Williams began writing the song while listening to the Cajuns talk about food on the Hadacol Caravan bus. With a melody based on the Cajun song "Grand Texas", some sources, including AllMusic, claim that the song was co-written by Williams and Moon Mullican, with Williams credited as sole author and Mullican receiving ongoing royalties. Williams' biographer Colin Escott speculates that it is likely Mullican wrote at least some of the song and Hank's music publisherFred Rose paid him surreptitiously so that he wouldn't have to split the publishing with Moon's label King Records. Williams' song resembles "Grand Texas" in melody only. "Grand Texas" is a song about a lost love, a woman who left the singer to go with another man to "Big Texas"; "Jambalaya", while maintaining a Cajun theme, is about life, parties and stereotypical food of Cajun cuisine. The narrator leaves to pole a pirogue down the shallow water of the bayou, to attend a party with his girlfriend Yvonne and her family. At the feast they have Cajun cuisine, notably Jambalaya, crawfish pie and filégumbo, and drink liquor from fruit jars. Yvonne is his "ma cher amio", which is Cajun French for "my good friend" or more likely to mean "my girlfriend." Technically in Cajun culture "ma cher amio" means my dear, which refers to Yvonne in this song.
Recording and release
Williams recorded the song on June 13, 1952, his first recording session in six months, at Castle Studio in Nashville with backing provided by Jerry Rivers, Don Helms, Chet Atkins, Chuck Wright and probably Ernie Newton. The recording Williams made differs significantly from Mullican's, which was released in the same month as Williams' version but with a different order of verses and extra rhyming couplets. Since the original melody of the song was from "Grand Texas", the song is a staple of Cajun culture. However, although Williams kept a Louisiana theme, the song is not a true cajun song, which helped the song gain widespread popularity: Released in July 1952, it reached number one on the U.S. country charts for fourteen non-consecutive weeks. Williams performed "Jambalaya" at the Louisiana Hayride as part of his "homecoming" in fall, 1952. A live recording released as part of a series of Hayride performances includes outbursts of applause. Another unreleased version is included in the 2017 CD set, At the Louisiana Hayride Tonight. After Williams released his version, Cajuns recorded the song again using Cajun instruments. However, they used Williams' lyrics translated into the Cajun French language. "Jambalaya" remains one of Hank Williams' most popular songs today. International, translated or derived versions do exist at least in Chinese, Dutch, Finnish, French, Italian, Polish, German, Spanish, and Estonian. A demo version of Williams singing "Jambalaya " with just his guitar, likely recorded in 1951, is also available. Williams composed a sequel to the song from the female perspective, "I'm Yvonne ", recorded by Goldie Hill. It was not as popular. As with "Jambalaya" there is speculation that Williams may have written this song with Mullican and their friend Jimmy Rule.
Chart performance
Cover versions
Moon Mullican, who likely co-wrote the song without credit because he was contracted to a different label, recorded his version for King Records on July 9, 1952.
The Carpenters featured the song, in an uptempo pop version with country flourishes, on their 1973 album Now & Then. Their version was released as a single outside the United States in 1974 and sold well in the UK and Japan.
In 2016, a version recorded by The Plainsmen was used as the opening theme for Tig Notaro's show One Mississippi.
