Au feu les pompiers
Au feu les pompiers
Fire! Firemen, Fire!
Chanson enfantine
Children's Song
(French)
(English)
Au feu, les pompiers !
La maison qui brûle,
Au feu, les pompiers !
La maison brûlée.
C'est pas moi qui l'ai brûlée,
C'est la cuisinière*,
C'est pas moi qui l'ai brûlée,
C'est le cuisinier*.
Au feu, les pompiers !
La maison qui brûle,
Au feu, les pompiers !
La maison brûlée.
Fire! Firemen, fire!
The house is burning.
Fire! Firemen, fire!
The house burnt down.
It's not me who burnt it down,
It's Miss Chef*,
It's not me who burnt it down,
It's Mr. Chef*.
Fire! Firemen, fire!
The house is burning.
Fire! Firemen, fire!
The house burnt down.
Notes
*In French, these words mean "the cook". First it's a female cook (cuisinière), then a male cook (cuisinier). Since we don't have a perfect way to indicate that it's feminine or masculine in English, we translated it as Miss Chef and Mr. Chef. An older version of the song had the term as "la cantinière" (the female canteen cook) and "le cantinier" (the male canteen cook). Monique wrote, "I don't know what the origin is, but I think it might be a military song. The term 'la cantinière' was used in the military, there was no 'canteen' anywhere else. Also, the tune sounds like a clarion call."
Comments
Monique said, "The version I know goes like the one below, the third verse is sung to the same tune as the first verse…"
Au feu, les pompiers !
La maison qui brûle.
Au feu, les pompiers !
La maison est brûlée.
Ce n'est pas moi qui l'ai brûlée,
C'est mon frère Jules,
Ce n'est pas moi qui l'ai brûlée,
C'est mon frère André.
André, gare à toi,
Les gendarmes arrivent,
André, gare à toi,
Les gendarmes sont là !
Translation
Fire! Firemen, Fire!
The house is burning.
Fire! Firemen, Fire!
The house is burnt.
It's not me who burned it,
It's my brother Jules,
It's not me who burned it,
It's my brother Andrew.
Andrew, watch out,
The police are coming,
Andrew, watch out,
The police are here.
Thanks!
Thanks!
Thanks and Acknowledgements
Translation: Lisa Yannucci and Monique Palomares
Merci beaucoup!
