a FRENCH MUSIC article

Cultures of Acadiana
a look at the French, Cajun, Creole, and Native American cultures of south Louisiana
(a project of Carencro High School - 721 West Butcher Switch Road, Lafayette, LA  70507)

Lafayette (LA) Daily Advertiser, December 29, 1998

Not all Cajun songs bring a tear to the eye

by Jim Bradshaw

While much of the Cajun music repertoire is made up of sad songs bemoaning the loss of a lover or a terrible fate in general, not all of them bring a tear to the eye.

Some of them are downright silly and nonsensical. One of the best known of the silly songs is Les Maringouins ont tout mangé ma belle, a lament about how the mosquitoes ate up a man's best gal, leaving nothing but her big toes.

Les maringoins a toute mangé ma belle!
Ils ons laissé que les gros orteils;
C'est pour me faire de bouchons tiege, c'est pour boucher mes semi bouteilles!

Et ton papa r'semble un éléphant et ta maman r'semble un 'tomobile
Et ton 'tit frére r'semble un ouaonaron
Et ta 'tite soeur r'semble an coin d'banquette!

The mosquitoes ate up my sweetheart!
They only left her big toes for me to use as corks to stop up my pints.
Your father looks like an elephant; your mother looks like an automobile;
Your little brother looks like a bullfrog
And your little sister looks like the corner of a wooden sidewalk.

This article is copyrighted © by the Lafayette (LA) Daily Advertiser and is used with permission.  This web site was originated through a grant awarded to Carencro High School (Joel Hilbun/Bobbi Marino, Grant Administrators) by the State Board of Elementary and Secondary Education from the Louisiana Quality Education Support Fund - 8(g).