Femmifatalis rockabillia

In the search for the Vareniki / Pierogi in the arts and sciences, we came across this 50’s rockabilly song by Johnny Horton.

I Got a Hole in My Pirogue
Song by Johnny Horton

Well I went out a fishin' to make a little mon.
To take to Cajulina so we could have some fun.
On the way back, I knocked a hole in my bow.
I got a hole in my pirogue, I can't go see my gal.

The purtiest sight that you ever have seen
Is a moonlight night down in New Orleans.
I'm up the river, just around the bend.
I got a hole in my pirogue, I just cain't hold it in.

Turns out, there’s a difference between “pierogi” and “pirogue”.

You can see how we’d make this mistake….

Anyhow…. Johnny Horton

John LaGale Horton (April 30, 1925 – November 5, 1960) was an American country, honky tonk and rockabilly musician during the 1950s. He is best known for a series of history-inspired narrative country saga songs that became international hits. His 1959 single “The Battle of New Orleans” was awarded the 1960 Grammy Award for Best Country & Western Recording. The song was awarded the Grammy Hall of Fame Award and in 2001 ranked No. 333 of the Recording Industry Association of America’s “Songs of the Century”. His first No. 1 country song was in 1959, “When It’s Springtime in Alaska (It’s Forty Below)”.

On September 26, 1953, Horton married Billie Jean Jones, widow of Hank Williams, who had died on January 1, 1953.

On the night of November 4–5, 1960, Horton and two other band members, Tommy Tomlinson and Tillman Franks, were traveling from the Skyline Club in Austin, Texas to Shreveport when they collided with an oncoming truck on a bridge near Milano in Milam County, Texas. Horton died en route to the hospital, and Tomlinson (1930–1982) was seriously injured; his leg was later amputated. Franks (1920–2006) suffered head injuries, and James Davis, the driver of the truck, sustained a broken ankle and other minor injuries.
Wikipedia

Semi-Sequitur: The Battle of New Orleans

I first heard this song from the album Snoopy V. The Red Baron.

One of the reasons we kids like this song so much was that it almost said the forbidden word “hell”.

Old Hickory said, "We could take 'em by surprise
If we didn't fire our muskets 'til we looked 'em in the eye"
We held our fire 'til we see'd their faces well
Then we opened up our squirrel guns and gave 'em [expletive deleted]

Skyline Club

The Skyline Club was a live music venue located at 11306 North Lamar Boulevard (near Braker Lane) in Austin. Opened in 1946 by Warren Stark, the Skyline Club was a popular dance hall that featured some of the most prominent country, western swing, honky-tonk, and rock-and-roll artists of the era. The club, which had a capacity of about 500 people, was frequented by a broad cross section of Austin’s population, from blue-collar workers to state legislators, lobbyists, and assorted political figures.

Jody Meredith and the Roundup Boys performed as the club’s house band for a number of years, but many nationally-touring artists also played at the Skyline, including Hank Williams, Johnny Horton, Webb Pierce, Ray Price, Ernest Tubb, Bob Wills, Marty Robbins, Hank Snow, and Jimmy Dickens. Of particular note is the fact that both Hank Williams and Johnny Horton played their last public performances at the Skyline Club prior to their premature deaths. The “King of Rock and Roll,” Elvis Presley, also performed at the Skyline Club on October 6, 1955.
The Texas State Historical Association

The Johnny Horton SU: Billie Jean Horton

“I remember the last record Hank heard him sing — ‘The Child’s Side of Life,’ which was a real dog, too. Hank said, ‘Wait a minute, baby, let’s hear this kid.’ After it was over, he turned it off and he said, ‘No son, this one ain’t gonna make it!’ But he told me that one day Johnny would be one of the biggest stars in the business.

Nine months after Williams died, she married Johnny Horton.

“Horton was a beautiful person,” she recalled. “We hunted and fished together and after we married, I quit the road. I just wanted a home and a family.”
Shreveport Times

Billie Jean Horton (née Jones; born June 6, 1933) is an American former country-music singer-songwriter and music promoter. She had high profile marriages, first to country musician and singer-songwriter Hank Williams in 1952 until 1953 and subsequently to singer Johnny Horton from 1953 until 1960.

She divorced her first husband Harrison Eshleman when she was introduced to Hank Williams by her then-boyfriend, country singer Faron Young. They married in a private ceremony in Minden, Louisiana, on October 18, 1952, then repeated their vows before sold-out audiences at two Williams concerts at the Baton Rouge High School gymnasium and the Municipal Auditorium in New Orleans, Louisiana. She was 19 years old at the time of her marriage with Williams.

In 1971, a judge ruled that despite her divorce from Eshleman not being finalized before her wedding with Williams, she entered the marriage in good faith and thus their union was entitled to a presumption of validity.

Horton engaged in numerous court cases defending her status as Hank William’s widow and establishing claims to copyrights and estates. In the early 1970s, she sued MGM to stop distribution of the film Your Cheatin’ Heart, a cinematic version of Williams’ story starring George Hamilton, which she believed portrayed her in a negative light. She won.

As of 2016, she resides in an assisted-living facility and her three daughters live in Shreveport.
Wikipedia

She divorced her first husband Harrison Eshleman when she was introduced to Hank Williams by her then-boyfriend, country singer Faron Young. – It took me several minutes to syntactically process this statement.