The 201st anniversary of the Buttshot Bicentennial — the anniversary of Pierre Cruzatte accidentally shooting Captain Lewis in the butt — arrives on August 11. To celebrate, I’m preparing (well, to be honest, I’m thinking about preparing) a blog entry describing my purpose here. That purpose is intimately connected with Cruzatte and his endeavors.
In mulling over that entry, I’ve been thinking about the music I’ve come across as I researched Cruzatte over the last ten years. A handful of tunes and songs became my favorites, so I’d like to list them here. Here are the first two:
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“J’ai descendu a l’ombre ma blonde” from Daniel Perron’s Héritage Familial.
At least 100 versions of this song about trois canards (three ducks) exist. I use one of them, “V’la bon vent,” in my program because the voyageurs sang it, and it goes great with the spoons. My favorite version, though, is the one Perron recorded on “Héritage Familial.”I wish I could link to a snippet of the song, but I can’t find one. You’ll just have to take my word for it: Perron’s version is full not only of ducks but also of drive and joy.
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“Sitting In The Stern Of The Boat” from Lewis & Clark - The Journey of the Corps of Discovery
A number of folks were disappointed that Ken Burns didn’t stick to period tunes for his Civil War and Lewis & Clark soundtracks. I wasn’t one of those folks; Burns (or whoever chooses the music) has a way of being emotionally if not historically accurate with his musical choices.“Sitting in the Stern…” is my favorite tune on the soundtrack, and it has the advantage of not only being a beautiful melody but also of being composed in the late 1700s. Cruzatte could have played this one (but I have to guess that he didn’t — slow airs probably weren’t a big part of his arsenal).
