Cajun influence strong in this 1981 hit song
This week in 1981: The White House announced that the United States would send 20 more advisors and 25 million dollars in military aid to El Salvador; President Ronald Reagan asked Congress to end federal aid to the poor; Reagan announced a plan to cut federal employment by 37,000 jobs; and a singer from Checotah, Okla., had his 14th hit record.
A lot of hit songs were influenced by Cajun music or the Cajun beat.
And according to Bob McDill, Mel McDaniel’s 1981 hit “Louisiana Saturday Night” was just one of those songs.
McDill commented “I love that Cajun music. I grew up down in Beaumont, Texas, which is sort of a Cajun corner of Texas down there … on the Louisiana border. I always loved that Cajun beat. That beat in that song is kind of what you would call a “stomp.” So I put that song together from that and that’s another song that still plays on the radio like a hit song. It just keeps going.”
Mel McDaniel’s Capitol Records single “Louisiana Saturday Night” came on the country music charts March 28, 1981, and peaked at No. 7. It was his 14th charted song and was on the charts for 14 weeks.
Mel McDaniel was born in 1942. He performed in clubs in Alaska in the early 70’s. He placed 41 songs on the country music charts from 1978 through 1989—including one No 1. He joined The Grand Ole Opry in 1986.
Mel McDaniel died in 2011 at age 68.
Doug Davis & The Good Ole Boys will perform at 10 a.m. today at Opportunities Inc. Adult Center.