Three Tunes Tuesday: Historical Ladies of music
Well despite my not wanting to write about anything mood how can one stay away from music. Last time I went with my usual Halloween lullabies, today I felt like finding some tunes made by Women from different time periods. since I took you to a journey of audio underworld last time, perhaps we can cool things down with angelic voces. I initially intended it to be all French songs but it got out of hand like the last Sunday music hangout I posted, just like that one, is it sunday night? Is it monday morning? Well I suppose it depends where you live. Like last time, lets pretend it's Tuesday with @ablaze where we showcase three tunes that caught our attention enough to share them for whatever reason.
Well growing up French 100% the music available in my region was limited and well, mostly French. There is English settlements further south in the province but the two languages didn't mingle much and when it mingled, it mingled badly. Lots of early wars including the Great Deportation of 1755, as long as I lived there, that bitterness never left...like it war was now imprinted in the land. All the blood and tears covering the land in perpetual torment still somehow manifesting many generations later. A big influence during my childhood was my grand parents, that came from the great depression and WW2, naturally, the music I was exposed to was no different. I used to enjoy them as a kid, never listened to them for a while. I suppose this one left it's imprint on me. I normally post the lyrics but I couldn't find a short link like the genius page I generally post. Meh the words are probably a bunch of gibberish to most of you anyway.
Alright, not the La Bolduc I was looking for, mostly decided to post it anyway for it's historical significance to the region, and it even mentions the region I grew up in. Some of the local folk culture that emerged during the hard years of recovery all the turmoil left on everyone part of the Acadian peninsula and surrounding French populations. This is strait out of the late 1800's to the turn of 1900.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/La_Bolduc
Now this is the right one! How can I even find this on youtube in the first place is amazing. I don't know about the new generations that were raised after I left the region but my generation, everyone knew this song unless you were living under a rock. One of the early local stars. The French dialect is not the normal French you would expect from France or Quebec in modern age. Someone from Belgium visited and heard the accent and laughed because it reminded him of an old Frankian language used to called "Patois" (bastardized aka of the peasants) and is unique to one specific region in Acadia. Also can be found someplace else, what might it be? Might be similar to Creole or Cajun as they integrated. Mostly spoken in Louisiana, Haiti and Caribbean regions, that's where the Women and Children of my region were deported to after their husbands were locked in a church under false peace guises on the behalf of the English military then set ablaze with the men trapped/locked inside.
The Quebec region was populated by more official military and fur trade type operations meanwhile Acadia was settled by people trying to escape poverty and persecution they may have been facing in their homeland. Both encroaching on Native population's land, tensions were multi faceted and alliances could change on a dime for the sake of survival.
https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/the-deportation-of-the-acadians-feature
Meanwhile, the women and children were loaded on to ships and sent south to be forgotten. Canada's dark history. Population recovered but it left it's scars everywhere. There is legit Frigates decaying near where I lived. Part of it they built a glass box over the remains that we could walk on. The last village that got burned down before the war got extinguished, was coincidently enough. My ancestor's town and fur trading post...Aka a Metis settlement. The last one to be burned to the ground. History is harsh. La Guerre de Port Royal Although in Nova Scotia, it carried on far inland into New-Brunswick and Quebec. Remember that weird portal to hell apartment post? I found out later, that is precisely where that village was. Creepy. I never planed it but that's was a weird realization. How could I feel so uncomfortable there many generations later without even knowing the family history associated to it beforehand? Makes you rethink trauma and genetics passed down thru DNA only...Perhaps an ancestral collective of shared information?...you know, like mice? Maybe it actually was haunted 😕. Probably all of the above. Worth a double take.
Lyrics: https://lyricstranslate.com/en/jacqueline-fran%C3%A7ois-que-sera-sera-lyrics.html
I said three historical French songs, this one has no significance to my region but something I would have heard as a kid nonetheless. The kinda song all the French grandmas sing, most likely growing up in the 80's in French Canada. Most english speakers would be more common with the Hollywood type version from America by Doris Day. I still prefer the French version. Since Doris is no slouch and should get her time to shine too despite my preference so here is an equally delectable classic of hers. I know cliche strait out of every Hallmark movie since the beginning of theater and the movie scene, even after forgetting about it, I still enjoyed the revival of this one .
Lyrics:https://www.musixmatch.com/lyrics/Doris-Day/Dream-a-Little-Dream-of-Me
Ok, Joan Oasboarn is probably looking in the rearview mirror wite a bit but not as much as the other music. I thought I would share three or more lady tunes that were more known and of our time...perhaps just stuck back there a little. This song makes me feel old a little. It was popular when it first came out and I was probably in my teen years in high school. Cable was finally available in my measly little mountain parish. Communications are slow to develop when you live secluded in the middle of a mountain with a few hundred people. Cable tv meant more channels and access to Music Plus and Much Music... Yeah yeah yeah yeah...My escape from La Bolduc! I appreciate it now but at the time, it was getting a little old.
Lyrics: https://genius.com/Joan-osborne-one-of-us-lyrics
Gone too soon but her voice resonates thru the decades. Her songs and music videos generally represented with some harsh world conditions/ political conflicts of her time. I was a big fan of the music growing up. One of the Artist that was worth special ordering her cd from the music store because back then, well communications were slow to get there. That's just not they music they sold or carried in the region. It felt like teenage english contraband. Our parents and school system was pretty strict on the french only diet being scolded for liking english things. Preserving the language they called it. They are not wrong either but knowing both and being fluent in one of the more spoken language in the country and the world just opens a few more doors.
Lyrics:https://genius.com/The-cranberries-time-is-ticking-out-lyrics
I felt like I was missing some power ladies of color voices and since I just let things snowball, lets see what kind of Soul we can find on youtube ladies roulette. This wouldn't be common to hear growing up, the more Jazz type music was more available in Halifax on the water front or on tour in major cities. Without cable or internet, music sharing and artist reach wasn't quite as easy as it is today. Music from the heart.
Lyrics: https://genius.com/Nina-simone-dont-let-me-be-misunderstood-lyrics
Speaking of Southern voices...well southern from where I grew up. Alicia Keys was one of my favorites and early introductions to African-American pop culture for my generation, outside of Much Music, there wasn't much since everything was once again very localized between two provinces. Anything from America was a novelty in a remote village. The demographic wasn't diverse at the time. I'm sure things have changed by now in 2024. Given the deportation history given earlier, we always knew we had colored cousins that we would most likely never meet and could only speculate what their lives and culture could be like from where we were...Nestled in our own little corner. I mean, we learned it in school until we were teens with nothing but speculations. For the younger generation, can you just imagine. How times have changed so fast. I'm not even THAT old. That's our gen's version of we walked to school 2 hours up the hill both ways from our grandparents.
Lyrics: https://genius.com/Alicia-keys-a-womans-worth-lyrics
Alright, one last charming Lady from the past for good luck.