Lyr Req: C'est si triste sans lui

Subject: Lyr Req: C'est si triste sans lui
From: Pandowo
Date: 20 Jul 06 - 07:29 AM

This is a beautiful song on the Anthology of American Folk Music, Vol. 3, sung by Cleoma Breaux, and performed by Cleoma and Ophy Breaux and Joseph Falcon. I've never seen the lyrics anywhere, and I don't speak French.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: C'est si triste sans lui
From: Mrrzy
Date: 20 Jul 06 - 10:13 AM

Looks lovely -I have the French but not the song ken.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: C'est si triste sans lui
From: Pandowo
Date: 24 Jul 06 - 08:07 PM

I can't believe that nobody knows this song, considering it's on such an important anthology! Thanks for writing, Mrrzy.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: C'est si triste sans lui
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 24 Jul 06 - 08:27 PM

I have one by Cleome Breaux and Falcon, "Je suis parti sur le grand chemin ..."-
Wish I had more- but I couldn't help since setting down the lyrics to Cajun music is beyond me.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: C'est si triste sans lui
From: Joe Offer
Date: 24 Jul 06 - 08:34 PM

Well, I listened, but I couldn't beging to understand or transcribe it.
Isn't there a site somewhere with the lyrics to the Anthology? This page says the lyrics are included with the album. I looked in both booklets that came in the box, and in the "enhanced CD" material, and didn't find lyrics...
-Joe-

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: C'est si triste sans lui
From: Peace
Date: 24 Jul 06 - 08:36 PM

Not that I've been able to find. Is there a place to hear it on the www? mp3 maybe? I could take a stab at the lyrics (I hope).

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: C'est si triste sans lui
From: Joe Offer
Date: 24 Jul 06 - 09:27 PM

Sound samples are here (click) at Smithsonian Folkways. This page (click) says the Oak Harry Smith Anthology songbook is available for download at www.towerofbabel.com, but I dare not try because my Internet connection is faltering just now.
-Joe-

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: C'est si triste sans lui
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 24 Jul 06 - 09:45 PM

I downloaded the anthology but can't get anything out of it- two files, Malcolm and Doc. and settings, but both seem to be empty. What am I doing wrong? (since it is probably me).

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: C'est si triste sans lui
From: Anglo
Date: 24 Jul 06 - 10:00 PM

I did look at that via the direct link, (I may even have the book somewhere), but this particular song is unfortunately not included in the selection (48 songs in the book).

I didn't see any way of navigating or searching the Tower of Babel page, which I hadn't come across before. Am I just being dumb? Not part of the videogame generation?

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: C'est si triste sans lui
From: Bill D
Date: 24 Jul 06 - 10:57 PM

I can post the song, if someone really wants to transcribe it.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: C'est si triste sans lui
From: Bill D
Date: 24 Jul 06 - 11:38 PM

here you go

Nothing that I have has the words.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: C'est si triste sans lui
From: Joe Offer
Date: 24 Jul 06 - 11:52 PM

Maybe if we get a phrase or two down from the MP3, we can google the phrases and save a lot of transcription word.
Still, I'm surprised that I can't find lyrics for the entire Anthology.
I did get the Anthology songbook download (click) to work, but it's kind of screwy. He copied it through several layers of directories/folders. You have to keep clicking until you finally get through "My Pictures" to what you want - JPG scans of the entire songbook. I had downloaded this before and it turned out to be corrupted - but it worked this time.
-Joe-

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: C'est si triste sans lui
From: Bill D
Date: 25 Jul 06 - 12:04 AM

I dunno, Joe...I have messed with lots of search terms. Unless the song was done by others AND lyrics posted, I don't see a hope.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: C'est si triste sans lui
From: Artful Codger
Date: 25 Jul 06 - 06:52 PM

I don't recall seeing lyrics in the anthology booklet.

In the first verse, I clearly hear "il m'a quitté", but searching on this in combination with the title yields nothing on Google.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: C'est si triste sans lui
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 25 Jul 06 - 08:56 PM

It is on disc 2 of the boxed set, "Cajun Early Recordings."

About 100 tracks on four discs. A pretty good sampling of the early recordings.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: C'est si triste sans lui
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 26 Jul 06 - 10:26 PM

It's also on an album called "Cajun Dance Party: Fais Do-Do." Walmart has a sound sample and you can download the entire song for $0.88.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: C'est si triste sans lui
From: Peace
Date: 26 Jul 06 - 10:48 PM

EUREKA

(I understand he was naked in a bathtub when he said that. I am neither.)
The lyrics don't look perfect, but dang, it's a place to start:
www.stlyrics.com/lyrics/thedivinesecretsoftheya-yasisterhood/cestsitriste.htm

Caution: stlyrics.com Website may contain malware. The lyrics Peace found are posted below.
-Joe Offer-

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: C'est si triste sans lui
From: Peace
Date: 26 Jul 06 - 10:51 PM

Thanks to Artful Godger giving the correct spelling of quitte, I found that site with a google of

il m'a quitté, c'est si triste

no quotation marks.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: C'est si triste sans lui
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 26 Jul 06 - 10:56 PM

Peace, Spyware doctor detected malware at that site, so be careful.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: C'est si triste sans lui
From: Peace
Date: 26 Jul 06 - 11:16 PM

Thanks for the warning, Q. I have put a message to clones in the help section.

