Crescent City Lyric Question

FORUM Forums Lucinda Williams Lucinda Records Crescent City Lyric Question

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  • #30390
    vmorris
    Participant

    Hi, There was a thread on this question a few years ago, but it was pretty speculative and I’m wondering if there is anything more specific now (Tom O.?). Crescent City is one of my favorite Lucinda songs (love the line “my brother knows where the best bars are”), and one of my best concerts moments was hearing her play it to open a show at the House of Blues in Nola. I’ve always been curious about the lyric “Tu le ton son temps. That’s what we’d say.” Is it a just reference to the Cajun song, or is there another meaning/translation intended by Lucinda? Thanks all y’all !

    #44734
    tonyg
    Keymaster

    I think it’s a Cajun phrase. Try this discussion:

    viewtopic.php?f=3&t=413

    #44735
    vmorris
    Participant

    Yep, that’s the earlier thread that I was referring to — Interesting stuff. Just wondering if there’s anything more definitive out there at this point.

    #44736
    tonyg
    Keymaster

    Ooops. Sorry. Somebody needs to ask Lucinda then.

    #44737
    LWjetta
    Participant

    @vmorris wrote:

    Yep, that’s the earlier thread that I was referring to — Interesting stuff. Just wondering if there’s anything more definitive out there at this point.

    Further discussion / interpretation from Emmylou Harris’s discussion forum.

    http://www.emmylou.net/ehforum/DCForumID1/3943.html

    rjh

    #44738
    TOverby
    Participant

    I had forgotten about the question in this thread and but something reminded me of it recently and I did ask Lucinda about it. Ironically enough she remembered the last time this came up. She wasn’t sure about the literal translation as it was something that she picked up from Clifton Chenier and some of these older cajun phrases didn’t have literal translations. She said she has always taken it to mean “this time is our time” or something like that.

    #44739
    vmorris
    Participant

    Tom, Wow! Thanks for asking Lu and responding! I love that you all connect with fans in this way! Now whenever I sing along at the shows, I’ll know the intended meaning. Also, there is a new generation of fans because Crescent City is one of the songs that my 7-year-old likes me to sing to him before his bedtime 🙂 Vivian

    #44740
    bob
    Participant

    @vmorris wrote:

    love the line “my brother knows where the best bars are!

    I really love that line too… I can’t explain why but it just really works.

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