Annotation:Pauv' "Hobo"

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PAUV' "HOBO"(Poor Hobo). AKA - "Pauvre Hobo." Cajun, Two-Step (? 8/8 meter). USA, Louisiana. A Major. Standard tuning (fiddle). One part. A very popular and frequently recorded two-step/song, first issued 1930 by Ségura and Hébert as "Quand j'ai quitté d'la maison" (When I left your house). It was popularized by Harry Choates, styled the 'Fiddle King of Cajun Swing', after World War II. Related songs, according to Raymond Francois (1990), are Leo Soileau's "Chère Lisa" and Merlin Fontenot's "Pauvre Clochard." The lyric begins:

Ca me fait de la peine de me voir
Mais comme un pauvre hobo.
Plus personne pour m’aimer,
Plus personne pour me soigner.

It makes me sad to see myself
As nothing more than a poor hobo.
There is no one to love me,
There is no one to take care of me.

Source for notated version: Gervais Quibodeaux, Austin Pitre (La.) [Francois].

Printed sources: Francois (Yé Yaille Chère!), 1990; pp. 245-247. Whitfield (Louisiana French Folk Songs), 1939.

Recorded sources: Arhoolie CD 308, Beausoleil with Canray Fontenot - "Allons A Lafayette & More!" DeLuxe 5037 (78 RPM), Luderin Darbone & His Hackberry Ramblers. Folkways FW02623_105, Richard Fontenot - "Cajun Country Guitar" (1978). La Louisiane Records LL-119, Ambrose Thibodeaux. Swallow Records 45-10121, Austin Pitre. Swallow Records SW-LP6041, Austin Pitre. Swallow Records 6109-2, Mamou Prairie Band - "Catch My Hat" (1994). Rufus Thibodeaux – "As Good as It Gets."

See also listing at:
Hear Beausoleil's recording on youtube.com [1]