(This is a work in progress. My understanding of French is limited. So please bear with me. The first stanza is as good as I can get it for now. I will begin the second later tonight.)

Please note: The words not enclosed in brackets are ones I am pretty sure of (mostly). However, I am sure that the words in the brackets [ ]are not correct.
Song: C'est Si Triste Lyrics

Le seul homme j'amais
Il ma quitte moi toute seule
Pour s'en aller avec une autre que moi
Oh, mon [pense est dur] moi prie jour et nuit pour s'en viens avec moi

Oh je vois pas quoi j'ai fait
Pour il me quitte dans tous les chagrins
Il ma dit j'avais fait pour ?e j'amais oublier?
J'ai donc prie pour et nuit pour lui il s'en revienne avec moi.

Quand il a quitte la maison
Il m'a dit de l'observer
Parce que moi j'avais fait pour ?e j'amais oubli?
Il m'a dit [d'attacher le trait] noir sur la porte
Parce qu'il aurait jamais revenu

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: C'est si triste sans lui
From: Peace
Date: 26 Jul 06 - 11:17 PM

I left the thing as I found it; however, I will come back to 'clean it up' (question marks where apostrophes should be, etc).

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: C'est si triste sans lui
From: Peace
Date: 26 Jul 06 - 11:19 PM

Who knows whether we have some really good French speakers/writers here? If so, we need them.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: C'est si triste sans lui
From: Bill D
Date: 27 Jul 06 - 12:06 PM

Glad it's being solved....*I* sure can't deal with Cajun French.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: C'est si triste sans lui
From: Pandowo
Date: 05 Aug 06 - 02:46 AM

You've done amazing research! I am living in a small town in Indonesia and there are no French speaking people around, but if what we have so far can be cleaned up just a bit more, I will take a trip to the French Cultural Centre in Surabaya and see what they can do with it. (I have the song on CD--I played it once a while back for a French-speaking Indonesian, who couldn't make heads or tails of it! But with the partial lyrics written out, it should be better.)

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: C'est si triste sans lui
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 05 Aug 06 - 04:27 PM

In Musiciens cadiens et créoles," Barry Jean Ancelet, 1984, there is a note:
"Transcriptions from 'French' originals ... reflect certain features of Cajun French. For example, genders, pronouns and tenses are sometimes different from those of academic French."
Some words are borrowed directly from English (rarely Spanish) and are usually rendered as masculine (le radio, le television).

In Ancelet's book is a longer note in French; here is a piece of it:
Le prenom 'on' replaces presque toujours 'nous'. Le vous de politesse ne s'utilise guère qu'avec les personnes très âgées; même le 'vous' pluriel est suivi par le verbe au singulier: 'vous autres veux'. En française cadien, le passé composé peut être actif ou passif, suivant le sens: 'il a tombé' décrit l'acte; 'il est tombé', le résultat."
Some words are 18th c., and may have gone out of use in modern French.

un guitare
une accordéon.

Subject: Lyr Add: C'EST SI TRISTE SANS LUI
From: Pandowo
Date: 25 Aug 06 - 06:44 AM

I don't know what happened, but somehow my thread got lost. In any case, I took the great work everyone did and brought it to the French Cultural Center in Surabaya, where a beautiful young lady from Marseilles put the following together. It's Cajun French, not standard French, and we're not sure about one of the lines. But it's pretty close. So, thank you to everyone who helped get these lyrics. This was truly a worldwide effort. [For those who missed the previous thread, this is on the Anthology of American Folk Music, Volume 3, sung by Cleoma Breaux]

C'EST SI TRISTE SANS LUI

Le seul homme j'aimais
Il m'a quitté, moi toute seule
Pour s'en aller avec une autre que moi
Oh, mon grand drame, c'est dur,
Moi prie jour et nuit pour s'en revienne avec moi

Moi j'vois pas quoi j'ai fait
Pour qu'il me quitte dans tous les chagrins
Il m'a dit que j'l'avais perdu, ont jamais oublier
J'ai tant prie jour et nuit pour lui s'en revienne avec moi

Quand il a quitté la maison
Il m'a dit de l'observer
Pourtant moi j'avais fait, pouvais donc jamais l'oublier
Il m'a dit d'attacher le crepe noir sur la porte
Parce que lui il aurait jamais revenu.

The only man I have loved
He has left me all alone
To go off with another than me
Oh, my great drama, it's so hard,
I pray day and night he'll return to me

I don't know what I did
To make him leave me with all this grief
He told me that I've lost him and he will never remember me
I pray so much day and night that he will return to me

When he left the house
He told me to look at him
But I could never have forgotten
He told me to tie a black crepe on the door
Because he will never return.

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: c'est si triste sans lui
From: Mick Pearce (MCP)
Date: 25 Aug 06 - 08:30 AM

Threads don't (normally!) get lost. Yours is still here

Mick

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I combined the two threads. Our main search engine is a year late in indexing, so it's best to use the filter to find recent threads.
-Joe Offer-