I lucked out this time. When I first heard Alex’s Harmonium Jam, with my love of acoustic and folk music, I said to myself at the time, “I have to do something with that!” I love these kinds of instruments - the acoustic guitar, the mandolin, harmonium, accordion…. anything you don’t have to plug in. I’ve added a couple of more mandolins, a washboard, and a fiddle. So thanks Alex for recording that bit of fun, and for turning up as my Secret Mixter!

So what am I revealing about myself on top of a bit of San Diego folk music? Well, that I grew up in a small French-speaking town called Orléans (which has since been subsumed into Ottawa.) I went to school in French during most of my school years, and as such all my formative music years were in French, learning old folk songs like Auprès de ma blonde or Napoléon avait cinq cent soldats.

There’s a part of me that still romantically longs to be a Chansonnier in a Boîte a Chansons - small working man folk music clubs in Montréal where Québec’s great folk singers birthed their careers, a decade before Dylan did the same in New York City.

Oh Ma Belle

Oh ma belle, quand je la voie
Oh je tombe en amour
Oh ma belle quand je la voie
Oh je tombe en amours, pour toujours, pour toujours

Elle s’envoie a Rimouski
Elle me manque dans mon coeur
Elle s’envoie a Rimouski
Elle me manque dans mon coeur pour toujours, pour toujours

je m’envoie a Rimouski
La ou le fleuve est large
je m’envoie a Rimouski
La ou le fleuve est large pour toujours, pour toujours

Translation:

Oh my beloved, when I see her
Oh, I fall in love
Oh my beloved, when I see her
Oh, I fall in love forever, forever

She’s headed for Rimouski
I miss her in my heart
She’s headed for Rimouski
I miss her in my heart forever, forever

I’m headed for Rimouski
where the river is wide
I’m headed for Rimouski
where the river is wide forever, forever