Lyr Req: French translations of familiar songs

Subject: Help: French lyrics sought
From:
Date: 17 Jul 00 - 03:10 PM

Does anyone know of (preferably published) French versions of any of the following songs, or where I could find any? There are also some hymns for which I'm trying to find French versions.

Songs:

• This land is your land
• Early in the morning when the sun is rising
• Down by the bay
• Sixteen tons
• I've been working on the railroad
• Home on the range
• The farmer in the dell
• For he's a jolly good fellow

Thanks.
Nancy Senior

Subject: RE: Help: French lyrics sought
From: Mrrzy
Date: 17 Jul 00 - 03:30 PM

Don't know these, would like to. CAN offer you the French lyrics to Hava Nagila, Ghost Riders in the Sky, Tom Dooley, and I think I can find a Klingon version of For [name]'s a Jolly Good Fellow, they sang it at one of Worf's birthday parties... Anyone else want to chime in?

Subject: RE: Help: French lyrics sought
From:
Date: 17 Jul 00 - 04:38 PM

Thanks to Mrrzy for a quick answer. Though they are not what I was looking for, it would be great to have Ghost Riders and Tom Dooley in French. I do have words to some French folk songs, Christmas carols, etc. Reason for seeking certain songs: I'm studying a novel (Nancy Huston's Plainsong / Cantique des plaines) that, in the original English and in the French translation, quotes bits of songs of two kinds, religious and popular/folk. Did the author/translator do the French versions herself, or did she use existing translations? (Some of both, probably.)

Subject: RE: Help: French lyrics sought
From:
Date: 17 Jul 00 - 04:48 PM

Let me know if you want "The Water Is Wide"

Subject: RE: Help: French lyrics sought
From: Mrrzy
Date: 17 Jul 00 - 04:54 PM

I'd like The Water Is Wide, and anything else from the original request list, especially This Land is Your Land, and did they rewrite it for France??? Wouldn't that be great?
As for how these were translated, I have them by Les Compagnons de la Chanson, and I *believe* they did all their own translations. Will post when I get the time to type out... and I'll be missing some pieces here and there. Fair warning. I'll probably post those as Lyrics Requested, with as much as I can remember in and the holes, with luck, will then get plugged...

Subject: RE: Help: French lyrics sought
From: Mrrzy
Date: 17 Jul 00 - 04:57 PM

Also, have you 2 Canadians heard of Allan Mills? We had a set of children's albums, one in French, the other in English, same songs, different records... very nice setup. It had things like Il Etait Un Petit Navire in English, and Savez-Vous Planter Les Choux, and others...

Subject: RE: Help: French lyrics sought
From: katlaughing
Date: 17 Jul 00 - 05:08 PM

I don't know if they have any of the songs you are looking for, but you will find an extensive site with midis if you click on Comptines, Chansons, et Poesies

Some really neat stuff there,

katlaughing

Subject: RE: Help: French lyrics sought
From: Mrrzy
Date: 17 Jul 00 - 09:26 PM

I just posted the lyrics to Hava Nagila (Dansons, mon amour).

Subject: RE: Help: French lyrics sought
From: Mrrzy
Date: 17 Jul 00 - 09:34 PM

kat, GREAT site! This is why the Mudcat is for moi!

Subject: RE: Help: French lyrics sought
From: katlaughing
Date: 18 Jul 00 - 12:45 AM

Just passing on what I received when I came here....it's what it's all about, eh? :-)

Subject: Lyr Add: TROP LOIN D'IRLANDE
From:
Date: 18 Jul 00 - 11:23 AM

Trop Loin d'Irlande
Translation - Marc Chabot

C'est une bouteille
qui danse et tangue
Message tendre
vers ton Irlande
Ce soir mon coeur
Retourne au pays
Porte bonheur
Ou pont levis

C'est une lettre
à mon ami
C'est une lettre
Qui sent l'ennui
Des mois sans toi
Un an déjà
Dis, reviens t'en
Y'a trop longtemps

L'amour est roi
Je suis ta reine
Mais rien ne règne
Il fait si froid
Et mon désir
S'en va givré
Si tu venais
Me réchauffer

Oui.......... Ah
Et mon désir
S'en va givré
Si tu venais
Me réchauffer

Trop loin d'Irlande
Message tendre Ah --mmmm

Subject: RE: Help: French lyrics sought
From:
Date: 19 Jul 00 - 02:12 PM

kat, thanks for the great link to folk/childrens' songs.

