Thursday, March 19, 2009

Alouette

Tonight I agreed to hang out in Bryn's room and help her write and edit a 12-page Bible paper she has due tomorrow. I edited as much as she had done and then spent the rest of the evening distracting her. Somehow I managed to get the Alouette song stuck in my head and tried to sing it. This proved quite difficult because I'd forgotten all of the French lyrics except the first line. So I found a video to remind myself of the words that I learned all those years ago in elementary French classes.


English Translation: "Alouette" is a popular Canadian children's song about plucking the feathers (presumably in preparation for cooking) off a skylark, a small bird. It originated with the French Canadian fur trade. Naturally, the literal English translation does not match up well with the meter of the song, so a slightly less literal (but more singable) version would be:

Little skylark, lovely little skylark
Little lark, I'll pluck your feathers off
I’ll pluck the feathers off your head
I’ll pluck the feathers off your head
Off your head - off your head
Little lark, little lark
O-o-o-o-oh

Then repeat with various other body parts:
Off your beak
Off your eyes
Off your neck
Off your back
Off your wings
Off your legs
Off your tail

5 comments:

  1. That's hilarious! I tend to get that song stuck in my head every so often, but had no idea what the English translation was. It's very disturbing, but funny. :) Thanks for sharing!

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  2. thats seriously one of the most amazing videos we've ever discovered! well actually you discovered it, i didn't have anything to do with it except the watching and making an idiot of myself part hahahah.

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  3. You know, that song reminds me of Mr. Bean...but instead of "mumble mumble mumble ALLELUIA!" it's "mumble mumble mumble Ah-ah-ah-ah..."
    :)

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  4. Glad you all enjoyed it. I thought it was rather amusing. You're right about the English translation being disturbing, Shannon...the French lyrics sound so much more appropriate for a kids song!

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