In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:

237 st. Martin Parish Joe Massey The recordings of Joe Massey at the Levert St. John sugar plantation are among the most virtuosic and enigmatic in the 1934 Lomax collection. Highly melodic and largely improvised, Massey’s performances are closer to improvised satirical and ceremonial Haitian chants than to anything else recorded in rural Louisiana. As in much Caribbean Creole singing, Massey’s improvisations are agonistic and lyrically engaged with their synchronic context. As Barry Jean Ancelet points out, Massey appears to have been keenly annoyed and perhaps somewhat frightened at being compelled to sing for a strange “Américain” (1999). Like Haitian ceremonial chant, these songs are mostly in the second person, directed perhaps toward another worker who could have been present, John Lomax himself, or, in one case, a tutelary deity of the sort common to Haitian and Louisiana folk religious practices. Massey’s World War I draft card lists his birthdate as September 15, 1878, his occupation as “farm laborer,” and his employer as Levert St. John, Inc. He lists Agnes Bonhomme Massey as his nearest relative and “Levert PO” as her address, suggesting that he and his family lived (as did many plantation workers) in on-site company housing. According to John Lomax’s announcement on the recording, Massey had worked for almost twenty years operating the plantation’s “dummy engine,” a small locomotive engine used on sugarcane plantations to transport goods throughout the plantation complex. To this day, an ancient dummy engine sits in the grass on St. John’s Plantation, not far from the adjacent highway. Whether this dummy engine was once operated by Massey is unknown. La Jalouserie c’est l’imagination y [Refrain, sung after every line] Ta-ta-ta-ta-tine-ta-ta-ta-ta. [(Refrain, sung after every line) Ta-ta-ta-ta-tine-ta-ta-ta-ta. 238 traditional music in coastal louisiana Ah, la jalouserie c’est l’imagination, Si to crois pas mo, si to crois pas mo. ’Mandé li, nègre, ça li dit toi. Un homme qui est jaloux, li pas gain position. [Horn sounds] Hier après-midi c’était mercredi. Mais aujourd’hui, mais oui, c’est jeudi. Après demain, oui, c’est samedi. Si to content moins, di moi ça, “To m’aime.” Si to l’aime moi, dis moi ça, “To m’aime.” Si to content moi, fais moi tit gâteau chocolat quand même. Si to pas gain, ça oh oui ce qu’il faut. Si to pas gain, ’mande Joe Féraille.” Nègre, m’après parti, oui, m’apé vini. M’apé parti jourd’i m’a vini demain. Pour m’apé parti avec un homme, C’est pas un Créole, c’est-t-un Américain, C’est pas un Créole, c’est-t-un Américain, N’a pas danger, n’a pas danger. Mais la jalouserie, c’est-t-un imagination, Mais la jalouserie, c’est-t-un imagination, À nous met ensemble, nous parler français, Nous mett’ nous ensemble nous parler français. Si nous mett’ ensemble, nous a sauver li. A nous mett’ nous ensemble, n’a sauvé Saint John. Sauvez-li, nègre, sauvez-li, Un homme tout seul, on est pas capable, Si nous met nous ensemble, nous parler français, Poule pour dîner, là gone pour souper. Poule pour dîner, poule pour souper, Oui, moi mo bois, trois verres la bière. Deux verres du vin quand on va chez moi. M’apé tourner, oui, dans Saint John. Vous va dit moi, quand faut arrêter. Mo pas aller chanter li tout l’après-midi. [Spoken] Oui ça force pour chanter donc, ça m’apé dit vous autres. C’est parce que li chanté ça: Allez, coutez ça li dit. Joe Féraille, oui, l’apé parti, Nègre, mo tout seul, oui, mo tout seul. Ah, jealousy, it’s an illusion. If you don’t believe me, if you don’t believe me. Ask him, man, you’ll see what he’ll tell you. A man who’s jealous has no position. Yesterday, it was Wednesday. But today, oh yeah, it’s Thursday. The day after tomorrow, it’ll be Saturday. If you’re happy with me, you like me. If you like me, tell me you like me. If you’re happy with me, at least make me a little chocolate cake. (. . .) If you don’t have what you need...

Share