Nancy

Subject: RE: Help: French lyrics sought
From: Mrrzy
Date: 19 Jul 00 - 02:25 PM

George Seto, what a beautiful Ould Sod song! How would you say the Ould Sod in French, anyway? Generally one speaks of retourner au pays, regardless of where the pays was that you left, non?

Subject: RE: Help: French lyrics sought
From:
Date: 19 Jul 00 - 05:20 PM

Cha'n 'eil mi a tuigsinn. I don't know. Sorry.

Subject: RE: Help: French lyrics sought
From: Mrrzy
Date: 19 Jul 00 - 09:14 PM

Bon, d'accord, c'est quoi ça? C'est pas du Québécquois, ça c'est sûr! L'Irlandais?

Subject: RE: Help: French lyrics sought
From: Genie
Date: 27 Dec 01 - 03:08 AM

George, Was that post-- "Trop Loin d'Irlande" the French version of The Water Is Wide? It fits with the tune but is not a translation of the English version I know to The Water Is Wide.
If not, can you post those lyrics?
Genie

Subject: RE: Help: French lyrics sought
From: GUEST,Brían
Date: 27 Dec 01 - 11:13 PM

I have a macaronic version of I'VE BEEN WORKING ON THE RAILROAD from a Warner Bros cartoon. I don't think its what your looking for, though:

Je suis travailler on the rail road,
Tous le live long jour.
Je suis travailler on the rail road,
Just to passer le temps away.
Can't you hear le capitain shouting,
"Levez-vous de bonne heure!"

I think that's all I remember. Pepe Le Pew really cuts me up & I fell out of the chair laughing when I heard this one!

Brían

Subject: RE: Help: French lyrics sought
From: GUEST,Nerd
Date: 28 Dec 01 - 03:10 AM

I remember Tri Yann once did a French version of "The Town I Loved So Well," adapted so the town was Nantes instead of Derry! It was called La Ville Que J'ai Tant Aime'.

Subject: RE: Help: French lyrics sought
From: GUEST,Labyrinth
Date: 28 Dec 01 - 03:54 AM

Hey Brian! that's such a hoot!!!!
And [e-mail] ~ I was just wondering about the why of your request. In almost every context I can think of: school, camp, etc., &c., it would be more appropriate to learn|teach|perform an actual French song, from France or Canada. No offense intended; I am second-guessing your intentions and purposes. I simply feel that if you want to impart a real feel for another language, honour it and its associated culture ~ do V'la le bon vent or Alouette rather than translating such thoroughly English rhymes as Farmer in the Dell.
Whatever you do and are doing with music, you WILL be back @ the Mudcat Cafe. More power to you in finding "Down by the bay", and so on. You could feed the lyrics into any of a zillion translation utilities available online, then a francophone on campus to help polish the machine translation to the requisite metre [blah blah blah .....] Children's librarian/music therapist/mudcat junkie.

Subject: RE: Help: French lyrics sought
From: robinia
Date: 28 Dec 01 - 12:13 PM

I agree totally with the last comment (about not trying to translate, but instead learning the real songs of the country); learning French carols like Un Flambeau or Il Est Ne, for instance, instead of awkward translations of Rudolf the Rednosed Reindeer. And by the way, there IS an old French children's song to the same tune as For He's a Jolly Good Fellow. It goes "Malbrough s'en va-t-en guerre, miroton, miroton, mirotaine/ Malbrough s'en va-t-en guerre, ne sais quand reviendra/ ne sais quand reviendra, ne sais quand reviendra/ [back to the start of the tune] Il reviendra-z-a Paques, miroton, miroton, mirotaine/ il reviendra-z-a Paques ou a la Trinite [I'm missing my accent marks, sorry]. / ou a la Trinite, ou a la Trinite..." And it goes on, (la Trinite se passe?) as this is a song with typically French linked verses that never really ends.. I'm resurrecting it from memory, but I know there's more....

