Origins: Jambalaya (Hank Williams)

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Jambalaya
From: Sorcha
Date: 24 Mar 00 - 03:34 PM

SP, the song is in fake Cajun/English dialect, "pidgin English". See above for explanation of file powder. The others are: Gumbois a stew made with okra and file powder, Ma cher a mio is Hank's bad French for "my sweetheart", Fill fruit jar is a refernce to home made corn liquor, "moon shine" served in canning jars. Son of a gun" is just an American Western/cowboy idiom, like Holy cow, Geeze Louise, etc. Do you have the rest of the verses in English so you can translate them, or should we post them? Do you know the tune? Good luck

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Jambalaya
From: simon-pierre
Date: 24 Mar 00 - 03:12 PM

Hmmm... If we're talking about the song of Hank Williams, I guess I could translate it. Please never trust the universal translator, it's pityful. There still are many words in english, and the french is horrible, especially concerning verbs. Give me a little time.

I should say that, at the first look, I don't know what means those words:

- fillet gumbo (if you wanna laugh, the translator gives «gumbo de fichier» wich means «file gumbo»...)

- my machez a mio

- fill fruit jar (alchool?)

- Son of a gun («fils d'un pistolet» is a first level translation that I would never sing - that doesn't make sense).

The rest is coming

SP

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Jambalaya
From: Bert
Date: 24 Mar 00 - 03:09 PM

Thanks Fortunato, it's always fun to go to places that are known in song.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Jambalaya
From: Fortunato
Date: 24 Mar 00 - 02:59 PM

Bert, Thibodaux and Fontaineau are two small villages in Louisiana, I was charmed to pass through them on my way from Baton Rouge to Grand Isle, La. some years ago, after years of singing the song. Les Bonton Roulet!

regarde, Fortunato

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Jambalaya
From: Bert
Date: 24 Mar 00 - 02:50 PM

When all else fails read the instructions.
filé Gumbo
Typed in as fil&eacute Gumbo

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Jambalaya
From: GUEST,Jim Dixon
Date: 24 Mar 00 - 02:38 PM

Regarding how to insert accent marks - I cheated. I usually compose my messages using Microsoft Word, then I cut and paste to the Mudcat thread. I do this for a several reasons. One, I am a compulsive perfectionist and I like to run my spell-checker before posting anything. (Frankly, I wish more mudcatters would do this.) Two, if I want to interrupt my composing to look something up on the Internet, I can do it without worrying about losing what I have written so far. Three, I can save my Microsoft Word documents with or without posting to Mudcat.

Then the question becomes, how do you insert special characters into a Microsoft Word document?

There are several ways: (1) Use Insert/Symbol, click on the character you want, then click Insert. (2) Memorize (or keep a cheat sheet that tells you) the shortcut keys for the characters you want. You can find out what shortcut keys you need by using Insert/Symbol, clicking on the character you want, and reading the information from the bottom of the menu. It tells me that the shortcut for é is "Ctrl+',E" which means, "Hold down the CTRL key while pressing first the apostrophe and then the E". (3) You can memorize (or find a cheat sheet that tells you) the ASCII code for the letter you want. The ASCII code for é is 130, so Microsoft Word lets you insert it by holding down the ALT key while typing the three numeric digits 130. However, it seems that some symbols don't have a 3-digit ASCII code. (4) You can just cut and paste from any document that already has the letter you want, including a web page.

Anyway, I found that the é character survived just fine when I cut and pasted my entire message from Word to Mudcat. This doesn't always work with other software. For example, the other day I wanted to send an e-mail message that contained the British pound sign (£). I found that when I cut and pasted from Word to Netscape Composition, it converted my pound sign to a question mark. Obviously, there are some things I haven't figured out yet.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Jambalaya
From: Jim Krause
Date: 24 Mar 00 - 02:35 PM

Hoowee! Think I'll just stick to Hank's version in English.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Jambalaya
From: Bert
Date: 24 Mar 00 - 12:40 PM

Magic Sorcha, Gotta sing it like that next time.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Jambalaya
From: Sorcha
Date: 24 Mar 00 - 12:10 PM

Here is what the universal translator says for the first verse, it's pidgen English, so I suppose this may be pidgen French, any way it almost seems to fit:
au revoir, Joe, je gotta vont, je l'OH le mon OH, que je le gotta vont poteau le pirogue en bas du bayou. Mon Yvonee, le plus doux, je l'OH le mon OH. Fils d'un pistolet, nous aurons de l'amusement sur le bayou. Jambalaya, pâté en croûte de écrevisses, et gumbo de fichier, cause ce soir je suis gonna vois mon chera millions de. Sélectionnez la guitare, fiole de fruit de remplissage et soyez gai-o. Fils d'un pistolet nous aurons le grand amusement sur le bayou.
Maybe a French speaker could tweak it and finish the fitting.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Jambalaya
From: Wolfgang
Date: 24 Mar 00 - 11:59 AM

this information is found in the old thread The fada in Irish vowels. I recommend Geroge Seto's contribution.

Wolfgang

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Jambalaya
From: Bert
Date: 24 Mar 00 - 11:47 AM

I used file without the accent 'cos I didn't know how to do it either. So tell us how you did it.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Jambalaya
From: GUEST,Jim Dixon
Date: 24 Mar 00 - 11:38 AM

I just read the lyrics to "Jambalaya" in DigiTrad, and I would like to point out one small error. It should be "file gumbo", not "filet gumbo". There should be an accent mark over the "e" - what is called an "accent ague" in French. (I don't know how to represent these things in HTML.) "Filet" does do a good job of representing the pronunciation, while "file" without the accent mark, could be totally misleading to someone who doesn't know what file powder is.

Then again, I am only familiar (somewhat) with European French, not Cajun French. For all I know, maybe Cajuns have dropped accent marks.

Anyway, file powder, I understand, is a flavoring made from ground sassafras leaves, and it has that root-beer flavor that is familiar to Americans. See http://www.foodsubs.com/Herbs.html#gumbo

Let's see if this works: "filé powder".

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Jambalaya
From: Bert
Date: 24 Mar 00 - 11:28 AM

I always thought that Thibodaux and Fontaineau were family names. The food is Jambalaya, Crawfish Pie & File Gumbo.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Jambalaya
From: GUEST,Bill in Alabama
Date: 24 Mar 00 - 07:54 AM

I have a French friend who plays American bluegrass and country music. Although his band generally performs in English, he may know of the existence of some French lyrics. I'll email him.

Bill

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Jambalaya
From: Gary T
Date: 24 Mar 00 - 07:17 AM

I don't know anything about French lyrics for the song as a whole, but there are two French/Cajun words in the song other than cheri. Thibodaux and fontaineau (I'm not sure about the spelling, but that's how they are in the DT) are food dishes, as I understand. Exactly WHAT food, I dunno.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Jambalaya
From: Sorcha
Date: 24 Mar 00 - 12:51 AM

Yep, and he didn't as far as I know, but maybe there is a translation out there?

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Jambalaya
From: Gypsy
Date: 24 Mar 00 - 12:45 AM

Wasn't that Hank Williams? Didn't know that he spoke any french?

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Jambalaya
From: Sorcha
Date: 24 Mar 00 - 12:42 AM

Didn't know there were any, other than "cherie-mi-o"(sic) Maybe simon-pierre can translate it for you. I'v got the English, as I presume lots of other people do.

Subject: Jambalaya
From: GUEST,Phil
Date: 24 Mar 00 - 12:38 AM

Can anyone help me with the French lyrics for Jambalaya?