Alouette

	Alouette
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"Alouette" is a popular French Canadian^[1] children's song about plucking the feathers off a skylark, a small bird. It originated with the French Canadian fur trade.^{[citation needed]} Although it is in French, it is well-known among speakers of other languages; in this way it is similar to "Frère Jacques". Many American doughboys learned the song while serving in France during World War I and brought it home with them.

History

French colonists ate skylarks, which they considered a game bird. The song was first published in A Pocket Song Book for the Use of Students and Graduates of McGill College (Montreal, 1879). However, Canadian folklorist Marius Barbeau was of the opinion that the song's ultimate origin was France.^[1]

The songs of the French fur trade were adapted to accompany the motion of paddles dipped in unison. Singing helped to pass the time and made the work seem lighter. In fact, it is likely that the Montreal Agents and Wintering Partners sought out and preferred to hire voyageurs who liked to sing and were good at it.^{[citation needed]} They believed that singing helped the voyageurs to paddle faster and longer. "Alouette" informs the lark that the singer will pluck its head, nose, eyes and wings and tail. En roulant ma boule sings of ponds, bonnie ducks and a prince on hunting bound. Many of the songs favored by the voyageurs have been passed down to our own era.

Today, the song is used to teach French and English speaking children in Canada the names of their body parts. Singers will point or touch the part of their body that corresponds to the word being sung in the song.

Structure

"Alouette" usually involves audience participation, with the audience echoing every line of each verse after the verse's second line. It is a cumulative song, with each verse is built on top of the previous verses, much like the English carol "The Twelve Days of Christmas".

Lyrics

Alouette, gentille Alouette

Skylark, nice skylark

Alouette, je t' éplumerai

Skylark, I shall pluck you

Je t' éplumerai la tête

I shall pluck your head

(Je t' éplumerai la tête)

(I shall pluck your head)

Et la tête

And your head

(Et la tête)

(And your head)

Alouette

Skylark

(Alouette)

(Skylark)

O-o-o-oh

Alouette, gentille Alouette

Alouette, je t' éplumerai

Je t' éplumerai le bec

I shall pluck your beak

(Je t' éplumerai le bec)

Et le bec

(Et le bec)

Et la tête

(Et la tête)

Alouette

(Alouette)

O-o-o-oh

The song continues in this fashion, with the italicized phrase (a part of the bird) in each verse being substituted with a new one, with the previous items being recited at the end:

• Et le cou

And your neck

• Et le dos

And your back

• Et les ailes

And your wings

• Et les pattes

And your feet

• Et la queue

And your tail

La Conclusion

The Ending

O-o-o-o-oh

Alouette, gentille Alouette

Skylark, nice skylark

Alouette, je t' éplumerai

Skylark, I shall pluck you

Naturally, the literal English translation does not match up well with the meter of the song (the first line in English has five syllables instead of ten), so a slightly less literal (but more singable) version would be:

Little skylark, lovely little skylark

Little lark, I will 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

And adding:

Off your beak

Off your neck

Off your wings

Off your back

Off your legs

Off your tail

In popular culture

• Fans of Everton FC sing a version of the song, replacing the words with the names of those who won the double with the club in 1985, such as Neville Southall and Peter Reid. The chorus from the song is "Everton, oh we love Everton, oh Everton oh we love Everton". ^[2]

• The chorus from the song Cruelty to Animals by Pernice Brothers is "Alouette, gentille alouette. Head to toe so thoroughly until we're both dismembered."

• Comedian and performer Andy Kaufman used to sing his own derivative of Alouette entitled "Abodabee", which he claimed was a song "performed every harvest time in the islands of the Caspian Sea.

• It was parodied by Allan Sherman as "Al and Yetta", which is about an older couple watching television according to a strict routine.

• A modified version of the song, referring to "lightning (fast) French alopecia, from the song of the same name", appears in "Call of the West", an episode of The Goon Show, sung by Hercules Grytpype-Thynne and Count Jim Moriarty.

• A revision of the song, written by French American Eric Beteille, replaces the word alouette with omelette: Omelette, gentille omelette, omelette, je te mangerais ... Je te mangerais les oeufs ... Je te mangerais fromage ... Je te mangerais jambon ... etc.

• Cartoon characters Pepé Le Pew and Loopy de Loop often sing or hum the tune. The two chefs in the classic Bugs Bunny short French Rarebit sing Alouette while inside an oven.

• In one Tom & Jerry episode, "The Two Mouseketeers", Nibbles was singing this while making a mini-sandwich near the joint of meat on the table.

• In a The Kids In The Hall sketch, Kevin McDonald and Dave Foley sing the song whilst paddling a canoe through an office trapping employees for their clothes.

• In the Ghost Whisperer episode "Delusions of Grandview" one of the ghosts from the sanitorium in singing as she moves inside for 'nap-time'.

• In the Barney video, "What a World We Share," Barney teaches the kids this song, while in France. It is also sung in the video "Barney's Talent Show" as a stage act.

• In a television commercial for Eggo waffles, a talking waffle who thinks that he is french, walks around singing "Allouette, gentille Alloutte. Alloutte je te plumé-what.".

• It was sung by Alvin and the Chipmunks in their tv series in french but the english lyrics were changed to "if you love me tell that you love me, if you dont please tell me that you do".

• In François Bourgeon's The Twilight Companions, a group of Bretagne villagers sing the song as they merrily prepare to torture and kill a suspected witch. The series is set during the 100 years war, prior to the French colonization of America, and Bourgogne hence argues its European origin.

See also

• Montreal Alouettes

Notes