Annotation:T'es petite et t'es mignonne
X:1 T:T'es Petite et T'es Mignonne S:Dudley & James Fawvor (1929) M:3/4 L:1/8 K:G z2B2 cB|d4-de|d2B2 AG|E4-EG|E2c2 cB| A2-A3F|A2B2 BA|[G6B6]-|[G2B2]|...
T'ES PETITE ET T'ES MIGNONNE (You're Small and You're Cute). AKA - "Te petite et te meon," "Tippy Tee Tippy En." Cajun, Waltz (3/4 time). USA, southwestern Louisiana. G Major. Standard tuning (fiddle). AABB(Vocal)BBAABB(Vocal)BB. "T'es petite et t'es mignonne" is a old Creole song first recorded by the Fawvor Brothers in 1929. It begins:
T'est petite chère et t'es mignonne,
T'es trop galeux pour faire ma femme;
T'es petite 'tit monde et t'es mignonne,
T'es trop jaloux 'tit monde mais je t'aime quand même.
[You're small and you're a sweetheart,
And shabby, but, I like you anyways,
Oh, girl, you're not clean,
Oh, well yes, girl, dear, you should go wash up.]
The Fawvor brothers (James on fiddle/vocals and Dudley on guitar/vocals) were anglophone musicians who had picked up French through playing to the predominantly Francophone audiences hear their home in Cameron Parish (Louisiana). They negotiated a recording deal with a Columbia Records executive when they acted as guides during a coastal duck hunt, and were given an audition. Despite having limited proficiency, the duo sang several songs in French, passed the audition, and were given a recording deal recording deal of $50 per person for the session. James Fawvor played the fiddle with a Texas-style long bow--not the usual fiddle style heard on Cajun records--and the duo developed a style that presaged Western Swing. Both sang (in stilted French with an American accent) on the recording of "T'es Petite et T'es Mignonne" (rendered "T'Est Petite A Ete T'Est Meon" on the record label)[1]
- ↑ Information in part from Ryan Andre Brasseaux, Cajun Breakdown: The Emeregence of an American-Made Music, 2009.
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"Tippy Tee Tippy En" is a misspelled version of the title, recorded by Vincent Crawford and His Joy Boys (Khoury's K640-A, 45 RPM). The Hackberry Ramblers[2] recorded a version for Bluebird Records entitled "Te petite et te meon."
