I Married a Carpenter (J'ai marie un ouvrier)- Vincent (LA) 1934 REC Lomax
[From: Cajun Country by Barry Jean Ancelet, Jay Dearborn Edwards, Glen Pitre; 1991.An excerpt of their notes follows.
R. Matteson 2013, 2016]
In 1934 Lomax recorded "J'ai marie un ouvrier" ("I Married a Carpenter"), a remarkable Louisiana French version of an English ballad, "James Harris" or "The Demon Lover" (Child 243). This Louisiana French version preserves references to the "banks of the Tennessee" from an Americanized version.
Original french/Cajun:
1. J'ai marie un ouvrier,
Mois qui etais si villante fille,
Mais c'etait de m'en dispenser
Sans attraper des reproach.
2. "Mais quitte ton ouvrier,
Et viens-t-en donc, c'est avec moi,
Et viens-t-en donc, c'est avec moi,
Desses l'ecore du Tennessee.
3. "Desses l'ecore du Tennessee,
Qoui ces t'aurais pour m'entretenir?
Qoui ces t'aurais pour m'entretenir,
Desses l'ecore du Tennessee?"
[French upcoming]
English translation:
1. I married a carpenter,
I who was a girl of such means,
How could I be rid of him,
Without reproach.
2. "Well leave you carpenter
And come along with me,
Oh come along with me,
On the banks of the Tennessee.
3. On the banks of the Tennessee,
What would you provide for me?
What would you provide for me,
On the banks of the Tennessee?
I have great ships,
That sail the seas
And supposedly,
To keep you from working.
After three days,
Three days and three weeks,
Oh, the lady began to weep,
After longing for her family.
"Don't cry lady,
I'll buy you a dress of yellow silk,
The color,
Of silver and gold.
"I do not weep for your gold,
Neither your gold, nor your silver,
But I weep for my family,
That I left behind."
"Did I not tell you lady,
That the ship would sink,
Oh, its mast,
Would never resurface."
"On the banks of the Tennessee,
You would kiss your dear little baby,
Oh, you would kiss him,
Never to see him again."