Wikipedia Says So!!! Hippy Ti Yo!!!!

Wikipedia says so!!! Hippy Ti Yo!!!

Hippy Ti Yo (also spelled Hippy To Yo, Hip Et Taiau, Les Huppes Taiauts, Hippy-Ty-Yo, Hippy-Tai-Yo, Hippitiyo, Tayeaux Dog Tayeaux) is a traditional melody that was first recorded as Ils La Volet Mon Trancas, sung by Cajun musician Cleoma Breaux in 1934 in San Antonio, Texas.^[1] The melody would later be adapted into many different songs throughout history.

Contents

  [hide] 

• 1 Music
  • 1.1 Origins
  • 1.2 Late 20th century and recent covers
• 2 References

Music[edit]

Origins[edit]

The song is an old tune about a mysterious creature, women or a couple of dogs, Hip and Taiaud, who prowl about stealing things off the farm, engendering the ire of the farmer which makes them return the items. Origin of the phrase is suggested to belong to the Cajun and black Creole cowboys of the Cajun prairies.^[2][3] In the film "American Patchwork", Alan Lomax makes a loose claim stating cowboys from Texas heard the phrase being used as they drove their cattle across the Cajun prairies to be sold in New Orleans. He makes the assumption that this phrase is the origins of the call "Whoopie Ti Yi Yo".

Author Raymond E. Francois describes a different origin. The French word "Huppe", used colloquially, means clever while "taiaut" comes from the English shout tally-ho, and refers to a hound dog, thus "clever hounds".^[4]

The earliest recording of the song is believed to be a 1934 version sung by Cleoma Breaux and played by Joe Falcon entitled "Ils La Volet Mon Trancas", recorded in San Antonio, Texas (Bluebird B-2191). Later that year, the Breaux Brothers would record the same melody as the tune "T'as vole mon chapeau" (Vocalion 02961). In 1962,Joe Falcon explains he picked up the song from black Creoles, one named Sidney Babineaux.^[3]

The following year in 1935, Leo Soileau and His Three Aces used the same melody for his song "Hackberry Hop" (Bluebird B-2086). The song refers to the town ofHackberry, Louisiana which is located about 30 miles from U.S. Route 90. Several years later, the familiar melody would appear in a 1953 rockabilly called "Route 90" byClarence Garlow on Flair Records (#1021). The melody is eerily similar in chord progression as well as in the vocal pattern.

Cajun French	English
C'est Hip et Taiau les chiens, Qui a volé mon traîneau, Chere Quand ils ont vu j'étais fou, chere Ils rapporté mon traîneau, chere C'est Hip et Taiau les chiens, Qui a volé mon manteau, Chere Quand ils ont vu j'étais fou, chere Ils rapporté mon manteau, chere C'est Hip et Taiau les chiens, Qui a volé mon chapeau, Chere Quand ils ont vu j'étais fou, chere Ils rapporté mon chapeau, chere	It's the Hip and Taiau dogs Who stole my sled, dear When they saw I was crazy, dear They brought my sled, dear It's the Hip and Taiau dogs Who stole my coat, dear When they saw I was crazy, dear They brought my coat, dear It's the Hip and Taiau dogs Who stole my hat, dear When they saw I was crazy, dear They brought my hat, dear

Hippy Ti O!!!!

• Hippy Ti O!!!  
• Cajuns were the first cowboys, not Texans!! 
•  (and other little known facts about us!)

I found the following article online written by Sharon LaFleur and have posted excerpts from it. Enjoy!!!

