Bulo’s Music for the Masses: R. I. P. Bobby Charles

Filed in National by on January 15, 2010

Far too many of these lately. But I do these tributes so that people remember, or perhaps learn for the first time, about the special musical legacies these artists have left behind.

Bobby Charles, actually Robert Charles Guidry, was a Cajun who was first inspired by Fats Domino and who helped to create that wonderful musical gumbo known as ‘swamp pop”. A reluctant performer, he was a first-class songwriter who wrote some classics and some songs that deserve to be classics. Here are a select few:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fEiiLZdA3Sg[/youtube]

“See You Later, Alligator” -Bill Haley & the Comets

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DdHG8wnkUuQ[/youtube]

“Walking to New Orleans” -Fats Domino

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jIAmcJHu1Z0&feature=related[/youtube]

“I Don’t Know Why I Love You, But I Do” – Clarence ‘Frogman’ Henry

“Tennessee Blues” -J. D. Crowe & the New South (featuring Keith Whitley)

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6s2R511jHKs&feature=related[/youtube]

” No Use Knockin'” -Bobby Charles


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  1. the cajun says:
    January 15, 2010 at 6:56 pm

    Thanks for this. Bobby was a treasure and will be missed, at least by me. I remember that when asked why he omitted his last name, he said nobody outside Louisiana would know how to pronounce it. I found that silly because it’s a common name in LA, until I moved to NYC.

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