Subject: RE: Help: French lyrics sought
From: robinia
Date: 28 Dec 01 - 04:56 PM

Well, more has just popped into mind (and I still can't make my computer do the accent marks): "la Trinite se passe . . . Malbrough ne revient pas . . . Monsieur [not sure of this, but you need something to make it scan] Malbrough est mort . . . est mort et enterre . . . " With the repeats and the mireton, mireton, miretaines, this peppy - sad song goes on for quite a while. And I humbly submit that finding real foreign language words for familiar tunes like this one is a much more rewarding enterprise than the strained translations-from-the-familiar that beginning language students so often demand. (Do they think it will make French more familiar? It does just the opposite.) Catchy tunes have crossed national boundaries and, I bet, acquired fascinatingly different sets of words since people started singing. (Like the familiar tune whose English words have for the moment escaped me -- though I remember it in German as "Freut euch des Lebens" and in French as the Christmas carol "Nouvelles agreables" and I'm sure it DOES have familiar English words and hope someone can supply them for me. Should this be a new thread? It seems too petty....)

Subject: RE: Help: French lyrics sought
From: Genie
Date: 28 Dec 01 - 09:06 PM

Brian, Your song reminds me of a feature Saturday Evening Post used to run, called "Tales Mein Grossfodder Told Me. It was stories told in part English, part German, and part made-up English words that sounded like German. The "tales" were hilarious.

Robinia, while I do love hearing songs in their original language and sometimes translations seem awkward, I can think of quite a few songs that have been translated pretty literally without sounding much the worse for it. "Un Flambeau, Jeannette, Isabelle" and "Es Ist Ein' Ros' Entsprungen" ("Lo, How A Rose E'er Blooming") are examples, as is the familiar "Frere Jacques"/"Are You Sleeping?" round that children sing.

Genie

Subject: RE: Help: French lyrics sought
From: masato sakurai
Date: 28 Dec 01 - 09:12 PM

Not folk songs, but there's Les Beatles en français site.
~Masato

Subject: RE: Help: French lyrics sought
From: Bert
Date: 29 Dec 01 - 12:41 AM

Wasn't the tune for "For He's a Jolly Good F ellow" originally a Norman French Tune?

Subject: RE: Help: French lyrics sought
From: robinia
Date: 29 Dec 01 - 03:56 AM

It wouldn't surprise me -- the French song certainly goes back... By the way, Genie, I've nothing against translations that are sung by ordinary people and not just first-year language students -- that have passed a kind of test, in other words...

Subject: RE: Help: French lyrics sought
From: GUEST,Bud
Date: 29 Dec 01 - 06:45 AM

Yep. For He's a Jolly Good Fellow--or The Bear Came Over the Mountain--is to the French tune of Malbrough s'en va -t-en Guerre, quoted above. "Malbrough" is actually "Marlborough" and is pronounced "Malbrook" (in my Quebecois way).

Subject: RE: Help: French lyrics sought
From: Dicho (Frank Staplin)
Date: 12 May 02 - 05:15 PM

A site with 15000 French songs, including many recent ones. Piaf, Brel, all the great ones here. Chanson
ABC de la Chanson Francophone. To search by title, click on Titres in the box at left. This large website may take time to load if your computer is power-challenged. For songs starting with "the" go to "L'"

Subject: RE: Help: French lyrics sought
From: GUEST,Stefanie
Date: 20 Apr 06 - 11:47 AM

does anyone know the original french lyrics of the song beyond the sea, aka, 'la mer' by charles trenet and albert lasry...? please help if you can.
thanks.


alors, je suis a la recherche du paroles francais du chanson 'la mer' du charles trenet et albert lasry. peut-on m'aider? merci bien. (aussi pardon, ma française est très mal!)

Subject: Lyr Add: LA MER (Charles Trenet)
From: GUEST,ClaireBear
Date: 20 Apr 06 - 12:01 PM

Found here:

LA MER

Paroles et Musique: Charles Trenet 1945


La mer
Qu'on voit danser le long des golfes clairs
A des reflets d'argent
La mer
Des reflets changeants
Sous la pluie

La mer
Au ciel d'été confond
Ses blancs moutons
Avec les anges si purs
La mer bergère d'azur
Infinie

Voyez
Près des étangs
Ces grands roseaux mouillés
Voyez
Ces oiseaux blancs
Et ces maisons rouillées

La mer
Les a bercés
Le long des golfes clairs
Et d'une chanson d'amour
La mer
A bercé mon cœur pour la vie

Subject: RE: Help: French lyrics sought
From: GUEST,Mrr
Date: 21 Apr 06 - 10:49 AM

What is wrong with your frenchwoman?