• The people who today are known as Cajuns came from a small area around Poitou on the central west coast of France.
• Tired of being tenant farmers for big land owners, these people left France and settled in the area they called l'Acadie now known as Nova Scotia in 1604, many years prior to the English settlements in Virginia and Massachusetts.
• L'Acadie as a name is said to be related to the Greek word Arcadia which means idyllic or beautiful place, but is more likely from the French version of the Native American Mi'kmaq (also spelled Micmac) word cadie, meaning  place, with a positive connotation.
• The Acadiens, unlike the English and Spanish, had good relations with and respect for Native Americans. In Acadie, the French settlers stayed on the perimeter of the island and the Mi'kmacs inhabited the interior. This relationship was carried forward by the Cajuns towards the Native American tribes of Louisiana. It is estimated by Larry Richard who was curator of the Mississippi Valley Museum at Acadian Village in Lafayette, La. that fully 40% of today's Cajuns also possess Native American ancestry.
• The Acadians reclaimed thousands of acres of salt water marshland in Acadie by utilizing a version of the Mi'kmaq lobster trap which washed the salt out the soil making it arable. This process took approximately three years. Acadiens were successfully able to grow wheat further north than any other settlers.
• Due to the back-and-forth political battles between the French and the English, the Acadiens chose to remain neutral. Depending on who was in power at the time, the soldiers forced the Acadiens to provide them with meat, grains and vegetables, and the Acadiens felt that they were safe from involvement in the warring factions because of their contributions.
• Acadiens in the community of Beaubassin in the area of the Chicnecto Isthmus, Canadaraised cattle in small herds which was unusual in those times - generally a family had one or two animals only. The Spanish in New Orleans knew this and recruited Acadiens to Louisiana after the French and Indian War. In exchange for a portion of the herd every year, the Acadiens were given land and tools. Nearly a hundred years prior to the advent of the Chisholm Trail, Cajuns had hundreds of registered cattle brands. It was actually the Cajuns, not Texans who were the original "cowboys." The expression "Hippy Ti O" is from an old, old French word for hunting dog, still used by Cajuns, taïaut."
• The Acadiens were expelled from Canada by the British in 1755 in what the Acadiens called "Le Grand Dérangement" or big upheaval. Families were torn apart, houses burned, people forced onto ships and scattered about the American colonies, back to Europe and throughout the Caribbean. Most of the 10,000 deportees died; about 3,000 eventually found their way to Louisiana.
• The English wanted the lands the Acadiens had cleared and planted for English settlers. Charles Lawrence, the British governor, concocted a scheme whereby he insisted that the Acadiens sign an oath of allegiance to the English king, renounce their Catholic faith and agree to fight against the Mi'kmacs. The Acadiens refused. Lawrence told his people that even if the Acadiens were to sign the oath, he would have them deported regardless.
• The stories of the horror the Acadiens endured are too numerous to mention. One example: in my birth state of Massachusetts 2,000 Acadiens on three ships (meant to carry less than half that number) spent the frigid winter of 1755 in Boston Harbor. The Acadiens were not allowed to disembark for nearly four months while the Massachusetts legislature debated their fate. There were no staterooms or restrooms on board the ships, just cargo holds. Many of the children on board were taken from their parents and "distributed" around the state to other families.
• Cajuns hold thousands of U.S. patents in machinery, oilfield equipment, medical devices and many other areas. Cajuns' ability to make "something out of nothing" and to solve problems with unique ideas is a point of pride.
• Cajuns for the most part did not own slaves nor did they approve of the idea of slavery. Many Cajun men of fighting age hid out in the Atchafalaya Basin for the duration of the Civil War rather than participate in it.
• French was the predominant language in south Louisiana until it was forbidden by law to be spoken in public schools in the early 1920s. Some children were so shamed by this (imagine needing to use the restroom, not knowing how to ask in English and not being allowed to ask in French) that their families refused to send them to school at all. Children sometimes were playfully reminded that they couldn't speak French (it depended on the viewpoint of the individual school) but others - and I know several still living today - who were forced to kneel on dried corn and/or paddled for speaking French, even on the playground.
• Cajun culture was so strong and embracing that no matter the national origin of an inhabitant, people would speak French rather than English which was actually called "American" and a put down was to call someone "un américain" which is the Cajun way of saying someone is a redneck. 
• There are reasons that illiteracy plagued Cajuns. In Acadie, some of the Catholic priests wanted to control communications between the Acadiens and the British and refused to educate Acadien children. If Acadiens couldn't read or write, they'd have to rely on the priests to read and reply to official documents. Of course, there was no public education at the time. Public education was not an option for many Cajun children when it was first introduced in Louisiana, for while the education was free, the books were not, and many families could not afford to buy the books. (In many Cajun homes in the past, there was a handmade triptych displaying the images of the Blessed Virgin Mary, the Sacred Heart of Jesus and Huey Long - among other actions, because he made it possible for poor children to go to school when the books became free.) And for reasons explained above, French speakers started to keep their children at home rather than subject them to the treatment they were receiving in Louisiana public schools.
• Cajuns GI's in World War II took part in the French underground because unlike French-speaking Canadians and Belgians, the Germans could not distinguish between the Cajuns' French accents and native French accents. Even though there were nearly 400 years between the original Acadian/Cajun French language and WWII, their accents remained virtually unchanged. Cajun French is very close to the old French of Poitou whereas "standard" French has changed enormously. 
• The name Cajun is a corruption of Acadien "'Cadien." 
• The Cajun "national" dish of gumbo comes from the African word for okra, gombo.
• Generally speaking Cajuns are white, Catholic and can trace their origins to Acadie. Breaux, Broussard, Boudreaux are Acadien names, LaFleur is not. Créoles in Acadiana (according to Gwendolyn Midlo Hall who wrote "Africans in Colonial Louisiana," "Créole" has at least 30 different definitions and Créole people are those who are born in Louisiana of African ancestry) are black and Catholic. Both Cajuns and Créoles played what they called French music up until the time of World War II. Over the next couple of decades, Cajun music picked up country western influences and Créole music went R & B and became known as zydeco.
• By the 1960s all things Cajun were denigrated even in the Lafayette, La. newspaper, The Daily Advertiser. In an editorial, the paper called for the end of Cajun music saying it was embarrassment. Shortly thereafter, Dewey Balfa, a legendary Cajun fiddler, and his brothers were invited to perform at the 1964 Newport Folk Festival. It was a revelation to them that festival attendees were thrilled by the their music, while many at home were ashamed. 
• The word coonass means Cajun. The origins of the word are unknown, though many theories exist. It has been a slur, is used by Cajuns amongst themselves affectionately, but should never be used by anyone other than a Cajun. 
• Cajuns can cook like crazy - men and women. Lafayette just won top honors in Rand McNally's Best Food in Small Towns in America and when Anthony Bourdain visited for "No Reservations" in June, he said the crawfish bisque and pork backbone stew rivaled anything he'd ever eaten at Spain's E Bulli - considered to be the best restaurant in the world at the time. And these dishes were made by home cooks. Cajuns can catch, clean and cook any fish or game, grow vegetables and are more self-sufficient as a group than most any other in America.

