To Thread - Forum Home

The Mudcat Café TM
https://mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=85422
17 messages

Tune Req: What's this French tune called?

13 Oct 05 - 07:43 AM (#1582129)
Subject: Tune Req: What's this French tune called?
From: Paul Burke

What's this tune called? I seem to have known it from minus infinity, but no words or name.

X:1
T:
C:French
I:abc2nwc
M:6/8
L:1/8
K:G
C2E[|G2G A2A|G2G A2A|G2G A2A|G3C2E|G2G A2A|G2G A2A|G3|]


13 Oct 05 - 07:51 AM (#1582137)
Subject: RE: Tune Req: What's this French tune called?
From: GUEST

Sounds a bit boring. Does it change ?


13 Oct 05 - 08:35 AM (#1582168)
Subject: RE: Tune Req: What's this French tune called?
From: Helen

Il était une bergère

Or, for a better midi file, with a tune more like the one I was taught at school, studying French:

Il était une bergère...

Perhaps. All I remembered was the words "petit patapon" which I googled and then found the name of the tune I thought it could be.

Helen


13 Oct 05 - 09:00 AM (#1582186)
Subject: RE: Tune Req: What's this French tune called?
From: Paul Burke

Thanks Helen, that's another one I didn't know the name of, but not the one I posted! The one I was thinking of was rather more martial in tone.

Here's a bit more of it (probably not quite right):

X:1
T:
C:French
I:abc2nwc
M:6/8
L:1/8
K:C
C2E[|G2G A2A|G2G A2A|G2G A2A|G3C2E|G2G A2A|G2G A2A|
G3E2F|G2c c2c|c2A G2F|E2G G2F|E2D C2E|G4A2F|D2B, C4|]


14 Oct 05 - 05:10 PM (#1583292)
Subject: RE: Tune Req: What's this French tune called?
From: Helen

Hi again,

No, I don't know it, but one of the Mudcat people who might is Alan Day. You could PM him with the link to this thread.

BTW, the ABC Convert-A-Matic at Concertina.net is good for quick conversions of ABC to midi (just in case anyone pops into this thread for a quick squiz* and wants to hear the tune.

* squizz =         Oz-lish for "Have a look - check it out" (Don't ask me the origins of this term. I have no idea and neither does the Macquarie Oz Dictionary.)

Helen


15 Oct 05 - 02:45 AM (#1583529)
Subject: RE: Tune Req: What's this French tune called?
From: GUEST,Murray on Salt Spring

It's called "En passant par la Lorraine" [- avec mes sabots].


15 Oct 05 - 10:05 AM (#1583570)
Subject: RE: Tune Req: What's this French tune called?
From: Jim McLean

En passant par la Lorraine,
Avec mes sabots,
En passant par la Lorraine,
Avec mes sabots,
Rencontrai trois capitaines,
Avec mes sabots,
Dondaine, oh ! Oh ! Oh !
Avec mes sabots.

Rencontrai trois capitaines,
Avec mes sabots,
Rencontrai trois capitaines,
Avec mes sabots,
Ils m'ont appelée : Vilaine !
Avec mes sabots,
Dondaine, oh ! Oh ! Oh !
Avec mes sabots.

Ils m'ont appelée : Vilaine !
Avec mes sabots,
Ils m'ont appelée : Vilaine !
Avec mes sabots,
Je ne suis pas si vilaine,
Avec mes sabots,
Dondaine, oh ! Oh ! Oh !
Avec mes sabots.

Je ne suis pas si vilaine,
Avec mes sabots,
Je ne suis pas si vilaine,
Avec mes sabots,
Puisque le fils du roi m'aime,
Avec mes sabots,
Dondaine, oh ! Oh ! Oh !
Avec mes sabots.

Puisque le fils du roi m'aime,
Avec mes sabots,
Puisque le fils du roi m'aime,
Avec mes sabots,
Il m'a donné pour étrenne,
Avec mes sabots,
Dondaine, oh ! Oh ! Oh !
Avec mes sabots.


Il m'a donné pour étrenne,
Avec mes sabots,
Il m'a donné pour étrenne,
Avec mes sabots,
Un bouquet de marjolaine,
Avec mes sabots,
Dondaine, oh ! Oh ! Oh !
Avec mes sabots.

Un bouquet de marjolaine,
Avec mes sabots,
Un bouquet de marjolaine,
Avec mes sabots,
Je l'ai planté sur la plaine,
Avec mes sabots,
Dondaine, oh ! Oh ! Oh !
Avec mes sabots.

Je l'ai planté sur la plaine,
Avec mes sabots,
Je l'ai planté sur la plaine,
Avec mes sabots,
S'il fleurit, je serai reine,
Avec mes sabots,
Dondaine, oh ! Oh ! Oh !
Avec mes sabots.

S'il fleurit, je serai reine,
Avec mes sabots,
S'il fleurit, je serai reine,
Avec mes sabots,
S'il y meurt, je perds ma peine,
Avec mes sabots,
Dondaine, oh ! Oh ! Oh !
Avec mes sabots.


09 Jun 14 - 07:46 AM (#3631627)
Subject: RE: Tune Req: What's this French tune called?
From: Mo the caller

We sang this in Junior school. My French can't quite cope with the version above, and I'm not sure I understand what I get from Google Translate. Can anyone spell it out for me

The version I remember includes

What's the hurry humble maiden
Clattering along
What's that in your basket laden
Clattering along
Not so humble let me tell you
Nothing here have I to sell you,
Oh ho ho, clattering along.