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: French translations of familiar songs
From: GUEST,debbie
Date: 19 Feb 12 - 08:30 AM

please,i need the french version of 'to God be the glory,great things he hath done'.thanks

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: French translations of familiar songs
From: GUEST,townpiper
Date: 17 Jan 13 - 11:25 PM

I'm looking for French/Quebecois Lyrics to a tune I heard from Les Cahrbonniers d'en fer ( I think that was the group)
Tunes was called L'Irlandais- done a cappella with just foot tap accompaniment> A great tune, I'd love to find it.

Merci

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: French translations of familiar songs
From: Monique
Date: 17 Jan 13 - 11:57 PM

Verses lyrics but the refrain is different. The last part of the refrain is
"j'en ai pas plus long qu'un irlandais mais est ben plus dure" (ahem... it says it all!)
Video

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: French translations of familiar songs
From: Monique
Date: 18 Jan 13 - 12:06 AM

I forgot: Here, 2nd song is where I took the last part of the refrain, the first part being "sur la verdure" added at the end of each verse.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: French translations of familiar songs
From: Monique
Date: 18 Jan 13 - 01:26 AM

Yikes, it's "... mais ben plus dure". It also seems that Les charbonniers de l'enfer's lyrics are different at the end -I couldn't understand what they sing after "Ils parlent français, latin aussi" but they don't sing "hélas, que le monde est malin" etc...
A very slightly different refrain about the Irishman can be found in at least another song

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: French translations of familiar songs
From: Monique
Date: 18 Jan 13 - 06:54 AM

Last but not least, the band on the video is "Hommage aux aînés"

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: French translations of familiar songs
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 30 Apr 13 - 11:03 PM

In case anyone is still looking for French translations of familiar English-language songs—

Hart-Rouge, a Canadian group, has recorded a song DIEU À NOS CÔTÉS which is a French translation of Bob Dylan's WITH GOD ON OUR SIDE. It's on the various-artists tribute album called "A Nod to Bob"

Hugues Aufray,* a Frenchman, has recorded many Dylan songs in French. I think he wrote the translations himself:

All I Really Want to Do - recorded as "Ce Que Je Veux Surtout"
Ballad of Hollis Brown - recorded as "Ballade de Hollis Brown"
Blowin' in the Wind - recorded as "Dans le Souffle du Vent"
Don't Think Twice, It's All Right - recorded as "N'Y Pense Plus Tout Est Bien"
Forever Young - recorded as "Jeune Pour Toujours"
Girl from the North Country - recorded as ""La Fille du Nord"
Heartland - recorded as "Au Coeur de Mon Pays"
I Shall Be Released - recorded as "Nous Serons Libres"
If You Gotta Go, Go Now - recorded as "Si Tu Dois Partir, Va-T-En"
It Ain't Me Babe - recorded as "Ce N'Était Pas Moi"
Knockin' on Heaven's Door - recorded as "Knock Knock Ouvre-Toi Porte du Ciel"
Like a Rolling Stone - recorded as "Comme des Pierres Qui Roulent"
The Lonesome Death of Hattie Carroll - recorded as "La Mort Solitaire de Hattie Carroll"
Maggie's Farm - recorded as "Maggie la Ferme"
Man Gave Names to All the Animals - recorded as "L'Homme Dota d'un Nom Chaque Animal"
Motorpsycho Nightmare - recorded as "Cauchemar Psychomoteur"
Mr. Tambourine Man - recorded as "L'Homme Orchestre"
Outlaw Blues - recorded as "Le Blues du Hors-la-Loi"
Rainy Day Women No. 12 and 35 - recorded as "Tout L'mond' un Jour S'est Plante"
The Times They Are A-Changin' - recorded as "Les Temps Changent"
What Was It You Wanted - recorded as "tra Mais Q'uest-ce Que Tu Voulais?"
When the Ship Comes In - recorded as "Le Jour Ou le Bateau Viendra"
With God on Our Side - recorded as "Dieu Est à Nos Côtés"

* Be careful; I have seen his name misspelled "Hughes" in several places.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: French translations of familiar songs
From: GUEST
Date: 02 Jan 18 - 08:47 PM

http://www.lescousinsbranchaud.com/swingparole.htmcontains one version...also check out le groupe de St-Comiens on this vid: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SozvYlHh-SA