Polka that includes names of families who lived in Jewett City, Connecticut in the 1940s.
connecticut
polka
jewett city
Story behind the song
The polka was popular in the largely Polish/French Jewett City, Connecticut. The song is dedicated to all of the families of that town. I list the names of the families that I recall from my youth there in the 1940s.
Lyrics
[Musical lead-in]
Dance to the Jewett City polka
J-E-W-E-T-T C-I-T-Y
Jewett City, Jewett City Polka
Do the Jewett City polka.
Lots of families grace our town.
Lots of names to toss around.
From Canada and from France,
folks came here for a second chance:
[spoken]
Le Francois, Fontaine, Fournier, Cyr,
Gervais, Lafave, Seney, Le Claire;
Lafleche, Lemieux, Raille, St. John;
Cadieux, Chabot, and Labonne,
Guillemette, Bachand, DeLorge, Rioux;
Bourque, Lemoine, Couture, Gileau,
Morency, Therrien, LaPointe, Bressette;
Beausoleil, Boulé, Belisle, Blanchette.
[sung]
Lots of Polish folks live near.
These are names you just might hear:
Polinsky, Dudkowski, Rys, Yurechko,
Dudek, Mackin, Slonski, Kaiko,
Yesinowski, Lojko, Gero and Zvingilas;
Mesick, Minta, Piatek, Banas,
Eberle, Gero, Sawicki, Dombrowski,
Polomski, Podurgiel, Golas, Gwiazdowski.
[Musical interlude]
We are an ethnic melting pot
Italian, Irish, Hispanic and Jew
Black and German, and many others, too:
Gütnecht, Dawley, Bennett, Shea
These folks are still around today.
Brennan, Page, Renouf and Hicks
Rourke and Dwyer, Osga mix.
Nagle, Spicer, Ricketts, Anthony
Blanchard, Maynard, Herr, Papini,
Hoddy, Joseph, Wakely, Pedro;
DeGregorio, Pepin, Fields and Sisco;
McLaughlin, Mc Govern, Benjamin, Mc Kenna,
McNally, Eichelberg, Stetson and Gardella.
Other folks with familiar names
Smith and Williams, Jones and James.
[Musical interlude]
There are many more to crow about;
Reasons why we like to shout.
The towns around here are not far.
Friendly folks there are, there are:
Plainfield, Moosup, Hopeville, Putnam,
Norwich, Pachaug, Glasgo and Occum,
Canterbury, Voluntown, Baltic, Danielson,
and Central Village, Griswold, Wauregan, Preston.
So you see, we small-town folks,
with Foxwood & Mohegan Sun,
cater to big-city blokes;
we let them have their kind of fun.
We like this place - our small-town style.
Come to visit; stay a while.
Join us in the Jewett City polka.
Dance to the Jewett City polka.
Dance to the Jewett City polka.
Dance to the Jewett City polka.