• Cajuns are recognized as a legal minority due to a 1980 court case, Roach v Dresser Inc., where a Cajun man was discriminated against because of his heritage, his perceived low capabilities, was called derogatory names, and lost his job. He was the engineer that reported faulty equipment made by the company he worked for that caused the Three Mile Island incident.
• While there are some Cajuns in New Orleans, New Orleans is not considered a Cajun city. In fact, very little Cajun food is found there. Cajun culture mostly thrives in the southwest portion of Louisiana, southwest of New Orleans, and the very eastern edge of Texas.
• CODOFIL (The Council For The Development Of French In Louisiana) was formed in 1968 to re-educate the youth in Cajun French, which was a dying language.
• Traditional Mardi Gras in Cajun Country is much different than the debauchery of the big parties and huge floats in New Orleans. The old fashioned Mardi Gras involved the "courir" or "the run". In modern times, it involves teams of people on horseback, or riding on flatbed trucks, usually with plenty of music playing. The riders go through a planned route, visiting local farms, and asking for a donation to the evening's meal. Usually, the farmer will offer a chicken, if the party can catch it after setting it free in a large open pasture, some rice or other ingredients, or sometimes a small cash donation. The farmer and family is then invited to the big dinner. The dinner is usually a gumbo, large enough to feed the entire crew.

