I still remember very well two songs from way back, the French Canadian canoeing song " Alouette, Gentille Alouette,"-- and another song by occupants of American cars on long trips all the time, " 99 Bottles of Beer on the Wall" ( also a song at summer camps for some reason)
Both have been done away with out of Political Correctness..
After all, the "Alouette" is a lark being plucked and prepared to be cooked and eaten ( perish the thought in this Vegan World...Please, let's have a nice song about kale!!)
( Which would be too much for someone like my sister, who used to talk to her plants and claims wheat in the field screams when a combine comes through...etc.) ( Looney tunes as usual from sis)
Anyway, when we sang 99 Bottles of Beer, it was " What should happen if one should fall? 98 Bottles of Beer on the Wall..
Instead of, "Take one down, pass it around..." Anyway
First, the "Alouette, gentille Alouette"
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October 12th, 2010
Alouette is NOT a Mean Song… REALLY!
Most people think the French Canadian song, “Alouette” is very mean, once they learn what it means in English. It sounds like it’s about someone taunting a bird… “Lark, nice lark… I’ll pluck out your feathers… I’ll pluck your eyes.. I’ll pluck your wings…” It sounds really cruel.
I asked Monique Palomares in France about it. She wrote back, “‘Alouette, gentille alouette’ is not a song about mean people who want to cruelly pluck a lark alive. Larks were and are considered as game, so people would FIRST kill them, then pluck them, then cook them and at last eat them.”
We don’t eat larks in the US, so most Americans at least, think the song is mean. Now we see it’s really not! It’s as if we bought a chicken or a turkey from a farm and had to pluck the feathers out ourselves. While doing the chore we might have sung a song like “Alouette”… at least in the olden days we may have.
Here are the lyrics to the song in French with an English translation. Consider them with that in mind…
I found reference to eating lark in an old American cook book! Yet we have no memory of cooking or eating larks! So it must have been a long time ago.
Thanks to Monique for explaining about the meaning of the song “Alouette”.
Mama Lisa
NOTE from October 2010: I’ve been reading Gulliver’s Travels by the Irish writer Jonathan Swift (published in 1726). There’s mention in the book of eating larks. Larks seem to have been eaten in the United Kingdom and Ireland in the past too.
Most people think the French Canadian song, “Alouette” is very mean, once they learn what it means in English. It sounds like it’s about someone taunting a bird… “Lark, nice lark… I’ll pluck out your feathers… I’ll pluck your eyes.. I’ll pluck your wings…” It sounds really cruel.
I asked Monique Palomares in France about it. She wrote back, “‘Alouette, gentille alouette’ is not a song about mean people who want to cruelly pluck a lark alive. Larks were and are considered as game, so people would FIRST kill them, then pluck them, then cook them and at last eat them.”
We don’t eat larks in the US, so most Americans at least, think the song is mean. Now we see it’s really not! It’s as if we bought a chicken or a turkey from a farm and had to pluck the feathers out ourselves. While doing the chore we might have sung a song like “Alouette”… at least in the olden days we may have.
Here are the lyrics to the song in French with an English translation. Consider them with that in mind…
RefrainMonique wrote, “This reference to larks being cooked and eaten can also be found in the circle game song ‘Bonjour Guillaume’. It’s a circle game song that goes…”
Alouette, gentille alouette,
Alouette, je te plumerai.
Je te plumerai le bec,
Je te plumerai le bec,
Et le bec, et le bec,
Alouette, Alouette !
Ah ! ah ! ah ! ah !
(refrain)
Je te plumerai les yeux,
Je te plumerai les yeux,
Et les yeux, et les yeux,
Et le bec, et le bec,
Alouette, Alouette !
Ah ! ah ! ah ! ah !
(refrain)
Je te plumerai la tête,
Je te plumerai la tête
Et la tête, et la tête
Et les yeux, et les yeux,
Et le bec, et le bec,
Alouette, Alouette !
Ah ! ah ! ah ! ah !
Je te plumerai le cou…
Je te plumerai le dos…
…les ailes… le ventre…
…les pattes… la queue…
Translation
Chorus
Lark, nice lark
Lark, I’ll pluck you.
I’ll pluck your bill
I’ll pluck your bill
And your bill, and your bill
Lark, lark. Ah! Ah! Ah! Ah!
(Chorus)
I’ll pluck your eyes
I’ll pluck your eyes
And your eyes, and your eyes
And your bill, and your bill
Lark, lark. Ah! Ah! Ah! Ah!
(Chorus)
I’ll pluck your head
I’ll pluck your head
And your head, and your head,
And your eyes, and your eyes
And your bill, and your bill
Lark, lark. Ah! Ah! Ah! Ah!
(Chorus)
I’ll pluck your neck…
I’ll pluck your back…
I’ll pluck your wings… your belly…
… your legs… your tail…
You can hear Alouette, gentile alouette on Mama Lisa’s World Canada page.
Bonjour Guillaume, as-tu bien déjeuné?You can hear Bonjour Guillaume on Mama Lisa’s World France page. There you’ll also find the instructions for this circle game.
Oh oui madame, j’ai mange du pâté,
Du pâté d’alouette
Guillaume et Guillaumette,
Chacun s’embrassera,
Guillaume restera.
Which translates literally as:
Good morning, William, did you have a good breakfast?
Oh, yes, madam, I had some pâté,
Lark pâté, William and Wilma
Everyone hugs one another
William will stay.
I found reference to eating lark in an old American cook book! Yet we have no memory of cooking or eating larks! So it must have been a long time ago.
Thanks to Monique for explaining about the meaning of the song “Alouette”.
Mama Lisa
NOTE from October 2010: I’ve been reading Gulliver’s Travels by the Irish writer Jonathan Swift (published in 1726). There’s mention in the book of eating larks. Larks seem to have been eaten in the United Kingdom and Ireland in the past too.
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