À la claire fontaine (version créole)
À la claire fontaine (version créole)
At the Clear Spring (Creole Version)
Traditional Song
Traditional Song
(French & Reunion Creole)
(English)
À la claire fontaine
M'en allant promener,
J'ai trouvé l'eau si belle
Que je m'y suis baigné.
Sous les feuilles d'un chêne
Je me suis fait sécher ;
Sur la plus haute branche
Le rossignol chantait.
Refrain
Pitit ki pa
Konet chante
Doudou alle
Kai maman
Pitit ki pa
Konet chante
Doudou alle
Kai maman
Sous les feuilles d'un chêne
Je me suis fait sécher ;
Sur la plus haute branche
Le rossignol chantait.
Chante, rossignol, chante,
Toi qui as le cœur gai ;
Tu as le cœur à rire,
Moi je l'ai à pleurer.
Refrain
Chante, rossignol, chante,
Toi qui as le cœur gai ;
Tu as le cœur à rire,
Moi je l'ai à pleurer.
J'ai perdu mon amie
Sans l'avoir mérité,
Pour un bouquet de roses
Que je lui refusai.
Refrain
J'ai perdu mon amie
Sans l'avoir mérité,
Pour un bouquet de roses
Que je lui refusai.
Je voudrais que la rose
Fût encore au rosier,
Et que le rosier même
Fût encore à planter.
Refrain
Je voudrais que la rose
Fût encore au rosier,
Et que le rosier même
Fût encore à planter.
La suite de la chanson
Je crois que je l'ai oubliée
Si ça ne vous ennuie pas
Je vais la recommencer.
Refrain
At the clear spring,
As I was strolling by,
I found the water so nice
That I went in to bathe.
Under an oak tree,
I dried myself.
On the highest branch
A nightingale was singing.
(Chorus)
The child who doesn't
Know how to sing
Has only to return
To her mother's house.
The child who doesn't
Know how to sing
Has only to return
To her mother's house.
Under an oak tree,
I dried myself.
On the highest branch
A nightingale was singing.
Sing, nightingale, sing,
Your heart is so happy.
Your heart feels like laughing,
Mine feels like weeping.
(Chorus)
Sing, nightingale, sing,
Your heart is so happy.
Your heart feels like laughing,
Mine feels like weeping.
I lost my beloved
Without deserving it
Over a bouquet of roses
That I refused to give her.
(Chorus)
I lost my beloved
Without deserving it
Over a bouquet of roses
That I refused to give her.
I only wanted the rose
To stay on the rosebush,
And for the same rose
To still be planted.
(Chorus)
I only wanted the rose
To stay on the rosebush,
And for the same rose
To still be planted.
The rest of the song
I think that I've forgotten it,
If it doesn't bother you
I'll start it over again.
(Chorus)
 - Reunionese Children's Songs - Reunion - Mama Lisa's World: Children's Songs and Rhymes from Around the World
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Comments
"All the stanzas of this song 'À la claire fontaine' are in the domain of the French heritage. In the French version the chorus is: 'Il y a longtemps que je t'aime, jamais je ne t'oublierai' (it has been a long time since I love you, never I shall forget you). In the Creole version the translation of the chorus is approximately: 'The child who does not know how to sing has only to return to the house of her mother.' It is an oral version, certainly from Réunion but also Martinique and Guadeloupe." -Bernard Prima
Thanks!
Thanks and Acknowledgements
Song translated by Lisa Yannucci and Monique Palomares, chorus translated by Bernard and Lisa.
Mersi!
