"Jambalaya!"

[Laurence Horn]

At 5:00 PM -0500 2/11/11, Wilson Gray wrote:
>Back in the day, son of a gun! Didn't Hank Williams have big fun on the bi-oh!
>
>Nowadays, he'd be having that fun on the bi-you.
>
>--
>-Wilson
>---
as can be seen from the change in rhyme scheme from Hank Sr. (as we
now have to retronymically refer to him)'s "Jambalaya"

Good-bye Joe, me gotta go, me oh my oh
Me gotta go pole the pirogue down the bayou
My Yvonne, the sweetest one, me oh my oh
Son of a gun, we'll have big fun on the bayou

(Chorus)
Jambalaya and a crawfish pie and file' gumbo
'Cause tonight I'm gonna see my ma cher amio
Pick guitar, fill fruit jar and be gay-o
Son of a gun, we'll have big fun on the bayou

...
Jambalaya and a crawfish pie and file' gumbo
'Cause tonight I'm gonna see my ma cher amio
Pick guitar, fill fruit jar and be gay-o
Son of a gun, we'll have big fun on the bayou

to Linda Ronstadt's "Blue Bayou":

Well I'll never be blue
My dreams come true
On Blue Bayou

but some sites suggest that hers is a more accurate rendering of
"bayou" in Cajun French, even in the 1940s, than his.  FWIW, here's a
Cajun version of the song, courtesy of our cher(s) ami-os at
http://www.cajunradio.org/wordscajun3.html (sorry for the shouting)

"GOODBY JOE" J'AI POUR ALLEZ, MI-O-MA-Y-O
J'AI POUR ALLEZ MOI TOUT SEUL
SUR LE BAYOU
MA YVONNE, LA PLUS JOLIE
SUR LE BAYOU
TONNERRE M'ECRASE
UN VA AVOIR UN BON TEMP
SUR LE BAYOU
----refrain----------
JAMBALAYA, DES TARTES D'ECREUVISSE, FILE GOMBO
PAR A SOIR MOI J'VA ALLEZ VOIR
MA CHERE AMI-O
JOUER L'GUITAR, BOIRE DE LA JOGUE(cruche)
ET FAIR DE LA MUSIQUE
TOMNNERRE M'ECRASE
UN VA AVOIR UN BON TEMP
DE SUR LE BAYOU
THIBODEAUX, FONTENOT, LA PLACE APRE SONNER
CA VIEN "EN TAS" POUR VOIR YVONNE
PAR LES DOUZAINES
FAIR BIEN L'AMOUR, ET FAIR LE FOU, FAIR LA MUSIQUE
TONNERRE M'ECRASE
UN VA AVOIR UN BON TEMP

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