Origins: Alouette - various versions

17 Aug 07 - 12:14 PM (#2127951)
Subject: alouette - another one
From: GUEST,Sheila

I have been listening to Rick Fielding singing "Alouette" on the "Lifeline" cd, and it is entirely different from the old familiar song I've known. Can anyone give me information about it and the lyrics (they're in French? Thank you. Sheila

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18 Aug 07 - 11:51 AM (#2128585)
Subject: RE: alouette - another one
From: Bob the Postman

Is the tune Rick sings the same as the midi you hear when you click this link for la bastringue?

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18 Aug 07 - 12:16 PM (#2128600)
Subject: RE: alouette - another one
From: Jeri

The lyrics are in the booklet that came with the CD.
The notes also say that the tune is 'La Bastringue', but it's not any version of the tune I've ever heard. Rick said the re-working of the song was a version from the group 'Garalou'.

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18 Aug 07 - 02:06 PM (#2128682)
Subject: RE: alouette - another one
From: GUEST,Sheila

Hi Bob, the melody is not La Bastringue, but thanks for the link. Jeri, what is "Garalou"?

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18 Aug 07 - 02:30 PM (#2128702)
Subject: RE: alouette - another one
From: Jeri

Me: "from the group 'Garalou'" -- they were a group, a band.

And my mistake: La Bastringue is the tune he plays AFTER Alouette.

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18 Aug 07 - 08:10 PM (#2128863)
Subject: RE: alouette - another one
From: GUEST,Sheila

In other words, same text, different melody? Is this the tune sung in French Canada? Thanks. It's very catchy.

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08 Jan 17 - 11:47 PM (#3831300)
Subject: RE: Origins: Alouette - various versions
From: Joe Offer

Here's the Traditional Ballad Index entry for the song:

Alouette! (I)

DESCRIPTION: French: "Alouette, gentille Alouette, Alouette, je t'y plumerai." Cumulative: "Je t'y plumerai la tet, le bec, le nez, les yeux, le cou, les ail's, le dos, les patt's, la queue," meaning, "Skylark, I will pluck your head, beak, nose, eyes, neck, etc."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1879 (McGill College songbook)
KEYWORDS: cumulative bird foreignlanguage worksong
FOUND IN: Canada(Que) France US(MW)
REFERENCES (7 citations):
Fowke/Johnston, pp. 118-119, "Alouette!" (1 text, 1 tune)
Fowke/MacMillan 39, "Alouette" (1 text, 1 tune)
BerryVin, p. 68, "Alouette (Little Lark)" (1 text + translation, 1 tune)
Fireside, p. 124, "Alouette" (1 text, 1 tune)
Silber-FSWB, p. 389, "Alouette" (1 text)
Fuld-WFM, p. 95, "Alouette"
ADDITIONAL: Edith Fowke and Richard Johnston, _Folk Songs of Quebec (Chansons de Quebec)_, Waterloo Music Company, 1957, pp. 60-61, "Alouette!" (1 text, 1 tune)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The Red Herring" (theme)
cf. "Alouette (Lark) (II)" (theme and structure)
SAME TUNE:
Suffocation (Pankake-PHCFSB, p. 125)
NOTES: The McGill sonbook printing gives the title as "Alouetté." - RBW
Fuld reports a claim that this was a work song used while plucking birds. I'll believe it when I see evidence.
BerryVin's editors also identify this as "a work-song which used to be sung while women plucked fowls." I'll buy it, if for no other reason than the second source. Unless, of course, Fuld got the idea from them.- PJS
Last updated in version 4.0
File: FJ118

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The Ballad Index Copyright 2016 by Robert B. Waltz and David G. Engle.

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,,,and here are the Digital Tradition lyrics. Are they correct?
ALOUETTE

Alouette, gentile Alouette,
Alouette, je te plumerai.
Je te plumerai la tete,
Je te plumerai la tete,
Et la tete, et la tete, OH!
Alouette, gentile Alouette,
Alouette, je te plumerai.

Alouette, gentile Alouette,
Alouette, je te plumerai.
Je te plumerai le bec,
Je te plumerai le bec,
Et le bec, et le bec,
Et la tete, et la tete, OH!
Alouette, gentile Alouette,
Alouette, je te plumerai.

Repeat, using:
Le nez; Le dos; Les jambes;
Les pieds; Les pattes; Le cou.

@French @bird @animal @camp
filename[ ALOETT
TUNE FILE: ALOETTE
CLICK TO PLAY
JY

ALOUETTE There is also a Ukrainian version, in the minor,
probably made by Dave and Andy Spalding of Edmonton, mid '70's:


cho: Alouettski, gentil alouettski
Alouettski, je te plumerai - hoy!


Verse
Je te plumerai la tetski (je te...)
Et la tetski (et la...)
Alouettski (alouettski)
Oh-oh-oh-oh

(similarly:)
la nezekoff
le coupski, etc. JB

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Is the familiar tune the one most always used for the song, or are there others? Did Rick Fielding use a completely different melody and lyrics, or what? Wish I could find the Rick Fielding album, but it's lost around here someplace...

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09 Jan 17 - 03:48 AM (#3831323)
Subject: RE: Origins: Alouette - various versions
From: BobL

While we're into Alouette and its variants, this pub version is addressed by a male soloist to a young lady who has been persuaded to stand on (e.g.) a chair.

Alouette, lovely Alouette,
Alouette, you're the one for me.
How I love your plates of meat (touches the girl's feet)
How I love your plates of meat
Plates of meat
Plates of meat
Ah!

and so on, cumulatively working up through ham & eggs, chips & peas etc. to Barnet Fair.

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