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Nouveau Electric Records is proud to be releasing “La chanson des moustiques” (“The Mosquito Song”) sung by Debbie Lagrange, a native of Arnaudville, Louisiana who has lived with Parkinson’s Disease since 1999 and has been widowed for 14 years. She’d worked most of her adult life as an Operating Room nurse, but as the disease progressed, she was no longer physically able to continue. Debbie was in the midst of exploring other means of raising money to pay for her in-home care when she had an epiphany: “I was reading over a list of potential jobs when one word stopped me dead in my tracks: ‘Songwriting’! I decided right then and there that I would learn how to write a great song. My Dad left me with a love of words and music. My good friend told me I could do it!”
When LaGrange completed her final draft of the words for “La chanson des moustiques” she was faced with the dilemna of setting them to music and rather than settle for half measures decided to approach one of the most celebrated musicians in Arnaudville, Louis Michot, singer and fiddler for Grammy-winners the Lost Bayou Ramblers and side project Michot’s Melody Makers.
Once they met, they found they shared a commitment to ensuring that the language of their parents, grandparents and forebears -- Cajun French -- will survive to enrich the lives of their children and those that will come. Both support and work for St. Luc’s, a new school devoted to French language immersion, the only one of its kind in the United States. Louis happily went to work setting Debbie’s lyrics to music.
“On the day we recorded, Louis had me take my place at the microphone, I thought I’d died,” recalls LaGrange, “because the Nina Highway Louisiana studio of the famous, Mark Bingham, surely felt like heaven. Mark, close by and keeping watch as his angels, Louis Michot, Bryan Webre, Kirkland Middleton and the unbelievably talented, Corey Ledet, did their thing.
lyrics
FRENCH LYRICS
mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm
En ete assis sur les ecore de bayou
En a entendu et c’etait là en a vu
Des ecrevisses bouillies, un band de Cajun et tout
Des grande maringouin droit devant nous
En a restes assis, pas l’temps pour chapper
Les sarnie maringouin nous bien picquet
La seule chose a dire etait les derniers parole
Est que ta vue les gros moustiques? Keeyah!
Les maringouin a peelé
Le monde a commence grouiller
Le groupe de Cajun a decide d’jouer
Les femmes, les hommes, les enfants
A gratter et Danser
Allons Danser!
Le monde a crié
A yi, les moustiques sont arriver
A ye yi, les maringouin ont commencer
Aiee, les moustiques va manger les ecrevisses
Lau-day, (Slap) les moustiques a voler la musique
En ete assis sur les ecore de bayou
En a entendu et c’etait là en a vu
Des ecrevisses bouillies, un band de Cajun et tout
Des grande maringouin droit devant de nous
En a restes assis, pas l’temps pour chapper
Sarnie maringouin nous bien picquet
La seule chose a dire etait les derniers parole
Est que ta vue les gros moustiques? Keeyah!
Les maringouin a tous peelé
Oui, le monde commencer grouiller
Le groupe Cajun a decided jouer
Les femmes, les hommes, et les enfants
On gratter et dancer
Allons Danser
mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm
Maudit marougoin
ENGLISH LYRICS
mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm
We were sitting on the banks of the bayou
We heard and that is where we saw
Crawfish boiling, a Cajun band and all
Giant mosquitoes right in front of us
We remained seated, no time to escape
Those darn mosquitoes stung us good
The only thing said, the last words spoken
Did you see those big mosquitoes? Keeyah!
The mosquitoes peeled out
The people moved about
The Cajun band decided to play
Women, men, children had their way
They scratched and danced
Let’s Dance!
mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm
The people cried out
A yi, the mosquitoes have arrived
A ye yi, the mosquitoes have commenced
Aiee, the mosquitoes will eat the crawfish
Lau-day, (Slap) the mosquitoes stole the music
mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm
credits
released May 1, 2018
“La chanson des moustiques” (“The Mosquito Song”) sung by Debbie Lagrange, who composed the song’s lyrics. She is backed in the studio by Michot’s Melody Makers: Louis Michot (who wrote the music), Bryan Webre and Kirkland Middleton joined by special guest, Zydeco eminence Corey Ledet. The song was recorded and mixed by Mark Bingham at Nina Hwy, Henderson, Louisiana and mastered by Mike Hogan in New Orleans.
Michot Melody Makers are an electric string band pushing the boundaries of Cajun traditional music. Under the direction of
fiddler and Lost Bayou Rambler co-founder Louis Michot, the Melody Makers reinvigorate historic compositions and introduce sublime new melodies, all while evoking soundscapes inspired by a time when drums and amps first electrified Cajun music.
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