Does Anyone Else Find Themselves Singing ALOUETTE Continually For the Last Few Days?

Question

I can remember singing it as a child along the Willapa River in the country backwoods, which means about 70 years ago (garbled French and all)...and never knew, until we discussed it on SOLVED, the alouette is a lark!

And that the song probably originated in Olde Europe, when the peasants were poaching songbirds for their next meal...  

Answer 1

Alouette was popular too, of course, but we had so many, very popular, old and more recent classics - poems, roundels, lullabies, gospels, scout's, drinking, military songs, etc., for kids and adults, in several languages, on our side of the big pond:

Instrumental (Le vieux chalet):

and a "pot-pourri", i.e. a medley, interpreted by the ensemble "Cantus Firmus Surselva":

(info about the author only in FR and DE - for T(h)ink): https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Bovet

Some examples:

(singer) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henri_D%C3%A8s

(singer) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chantal_Goya

(singer) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doroth%C3%A9e

Henri Dès :

Chantal Goya (for Virginia):

Dorothée (Rooster, you cited her!) :

And one of the most beautiful, famous songs for and about children:

(Duteil, FR, author and singer)

(Nana Mouskouri, in English)

About two exceptional artists:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yves_Duteil + https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nana_Mouskouri

Some classics:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Au_clair_de_la_lune

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dominique

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aupr%C3%A8s_de_ma_blonde

or, in Italian

Zecchino d'oro:

Schubert:

https://www.babycenter.de/p32689/hans-im-schn%C3%A4ggeloch

In Rumantsch (for T(h)ink):

And, in English, various versions of:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/She%27ll_Be_Coming_%27Round_the_Mountain

Answer 2

Marianne what a remarkable collection...lots of memories for me, my childhood here was among 1st and 2nd generation immigrants from Europe. Yodeling every Christmas, along with some incredibly beautiful bells...

I especially found the Schubert lovely - he died so young, and knew he did not have long to live... and his compassion for the fish betrayed...

Answer 3

Oh yes, Schubert was a great composer, I like also his piano music, like "Impromptu":

Answer 4

Yes, I've been working on a new PC and learning Windows 10 and have been humming it to myself! Darn you guys!

Answer 5

Rooster that is SO funny...I followed your link, which is very pretty version btw...and came across another one for Frère Jacques...and this one has almost 25 million hits...we will be singing these until the end of time!

Answer 6

Wow, Dorothée and her shows for kids and teens were famous - lol.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doroth%C3%A9e

Answer 7

@Virginia: I think you're right about that! Makes me kind of wonder if todays kids even have a clue about them. I remember them well.

Answer 8

Lol - yes, I have also some persisting "ear worms" (especially funny ones), which I am singing or whistling to myself (at least mentally, if somebody might be disturbed). 

Pink Martini:

http://lyricstranslate.com/en/donde-estas-yolanda-where-are-you-yolanda.html (a sarcastic song)

Bourvil:

http://lyricstranslate.com/en/la-tendresse-tenderness.html-0

And this song generated a scandal (shhhh) ...

Pierre Perret:

http://lyricstranslate.com/en/les-jolies-colonies-de-vacances-pretty-vacation-camps.html

Pierre Perret:

(I'll skip the one with the broken dishes and the spanking ...)

Answer 9

Marianne, I had not heard these songs...I especially loved the lyrics of TENDERNESS, and I left thank you's for all the translators...that is a lovely service...

Answer 10

Virginia, thank you for being so thoughtful of the translators, and I hope that you like these songs, especially "La tendresse". Bourvil was one of the popular comedians who made everybody laugh and cry.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bourvil

Answer 11

Hi ya Rooster. Thought Id come over here and give this a try. AM was getting a bit weird . lol

Answer 12

Lol, no, not continually, but a bit.

I was humming "Good Morning, Pretty Maid" more. 

Answer 13

We take our SOLVED lessons into our daily lives, O'Tink!

Answer 14

Wait a minute, which one, T(h)ink?

Are you referring to Good Morrow, Pretty Maids from the Gondoliers, to an Irish folk song, or, perhaps, to Lovely Joan?

Buon giorno, Signorine

Answer 15

@ Marianne,

Lol, none of the above. It was the 1750 song from Gloucestershire that I used to sing in elementary school (except for the last stanza, which mysteriously wasn't there).

http://www.contemplator.com/england/prettymaid.html

Answer 16

@T(h)ink

Oh yes, I think that you mentioned it before.

Answer 17

Marianne and Tink, I looked again at that last stanza...uses the term "Turk" pejoratively...could it be the last verse was omitted from Tink's education for PC reasons?

Answer 18

@ Virginia,

Yes, I think that would have been the main reason for the omission, but I think the music teacher also would have preferred to have us think they got married and lived happily ever after, although I do remember wondering at the time why there wasn't another stanza where the pretty maid gladly consented.

I should have asked. 

Answer 19

Oh, Tink, a missed opportunity...  

Answer 20

Lol, Virginia - you see every detail.

Answer 21

It swims in my head like a pool of Carp at a Chinese Restaurant.

Answer 22

Oh Carbon Product that is SO funny!