JAMBALAYA

Goodbye Joe, me gotta go, me oh my oh
Me gotta go pole the pirogue down the bayou
My Yvonne, the sweetest one, me oh my oh
Son of a gun, we'll have good fun on the bayou.
CHORUS:

Jambalaya, a-crawfish pie and-a file gumbo
'Cause tonight I'm gonna see my ma cher amio
Pick guitar, fill fruit jar and be gay-oh
Son of a gun, we'll have big fun on the bayou.
Thibodeaux, Fontainbleau, the place is buzzin'
Kinfolk come to see Yvonne by the dozen
Dress in style, go hog wild, me oh my oh
Son of a gun, we'll have big fun on the bayou.

FINAL CHORUS:

Jambalaya, a-crawfish pie and-a fillet gumbo
'Cause tonight I'm gonna see my ma cher amio
Pick guitar, fill fruit jar and be gay-oh
Son of a gun, we'll have big fun on the bayou.
Son of a gun, we'll have big fun on the bayou.
Son of a gun, we'll have big fun on the bayou.

Hank Williams Sr.

A CAJUN FRENCH VERSION

"Goodby Joe" J'ai pour allez. mi-o-ma-y-o
J'ai pour allez moi tout seul
Sur le bayou
Ma Yvonne, la plu jolie
Sur le bayou
Tonnerre m'ecrase
Un va avoir un bon temp
Sur le bayou
----refrain----------

Jambalaya, des tartes d'ecreuvisse, file gombo
Par a soir moi j'va allez voir
Ma cher ami-o
Jouer l'guitar, boire de la jogue (cruche)
Et faire de la musique
Tonnerre m'ecrase
Un va avoir un bon temp
De sur le bayou
Thibodeaux, Fontenot, la place apre sonner
Ca vien "En tas" pour voir Yvonne
Par les douzaines
Fair bien l'amour, et fair le fou, fair la musique
Tonnerre m'ecrase
Un va avoir un bon temp
Sur le bayou

Hank Williams Sr copied the musical melody from an earlier tune recorded in Cajun French called "Grand Texas". Although Hank Williams used the earlier Cajun melody, the words to the song that we know as "Jambalaya" was written by Hank Williams Sr.

Jambalaya is the name for a variety of rice-based dishes common in Louisiana Cajun or Creole cooking. It may derive from the Spanish dish paella, although many other theories exist, including the notion that it is a combination of the words jambon (French for ham), à la (French for in the style of) and ya-ya (West African for rice).

Generally, to prepare jambalaya one cooks rice in a stock with vegetables and meat. Rice forms the primary ingredient. The stock is flavored with the Holy Trinity of onions, bell peppers and celery, so called because they are widespread in Cajun cooking. The meat often consists of smoked sausage (Andouille or chorizo, for example) and can also include chicken, ham, seafood (such as shrimp or crawfish) and even alligator and turtle.

Crayfish, sometimes called crawfish, are freshwater crustaceans resembling small lobsters, to which they are closely related.

A pirogue is a small, flat-hulled boat of a design associated particularly with West African fishermen and the Cajuns of the Louisiana marsh. Lewis and Clark had two piroques on their expedition.

By the way you may pronounce bayou
either correctly as bay-you or by-oh as Williams did to ryme with me oh my oh.