Bobby Charles

Wednesday, 24 March 2010


Cajun singer-songwriter and swamp pop pioneer (21 February 1938 – 14 January 2010) born Robert Charles Guidry in Abbeville, Louisiana


Your first reaction might be to ask Bobby Who?

If it is, Hughesy’s response would be to mention a few song titles. See You Later Alligator, Walking To New Orleans, But I Do and, especially, Before I Grow Too Old.

71-year-old Bobby Charles (born Robert Charles Guidry) passed away in mid-January 2010 after collapsing at his home in Abbeville, down in the heart of the Louisiana Cajun country.

Apart from his writing credits and an appearance at The Band's farewell Last Waltz that either wasn't filmed or didn't make the cut for the movie, Charles spent most of his life away from the spotlight, which was the way he liked it. 

Who could blame him? A simple life, enough money to get by and a regular lunch at a seafood eatery where the waitress knows you well enough to be mixing your favourite cocktail while you park the car. 

Sounds good to me.

A scheduled comeback at the 2007 New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival, was cancelled due to health issues. Dr. John, Marcia Ball, Sonny Landreth and other supporters performed his songs in his absence.

A quick glance over the man's career suggests that his unease in the spotlight is understandable. For a start, it's not as if the man set out on a conscious path to become a star. 

Consider the following scenario. If some Hollywood mogul turned it into a movie, you’d probably have half the world’s  film critics dismiss the plot line as highly unlikely.

Louisiana music fans would just say, Yeah, Bobby Charles!

A French-speaking Cajun son of a truck driver who can't play an instrument or read music sings in an R&B band at school functions is departing from a local eatery one night. 

The kid farewells his mates with a See you later, alligator. A drunk overhears, and adds After while crocodile. To make sure he heard things correctly, the kid goes back inside, asks the drunk to repeat what he said, goes home and uses the two lines as the basis for a song that takes him about twenty minutes to write.

The owner of a local record shop hears the kid sing his song at a dance, and persuades him to sing his song to Leonard Chess over the phone. Chess is impressed enough to get the song cut in New Orleans using local Chess Records affiliates, and while the kid's version doesn't make it big, the song is covered by Bill Haley and becomes a smash.

After Chess decides he'd prefer the kid to record in Chicago rather than the Crescent City he makes a startling discovery as the kid alights from the plane.

Chess: You're not black!

Kid: I know.

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© Ian Hughes 2015