gagnon to task for publishing “Vive la Canadienne” (which celebrates the wedding bride and the delights of the wedding party, including dancing, merry-making, and drinking to excess). In Abbé Burque’s opinion, only the opening line of the song had any merit, while all the others were repugnant to superior classes of society. He completely rewrote the remaining lyrics, transforming the song into a hymn of praise to the virtuous, hard-working, self-sacrificing, French-Canadian housewife, that paragon of Christian and domestic virtues whose unending devotion to her family ended only in the grave. Burque’s rewriting of the song was published by Abbé Charles-Émile Gadbois in his immensely popular moralizing songbook series, La Bonne Chanson, which was widely disseminated throughout Franco-American New England in the mid-20th century.
Mon père n'avait fille que moi [first line] (AU1998-1073-004)
Excerpt from interview of Alberta Gagné (TC1998-1073-004) 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. “Mon père n'avait fille que moi“ (“I was my father’s only daughter“) is one of the most ancient and widespread French-language songs in oral tradition. It is one of a number of songs in which a young woman finds herself at sea fending off the advances of a sailor. This particular song is well-documented in many regions of France and Belgium, and more than 100 versions have been documented from all over Quebec, with additional versions recorded or published in Prince Edward Island, New Brunswick, and Ontario. A handful of versions have been documented in the United States in Indiana and Maine. Alberta Gagné’s version, which she learned from her brother, Henri, is on the slim side; some versions include an additional half-dozen lines.
Dans le temps des fêtes [first line] (AU1998-1073-005)
Excerpt from interview of Alberta Gagné (TC1998-1073-005) 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'temps des fêtes” (”In the Christmas season“) is a good-natured evocation of French-Canadian family festivities during the Christmas season, set to the melody of an 18th century French Christmas carol, “Dans cette étable.” French author, poet, and Catholic preacher Esprit Fléchier (1632-1710), a favorite of the court of Louis XVI, who appointed him as the bishop of Nîmes from 1687, composed the lyrics of “Dans cette étable,”. However, Fléchier’s melody was borrowed from an even older traditional French song “Dans le bel âge”, which, by Fléchier’s era was sufficiently well-known to have already been pressed into service for at least two other religious songs. The authorship of the lyrics of “Dans l’temps des fêtes” remains unknown, but it appears to have originated in Quebec and was very likely dates back to the second half of the 1800s. It’s earliest known printing by folk-song collector Édouard-Zotique Massicotte is a 1917 version from singer L.-H. Cantin, who recollected having learned it around 1895 from a singer in Lévis, QC. In 1929, singer, storyteller and actor Eugène Daignault recorded a four-verse version of this song on the Starr/Compo label (Issue # 15662, matrix # 3994). 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 musical theatre 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 this recording on the Library and Archives Canada website, The Virtual Gramophone: https://www.bac-lac.gc.ca/eng/discover/films-videos-sound-recordings/virtual-gramophone/Pages/Item.aspx?idNumber=1007637905 Alberta Gagné’s version closely resembles that of L.-H. Cantin, with the exception of one line in the first verse which is slightly garbled (in the Cantin version, the opening line of the first stanza is “Dans l’temps des fêtes, tout le monde est si gai que la toilette est pas trop ménagée”). SOURCE: E.-Z. Massicotte and Marius Barbeau, “Chants populaires du Canada,” Journal of American Folklore, v. 32, no. 123, Jan-Mar. 1919: p. 65).
Dans le temps des sucres (AU1998-1073-006)
Excerpt from interview of Alberta Gagné (TC1998-1073-006) 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'temps des sucres” (”In maple syrup season“) is a good-natured evocation of the French-Canadian custom of a family gathering at the “sugar shack” during maple syrup season, set to the melody of an 18th century French Christmas carol, “Dans cette étable.” French author, poet, and Catholic preacher Esprit Fléchier (1632-1710), a favorite of the court of Louis XVI, who appointed him as the bishop of Nîmes from 1687, composed the lyrics of “Dans cette étable,”. However, Fléchier’s melody was borrowed from an even older traditional French song “Dans le bel âge”, which, by Fléchier’s era was sufficiently well-known to have already been pressed into service for at least two other religious songs. The authorship of the lyrics of “Dans l’temps des sucres” remains unknown, but it appears to have originated in Quebec and was very likely dates back to the second half of the 1800s. Documented versions are relatively scarce; only three versions from Quebec appear in Laforte’s Catalogue de la chanson folklorique française; this is the first known documentation of this song in the United States.
La Chanson du prisonnier (AU1998-1073-007)
Excerpt from interview of Alberta Gagné (TC1998-1073-007) 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 Chanson du prisonnier” (”The Prisoner’s Song“) is a French-language re-imagining/translation of “The Prisoner's Song,” one of the best-selling songs of the 1920s, which first appeared on a recording by professional lyric tenor turned hillbilly singer, Vernon Dalhart (born Marion Try Slaughter (1883-1948) on the Victor label in 1924 (issue #19427). It was one of the best-selling records of the early 20th century, selling well over one million copies in the 1920s. Dalhart copyrighted the song in the name of his cousin Guy Massey, who had sung it while staying at Dalhart's home and had in turn heard it from his brother Robert Massey, who may have heard it while serving time in prison. ‘The Prisoner’s Song” has an even longer and complex history in oral tradition, with bits and pieces of it appearing to a number of older ballads going back at least as far as the late 1800s in the United States, and farther back in English balladry. American folksong collector Vance Randolph reported that at least a dozen of the older singers he visited in the early 1920s reported having learned their versions in the 1880s. Randolph included a version titled “Meet Me, Tonight” from Mrs. Carrie Baber of Pineville, Missouri in his four-volume collection, Ozark Folksongs. Although he collected the song in 1924, the year that Dalhart recorded it, Mrs. Baber reported having first heard around 1889 (“Meet Me Tonight,” Ozark Folksongs, State Historical Society of Missouri, 1946, vol. 4, 746A, p, 226). “La Chanson du prisonnier,” which borrows both the melody and some of the themes and content of “The Prisoner’s Song,” was created in 1925 by songwriting duo Almer Perrault and Roméo Beaudry. Perrault (1880-1944) Almer supported his family as a factory tailor but had a vibrant career in Montreal’s thriving entertainment industry. His work includes theater, radio, and the music industry, as a songwriter (both original songs and translations of popular English-language songs of the day), set designer, radio script writer and director of the popular CKAC “Living Room Furniture” troupe, a radio theater ensemble which presented music, songs, and skits in the format of a family gathering, and whose popularity led to a number of performance tours across Quebec. Perrault also co-published with J. Hervé Germain a gazette titled Canada qui chante between 1927 and 1930, which featured popular songs of the day. 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. He was also a gifted song lyricist who translated and/or reimagined more than 150 French-language adaptations of hit American songs from the 1920s. He also composed original songs, of which more than 75 were recorded. The Perrault-Beaudry setting of this song incorporates the basic contents of the Vernan Dalhart version but adds an additional four verses which imagine the prisoner’s reflections on his imminent demise and what awaits beyond the grave. Montreal baritone Hercule Lavoie recorded “La Chanson du prisonnier” in December 1925 on the Starr-compo label (issue # 15248, matrix # 2071, side B), the same month as another Montreal baritone, Hector Pellerin, recorded this song for the Victor/His Master’s Voice label.