"Bon Ton Roula" | ||||
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Single by Clarence Garlow | ||||
B-side | "In a Boogie Mood" | |||
Released | 1950 | |||
Recorded | Houston, Texas, 1949 | |||
Genre | Blues, zydeco | |||
Length | 3:19 | |||
Label | Macy's | |||
Songwriter(s) | Clarence Garlow | |||
Clarence Garlow singles chronology | ||||
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"Bon Ton Roula" (alternatively "Bon Ton Roulet") is a zydeco-influenced blues song first recorded by Clarence Garlow in 1949. The following year, it became a hit, reaching number seven in Billboard magazine's Rhythm & Blues chart [1] and introduced the style to a national audience. [2]
"Bon ton roula" (pronounced "bahn tahn roolay") is a phonetical approximation of "bons temps rouler", [3] Louisiana Creole French for "good times roll" as in "Laissez les bons temps rouler" or "Let the good times roll", a regional invitation to join in a festive celebration. [4] A song with a similar theme, "Let the Good Times Roll", was recorded by Louis Jordan in 1946, [4] that became a R&B chart hit. [5]
In 1949, Garlow recorded "Bon Ton Roula", using a different arrangement and lyrics. The song was recorded as a sixteen-bar blues [6] with "an insistent, swirling rhumba rhythm". [4] Singer and music writer Billy Vera commented on the song's lyrics: "The song featured some of the same kind of broken Cajun-isms as Hank Williams's 'Jambalaya'": [7]
Eh toi ...
You see me there, well I ain't no fool
I'm one smart Frenchman never been to school
Wanna get somewhere in a Creole town
You stop and let me show you your way 'round
You let the bon ton roula, you let the moolay boolay
Now don't you be no fool-ay, you let the bon ton roula
The song's success prompted Garlow to record subsequent renditions. [4] A newer version with singer Emma Dell Lee titled "New Bon Ton Roola" was released on Feature Records and in 1953, he recorded a version with the Maxwell Davis Orchestra for Aladdin Records, titled "New Bon Ton Roulay". [8] The song retains most of the elements of the original song, but some new lyrics are added and the arrangement does not include a progression to the IV chord.
"Bon Ton Roula" (with a variety of spellings) has been recorded by several artists often associated with Louisiana music, including Bo Dollis and the Wild Magnolias, Phillip Walker, and BeauSoleil. Blues-rocker Johnny Winter, a native of Garlow's adopted home of Beaumont, Texas, also recorded a version for his Raisin' Cain album in 1980. [9]
A "Bon Ton Roulet" credited to Clifton Chenier was recorded in 1967 and released as the title track of his album Bon Ton Roulet, on Arhoolie Records. [10] Producer Chris Strachwitz notes "You will perhaps recognize the song as 'Let the Good Times Roll', which in recent years has become an R&B standard". [10]
Zydeco is a music genre that evolved in southwest Louisiana by French Creole speakers which blends blues, rhythm and blues, and music indigenous to the Louisiana Creoles and the Native American people of Louisiana. Although it is distinct in origin from the Cajun music of Louisiana, the two forms influenced each other, forming a complex of genres native to Louisiana.
Sidney Simien, known as Rockin' Sidney and Count Rockin' Sidney, was an American R&B, zydeco, and soul musician who began recording in the late 1950s and continued performing until his death.
Stanley Dural Jr., better known by his stage name Buckwheat Zydeco, was an American accordionist and zydeco musician. He was one of the few zydeco artists to achieve mainstream success. His music group was formally billed as Buckwheat Zydeco and Ils Sont Partis Band, but they often performed as merely Buckwheat Zydeco.
The music of Louisiana can be divided into three general regions: rural south Louisiana, home to Creole Zydeco and Old French, New Orleans, and north Louisiana. The region in and around Greater New Orleans has a unique musical heritage tied to Dixieland jazz, blues, and Afro-Caribbean rhythms. The music of the northern portion of the state starting at Baton Rouge and reaching Shreveport has similarities to that of the rest of the US South.
BeauSoleil is a Cajun band from Louisiana, United States.
Clifton Chenier, a Louisiana French-speaking native of Leonville, Louisiana, near Opelousas, was an eminent performer and recording artist of zydeco, which arose from Cajun and Creole music, with R&B, jazz, and blues influences. He played the accordion and won a Grammy Award in 1983.
Wilson Anthony "Boozoo" Chavis was an American accordion player, singer, songwriter and bandleader. He was one of the pioneers of zydeco, the fusion of Cajun and blues music developed in southwest Louisiana.
Beau Jocque was a Louisiana French Creole zydeco musician and songwriter active in the 1990s.
Arhoolie Records is an American small independent record label run by Chris Strachwitz and is based in El Cerrito, California, United States The label was founded by Strachwitz in 1960 as a way for him to record and produce music by previously obscure "down-home blues" artists such as Lightnin' Hopkins, Snooks Eaglin, and Bill Gaither. Arhoolie still publishes blues and folk music, Tejano music including Lydia Mendoza, Los Alegres de Terán, Flaco Jiménez, regional Mexican music, cajun, zydeco, and bluegrass.
Chris Strachwitz is a German-born American record label executive and record producer. He is the founder and president of Arhoolie Records, which he established in 1960 and which became one of the leading labels recording and issuing blues, Cajun, norteño and other forms of roots music from the United States and elsewhere in the world.
Rod Bernard was an American singer who helped to pioneer the musical genre known as "swamp pop", which combined New Orleans-style rhythm and blues, country and western, and Cajun and black Creole music. He is generally considered one of the foremost musicians of this south Louisiana-east Texas idiom, along with such notables as Bobby Charles, Johnnie Allan, Tommy McLain, and Warren Storm.
C. J. Chenier is the Creole son of the Grammy Award-winning "King of Zydeco", Louisiana musician, Clifton Chenier. In 1987, Chenier followed in his father's footsteps and led his father's band as an accordion performer and singer of zydeco, a blend of cajun and creole music. With five previous albums to his credit, by 1994, Chenier began to record for Chicago-based Alligator Records.
Ida Lewis "Queen Ida" Guillory is a Louisiana Creole accordionist. She was the first female accordion player to lead a zydeco band. Queen Ida's music is an eclectic mix of R&B, Caribbean, and Cajun, though the presence of her accordion always keeps it traditional.
Raisin' Cain is a 1980 album by Johnny Winter.
"Let the Good Times Roll" is a jump blues song recorded in 1946 by Louis Jordan and his Tympany Five. A mid-tempo twelve-bar blues, the song became a blues standard and one of Jordan's best-known songs.
Cedric Watson is an American musician. He has been nominated four times for Grammy Awards.
Clarence Garlow was an American R&B, jump blues, Texas blues and cajun guitarist, singer and songwriter. He is best known for his recording of the song "Bon Ton Roula", which was a hit single on the U.S. Billboard R&B chart in 1950. One commentator called it "a rhythm and blues laced-zydeco song that helped introduce the Louisiana music form to a national audience."
Fernest Arceneaux was a French speaking Creole Zydeco accordionist and singer from Louisiana.
Andre Thierry is an American Zydeco musician. He leads the band Zydeco Magic.
Eh La Bas is a traditional New Orleans song. Originally it was sung with Creole lyrics but was later given French lyrics and the common title from the French lyrics. There have been numerous versions, including English lyrics that refer to both the Creole and French versions, and all employ a call and response.