La vièlha de Pibrac
This version is from the Toulouse area. There are songs in French on the same theme.
La vièlha de Pibrac
The Old Woman from Pibrac
Folk Song
Folk Song
(Occitan)
(English)
A Pibrac i a una vièlha qu'a mai de quatre-vints ans
va dins totas las velhadas per i cercar un galant
Repic
Aò ! la vièlha, aò, la vièlha, que crei n'aver que vint ans !
Ela n'es dintrada en dança, dins la ronda dels frigants
causís per la contra-dança le gojat le pus charmant
(Repic)
Ela li ditz a l'aurelha : "Escota-me mon enfant,
lo te pagarai botelha, se me maridas d'ongan !"
(Repic)
"Pas ambe tu paura vièlha ! Quand auriatz vint mila francs !
-N'ai cent mila dins ma borsa, dins mon còfre n'ai autant !
(Repic)
-Se n'as tant dins ta borseta, podriàm veser... dins un an !
Dins un an ! çò ditz la vièlha, nos maridarem doman !"
(Repic)
Adonc al notari manda de portar de papièr blanc
le diluns l'an fiançada, le dimarç la maridam.
(Repic)
Le dimècres l'a batuda, le dijòus s'en vai plorant.
Le divendres èra mòrta, le dissabte l'enterram.
(Repic)
Le dimenge la novena, le diluns, le cap de l'an.
Quand dorbiren la casseta, n'i trobèren tres pèls blancs !
In Pibrac, there's an old woman who's over eighty years old
She goes to every all-nighter to find herself a sweetheart.
(Chorus)
Ah! The old woman, ah, the old woman who thinks she's twenty years old.
She has entered the dance in the circle of the spry ones,
She chooses for the contradance the most charming young man.
(Chorus)
She tells him in his ear, "Listen to me, my child,
I'll pay for your drinking if you get married to me this year!"
(Chorus)
"Not to you, poor old woman, even if you had twenty thousand francs!
-I have a hundred thousand in my purse, in my chest I have as much!
(Chorus)
-If you have so much in your little purse, we could see… in a year!
In a year, says the old woman, we'll get married tomorrow!"
(Chorus)
So, she orders the lawyer to bring white paper.
On the Monday she was engaged, on the Tuesday she was wed.
(Chorus)
On the Wednesday he beat her, on the Thursday she was weeping,
On the Friday she was dead, on the Saturday she was buried.
(Chorus)
On the Sunday, the Novena*, on the Monday, the anniversary mass,
When they opened the chest, they found there… three white hairs!
Notes
*The Novena is a nine day Catholic prayer to obtain special graces.
Thanks!