Le Tango à Cyprien

Il était passé l'voir
Tou' habillé z'en noir
Mais sa peau était blanche
Blanche comme l'ivoire
Des cornes sur la tête
Et que'qu' vipères au bec
Il a dit j'vas rev'nir
Pour t'ramasser à soir

Alors l'vieux Cyprien
Dans sa vieille cyprière
S'est mis à bougonner
Bougonner ses prières
Mais un éclair à c't'heure
A frappé l'vieux piégeur
C'était par le travers
Du profond de son coeur

Ecoutez tou' vous z'aut'
Vous z'aut' mes caramis
Le diable et le bon dieu
Sont quequ'fois bien maudits
L'un reste dans un trou
L'aut' dedans l'paradis
Mais l'sam'di tout partout
Ces deux vieux font les fous

Words & Music by Gerard Dole

Gerard Dole :Sterling Bb accordion & vocal.
David Greely : fiddle.
Linda Handelsman : piano, English concertina.

Pont Breaux, Louisiana, April, 2011.

John Jolin wrote: My mother's people were from Finland and that is where my search of heritage lies today. My quest has been the Finnish Tango. You may be interested to know that there has been a very long belief that Finland invented the tango and not Argentina. I have always believed it, first because the rhythms are Finnish and not Hispanic. The harmonies are Finnish too. Very recently, I discovered a piece of sheet music dated 1853. On the back side, are other pieces offered for sale by the publisher. Among those listed are "Tango" The newest dance craze from the Northwestern part of Russia (Finland) and sure to spread everywhere. In Finnish, it is spelled Tänkö and sounds very much like the word Tanker in english with accent on the first syllable. I am sure that the dance caught on with Germans who immigrated to Argentina in the 1870's and the Argentines applied the idiom to it's folk music and they got credit for it's invention.