Down the Bayou

A micro-memoir

photo by me

Down the Bayou

When a certain scent wafts on the wind, it brings back long summer days when we all sat outside together on break, smoking and talking, laughing at your stories. You were always the funny one quick with a joke and a smile, the glint of devilment in your fathomless eyes. You beguiled us all with your charming Cajun ways, talking about growing up down the bayou, hunting alligator and hiding from the rougarou. Said your papa and parrain played music til the wee hours on Saturday nights in Thibodaux and your mama prayed for their souls at Sunday Mass. You told how you and your cousin was riding bikes in the cane fields one day when you claimed you saw a Big Foot and how y’all rode hard and scared, looked back once and he was still there, you laughed about how older boys chased you and hit you with brooms at Courir de Mardi Gras but admitted it wasn’t so funny back then. You never did like New Orleans, said you only came here to work and you’d never leave the bayou. As far as I know, you never did. Now, these years later, we have all scattered from our ribbon cane murmurs and confidences, our shared laughter; but it all rises up in our memories at odd times and reminds us of how close we all once were.

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John Fogarty rerecorded his hits from his time in Creedence Clearwater Revival last fall in a new album called Legacy: The Creedence Clearwater Revival Years (John's Version). “Born on the Bayou” was my favorite song back in the day and I distinctly remember a 12 year old me and my bestie dancing to CCR in her living room during a sleepover. When I first listened to the track below I was amazed that his voice, at 80 years old, sounds exactly as it did back then. Click the video and take a ride down the bayou.