Has anyone got any more of that version. Sounds like a story we've heard before but I suppose in the junior school version she went clattering safely on her way.

This tune has been played as part of the DD commemorations. Am I right in thinking that the BBC used it in their broadcasts to occupied France (or was that Lilli Bolero)?


09 Jun 14 - 07:57 AM (#3631628)
Subject: RE: Tune Req: What's this French tune called?
From: GUEST,Ed

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lillibullero#The_BBC_and_Lillibullero


09 Jun 14 - 08:11 AM (#3631633)
Subject: RE: Tune Req: What's this French tune called?
From: Monique

Going(passing) through Lorraine, with my clogs (on)/ I met three captains / They called me "Villain!" / I'm not such a villain / Since the king's son loves me / He gave me as a present / A bunch of marjoram / I planted it in the plain / If it blooms I'll be queen / If it dies I loose my sorrow.
This song is a later variant to "C'était Anne de Bretagne" that you can read there with some historical background (in French).
Nowadays "vilain" can be understood as "villain" but also as ugly, bad and about a child as naughty, all notions deriving from the primary meaning.


09 Jun 14 - 08:29 AM (#3631643)
Subject: RE: Tune Req: What's this French tune called?
From: Monique

Yikes! Je perds ma peine means "I loose my 'pain'" = the pain (work) it took me to plant the flowers.


09 Jun 14 - 08:32 AM (#3631647)
Subject: RE: Tune Req: What's this French tune called?
From: Mo the caller

Thanks. Why will she be queen if it flowers? Is there a double meaning here?


09 Jun 14 - 10:03 AM (#3631677)
Subject: RE: Tune Req: What's this French tune called?
From: Monique

There are different versions of this song and you can find the captains offering her a plant of vervein saying "if it blooms, you'll be queen". I suppose the plant symbolizes her fate.
Here is one of these versions from Gautero.com

C'était Anne de Bretagne, duchesse en sabots, (bis)
Revenant de ses domaines, en sabots, mirlitontaine.
Ah! ah! ah! Vivent les sabots de bois.

Entourée de châtelaines, duchesse en sabots, (bis)
Voilà qu'aux portes de Rennes, en sabots, mirlitontaine.
Ah! ah! ah! Vivent les sabots de bois.

L'on vit trois beaux capitaines, duchesse en sabots, (bis)
Offrir à leur souveraine, en sabots, mirlitontaine.
Ah! ah! ah! Vivent les sabots de bois.

Un joli pied de verveine, duchesse en sabots, (bis)
S'il fleurit, tu seras reine, en sabots, mirlitontaine.
Ah! ah! ah! Vivent les sabots de bois.

Elle a fleuri la verveine, duchesse en sabots, (bis)
Anne de Bretagne, reine, en sabots, mirlitontaine.
Ah! ah! ah! Vivent les sabots de bois.

Les Bretons sont dans la peine, duchesse en sabots, (bis)
Ils n'ont plus de souveraine, en sabots, mirlitontaine.
Ah! ah! ah! Vivent les sabots de bois.

Ils n'ont plus de souveraine, duchesse en sabots, (bis)
C'était Anne de Bretagne, en sabots, mirlitontaine.
Ah! ah! ah! Vivent les sabots de bois.

Literal, rough translation:

It was Anne de Bretagne, duchess in clogs/ coming back from her domains/ in clogs / Long live wooden clogs.
Surrounded by manor ladies / and at the gates of Rennes...
One could see three captains / offer to their sovereign...
A pretty plant of vervain / "If it blooms, you'll be queen"...
The vervein bloomed / Anne de Bretagne is queen...
The Bretons are in sorrow / they have no more sovereign...

Anne de Bretagne was forbidden by her husband king Charles VIII to bear her title of duchess of Brittany. After her death, Brittany became a part of the French kingdom when her daughter married King Francis I.


09 Jun 14 - 10:36 AM (#3631686)
Subject: RE: Tune Req: What's this French tune called?
From: Mo the caller

Wiki says
"Charles VIII, called the Affable, French: l'Affable (30 June 1470 – 7 April 1498)"
That was a good long while ago.


09 Jun 14 - 10:56 AM (#3631691)
Subject: RE: Tune Req: What's this French tune called?
From: Monique

Yes. Anne de Bretagne, 1477-1514. In her 37 years of life, she married 3 times and bore 14 children, the first one when she was 15 years old. Tell me about how fun it was to be queen! Well, I suppose that peasant women had as many children in worse conditions of life...


09 Jun 14 - 11:00 AM (#3631694)
Subject: RE: Tune Req: What's this French tune called?
From: GUEST,John Foxen

The great Georges Brassens wrote a reply to En Passant Par La Lorraine. It's called Les sabots d'Helene and mocks the three captains for only looking at the shoes and not the beauty of the girl wearing them.
Anne De Bretagne inspired a poem Si Mort A Mors which became one of Tri Yann's finest songs.


09 Jun 14 - 11:23 AM (#3631705)
Subject: RE: Tune Req: What's this French tune called?
From: Monique

Btw, here are the lyrics with a historical background in French. If you put the background text into "Google translation", what you'll get isn't propre English but it's understandable nevertheless.