Le petit bal perdu (the little lost dance)

[Jean Pierre]

..a song by our great Bourvil, comedian, singer...

here the lyrics translate


In this song I just play guitar and melodica (the solo instrumental chorus), others instruments bass, accordeon,drums by Bans in a box...l'accordeon est joué par Cory Pesaturo,an American musician from Cumberland, Rhode Island. Pesaturo is an accordion player, who also plays the piano, clarinet, and saxophone.

It was just after the war
In a little ball that had suffered
On a runway of misery
Two of them out in the open
Among the rubble they danced
In this little dance called
That was called that was called that was called
No, I can't remember the name of the lost dance
What I remember are those lovers
Who looked at nothing around them
There was so much carelessness
In their emotional gestures
So what does it matter
The name of the lost ball?
No, I don't remember the name of the lost ball
What I do remember is that they were happy
Eyes deep in each other's eyes
And it was good and it was good
They drank from the same glass
Always keeping their eyes on each other
They prayed the same prayer
To be always, always happy
Among the rubble they smiled
In this little ball called
That was called that was called that was called
No, I can't remember the name of the lost dance
What I remember are those lovers
Who looked at nothing around them
There was so much carelessness
In their emotional gestures
So what does it matter
The name of the lost ball?
No, I don't remember the name of the lost dance
What I do remember is that they were happy
Eyes deep in each other's eyes
And it was good and it was good
And then when the accordionist
Stopped, they left
Evening fell over the dance floor
Over the rubble and my life
It was sad again
That little ball called
That was called that was called that was called
No, I can't remember the name of the ball I lost
What I remember are those lovers
Who looked at nothing around them
There was so much light
With them in the street
So big deal
The name of the lost ball
No, I don't remember the name of the lost dance
What I do remember is that we were happy
Eyes deep in each other's eyes
And it was good and it was good

[Zoltan]

You're on a roll JP!

This is so natural sounding that it's hard to imagine it was done "inside the box".

[Jean Pierre]

thank you Zoltan

for this kind of music (it's a "musette" waltz) ..it was difficult to use my telecaster and my Bass precision 

Band in a Box with "real" instruments made from real instruments played by real musicians (and rather very good ones)..allows you to do this kind of cover version you just have to enter the chord grid and choose the instruments.

here I used

for accordion n°1 it's the one I usually use, a "usertrack" i.e. an instrument played by a BIAB user who sampled his instrument in the different chords of a major and minor scale

for accordion n°2 it's a BIAB star, Cory Pesaturo, from Rhode Island
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cory_Pesaturo

bass: Canadian Neil Swainson
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neil_Swainson

drums: Creg Scott, a drummer from Vancouver
https://musicbythesea.ca/portfolio-posts/craig-scott-percussion/

I only play strumming guitar, in a gypsy style, and soloed the melodica in the instrumental chorus.


BIAB is much more than an arranger with midi instruments, and I think it's only fair to mention these excellent studio musicians.


then of course in Reaper there's all the work of mixing and sound enhancement with plug-ins

[Ted]

You are a musical chameleon and adventurer, JP, taking on many genres. But – unsurprisingly – when you do French songs, you are so in the zone. It's wonderful. And this song is particularly charming.

This is so natural sounding that it's hard to imagine it was done "inside the box".

I agree!

I'm getting a strange variant of melodica fever. You know what I'm thinking about, Zoltan? A Yamaha BC1 or a BC3 breath control unit. For me, this is long-term GAS, because my DX100 is thousands of miles away in storage. But you... You've got that DX7 right there.

[Zoltan]

because my DX100 is thousands of miles away in storage. But you... You've got that DX7 right there.

Those breath controller things are borderline scary! They're kinda like the future that already was.

Speaking of DX100 and stuff. I'm sure you already know, but if you're looking for the sounds... You can get far with the mighty and FREE Dexed.

I only play strumming guitar, in a gypsy style, and soloed the melodica in the instrumental chorus.

You're putting that BIAB into a good use. They should really start sponsoring you already Just be careful... Otherwise we'll be finding a JP model in BIAB in the future!

[Jean Pierre]

I didn't know about these bellows controllers...I've seen a few videos on YT and it looks very interesting for midi wind instruments to add vibrato or bellows effects. There's a chromatic harmonica emulation that's particularly realistic.
vers 1mn20"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=esyHbquKVvo

[Jean Pierre]

TECHNICAL NOTE to return to the Band in a box accordion

here I've made a fair export of the two accordion sounds, one (the held chords) on the right channel, the other (the musette accordion) on the left channel...and I've left the melodica solo in the middle...what's nice is that the three instruments have practically the same timbre and so you might think they're a single instrument...

the volume of the accordion is constant, but there is a volume automation in reaper for the left track (musette) so that the sound of the accordion does not overlap too much with the sung parts.

[Zoltan]

Thanks JP!

The sounds are really evocative and moody.