Protest Gumbo and Chanky Chank Music

My husband asks me why, almost every time we put on a party at our house, I insist on making gumbo. I always cite several reasons, but the biggest one is "It's my heritage". I am a Cajun girl, and always will be. Even though I live in North Carolina, I miss the live oaks with Spanish moss dripping from their heavy, ponderous branches, the lively Cajun music pouring out of the old clapboard buildings that serve as bars and dancing halls, the lovely, soothing patios of the Cajun dialect, and of course, the spicy, mouth-watering food that is uniquely Cajun.

Also, having grown up in the South during the homogenization of American culture, I missed out on a lot of what it meant to be Cajun. For whatever reason, it was labeled as old fashioned and outdated starting after World War II, when the politically correct thing to do was to speak English and act like an American. My mother who spoke French at home during her childhood and only learned English after starting school, tried to keep our heritage alive in small ways in the 60's and 70's - teaching us French words and making gumbo for us, but after being uprooted from family and home by my father, after awhile, gave up entirely. To this day, I still long for the rhythms, the ebb and flows of family and familiarity. I miss seeing people, as my sister once said with a catch in her throat, that look like me. After visiting Louisiana in 2010 for the first time in 30 years, I understood what she meant. More than once, while hanging out with my cousins, I had to "go outside to get some air", so overwhelmed with emotion just by being with family again after so many years.

So that is why when I start planning a party, my heart leans toward gumbo. It reminds me of where I come from, the people who raised me, loved me, helped me through tough times when I was too young to even know what what was happening and who embraced me even after 30 years of absence. My protest is against homogenization - I don't want to be "All American". I want to be a Cajun American!!! :0)

Re: Chanky Chank Music.....I mentioned it in an earlier post. Below is a story that explains my fondness for it, and the connection it has to preserving my Cajun heritage.....Enjoy!!! Or as we say in Cajun Counrty - Laissez Les Bon Temps Rouler, sha!

Excerpt from article about Dewy Balfa, a Cajun Musician that helped preserve Cajun culture.....

Cajun music was first recorded in the late 1920s—Joseph Falcon and Cleoma Breaux's 1928 "Allons a Lafayette" is believed to be the first genuine Cajun music recorded. Throughout the 1930s and '40s recordings by such Cajun artists as Amede Ardoin, Dennis McGee, Lawrence Walker and Nathan Abshire, and Mayuse LaFleur sold well regionally, although the style was largely unknown outside Louisiana.

Despite its long history and its attractiveness as a genre, by the 1950s Cajun music, as well as Cajun culture in general, were in serious decline. In the post-WWII era, Americans were urged to discard regional cultures for a more modern, albeit homogenized, national one. In an era that saw the rise of rock and roll, many Cajuns were embarrassed by the regional French they spoke and the old-fashioned "chanky-chank" music still being played in their communities.

It's a rare thing to be able to point to one event as changing the course of a culture's history, but in the case of Cajun culture, Dewey Balfa's participation in the 1964 Newport Folk Festival was pivotal. That year, in the midst of a revival of American public interest in folk and regional culture, folklorist and traditional music promoter Ralph Rinzler (who later went on to found the Smithsonian Folklife Festival) invited a Cajun group to perform at the prestigious Newport Folk Festival. Dewey actually went to the Rhode Island festival as a guitarist—a last minute replacement in an ensemble that included the great Cajun accordionists Gladius Thibodeaux and Louis "Venesse" Lejeune. To their amazement, rather than laughing at them, the largely urban audience of 17, 000 went wild. As Dewey recalled many years later:

"I had played in house dances, family gatherings, maybe a dance hall where you might have seen as many as 200 people at once. In fact, I doubt I had ever seen 200 people at once. And in Newport, there were 17,000. Seventeen thousand people who wouldn't let us get off stage."

Play On in Western North Carolina – The Return Part 2