A Cajun flavored waltz with a touch of pathos written by fiddler Pat Ireland. Pat says that the tune was inspired by a painting of an old man, looking down on his luck and playing a fiddle. This tune reminds me of the sound of the great Cajun-Country string band, “The Hackberry Ramblers.”

The waltz originated in Germany and Austria in the 1700s and became the most fashionable dance in Europe in the 1800s. The most popular waltzes of that time were written by Johann Strauss, Jr., known as the “Waltz King” who wrote what is possibly the most popular waltz ever written, On The Beautiful Blue Danube, commonly known as the Blue Danube Waltz. The popularity of the waltz spread to many other European cultures such as French, English, and Spanish, before crossing the Atlantic and being taken up by American, Mexican and Cajun cultures. “It was popular even on frontier Texas dance floors” where it has remained a favorite (Casey, p. 14). One of the most popular waltzes of all time was Over The Waves, written by a Mexican, Juventino Rosas. Waltzes are very common in Cajun music.

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