Canadian Folk Songs Centennial Collection
Part 1 of 9:
Riddle songs and traditional ballads
Où vas-tu, Mon P'tit Garcon? (folk song)
Alan Mills and Hélène Baillargeon [Track 1, side A] File: CFS101.mp3
In this old Acadian fiddle-song, a seven year old boy on his way to school is met by a “stranger” (presumably Satan in disguise) who seeks to confound the lad with a series of riddles. But the boy successfully answers all the riddles put to him by the passing stranger, and thus succeeds in escaping the trap.
| Où vas-tu, mon p'tit garçon? Où vas-tu, mon p'tit garçon? Je m'en viens, tu t'en vas, nous passons. Je m'en vais droit à l'écol' Apprendr' la parol' de Dieu Disait ça un enfant de sept ans. Qu'est-ce qu'est plus haut que les arbr's? Qu'est-ce qu'est plus creux que la mer? |
Qu'est-c' qui pousse sur nos terr's? Que f'ras-tu quand tu s'ras grand? |
The False Knight Upon the Road (folk song)
Charles Jordan and Joyce Sullivan [Track 2, side A] File: CFS102.mp3
This rare Nova Scotian variant of an ancient British riddle-ballad, which deals with the same theme as the preceding French song, is most unusual in that it has a very lively chorus, to which the singer dances a jig-step as he sings the nonsense syllables.
Note: the text used in the recording is very different from what is shown below. This is quite common, and reflects the large number of variants of many of these songs.
| "O whare are ye gaun?" Quo the fause knicht upon the road. "I'm gaun to the scule," Quo the wee boy, and still he stude. "What is that upon your back?" What's that ye've got in your arm?" "Wha's aucht they sheep?" |
"How monie o them are mine?" "I wiss ye were on yon tree;" "And the ladder for to break;" "I wiss ye were in yon sie;" "And the bottom for to break;" |
Blanche Comme la Niege
Jacques Labrecque [Track 3, side A] File: CFS103.mp3
One of the finest traditional ballads of ancient France collected in Quebec by Canada's most-renowned folklorist and musicologist, Dr. Marius Barbeau, this strikingly beautiful song tells the medieval tale of a virtuous maiden ("white as the snow") who, after being kidnapped by a young captain and taken off to Paris, dramatically escapes from her abductor by feigning death. Then, after being entombed in her father's garden for three days, she calls out to her mourning parent to release her from the tomb and explains how she "died" to save her "honor".
The ballad is well known throughout France and similar songs are known in other parts of Europe. The version sung here is one of about twenty variants found in Canada.
| La belle s'est endormie sur un beau lit de roses [bis] Blanche comme la neige, belle comme le jour Ils sont trois capitaines qui vont lui faire l'amour Le plus jeune des trois la prend par sa main blanche [bis] [Two more verses, not in this text source; could anyone supply me with a transcription?] Finissant ce discours, le capitaine rentre [bis]
| Au milieu du repas la belle est tombée morte [bis] [Another verse, not in this text source; could anyone supply me with a transcription?] Mais au bout de trois jours son père s'y promène [bis] |
Another source lists a song also collected by Barbeau, Plus Blanche que la Laine, that tells a similar story to a completely different melody. The first and last verses:
De-sous les lauriers blancs, la belle se promène. / Des mène Plus blanche que la laine, plus belle qe le jour, / Ils sont trois capitaines qei vont lui fair' l'amour.
Par un lundi matin, son père se promène / "Mon père, ouvrez ma tombe; mon pèr', si vous m'aimez. / J'ai fait trois jours la morte pour mon honneur garder."
Barbara Allan
(folk song)Diane Oxner [Track 4, side A] File: CFS104.mp3
Many a tear has been evoked by this sorrowful tale of a young man who dies "for the love of Barbara Allan", and of how Barbara, striken with remorse after having refused her lover a healing kiss because of an imagined slight, soon follows him to the grave where they are finally united, as symbolized in the joining of the rose and a briar that spring from their respective tombs. Probably the best-loved and most widely known of all traditional British ballads to have crossed the Atlantic to the "New World" many generations ago, this moving story is sung to a wide variety of tunes, both in the United States and Canada. More than a dozen good versions of it have been found in eastern Canada alone, mainly in Nova Scotia and Newfoundland, and the one recorded here was collected in Nova Scotia by Dr. Helen Creighton, one of Canada's outstanding folklorists.
Was in the merry month of May Slowly, slowly she got up, "O yes, I'm sick and very low, "Don't you remember the other day "O yes, I remember the other day He turned his pale face to the wall, | As she was walkin' through the fields, She looked east, she looked west, "O mother, mother make my bed, Sweet William died on a Saturday night, They buried Willie in the old church yard, They grew and grew in the old churchyard, |
Dans les Prisons de Nantes
(folk song)Raoul Roy [Track 5, side A] File: CFS105.mp3
This charming Acadian song is one of a number of different versions of a popular traditional French ballad, also known as "Dans les prisons de Londres,", and frequently used as a canoe-paddling tune by Canada's early voyageurs. It tells the dramatic tale of a young prisoner who, condemned to die, is befriended by his jailor's daughter and set free on the eve before he is scheduled to mount the scaffold. As he leaps into the sea and swims to safety, the escaped prisoner sings his praises of the jailor's daughter and vows to marry her should he ever return that way again.
Dans les prisons de Nantes, ... que la fill(e) du geôlier ... Un jour luui porte a boire ... et aussi à manger... Oh dit(es) moi doc, la bell ce que l'on dit de moi... Par ici le bruit cour'e que demaqin vous mourrez... |
Puisqu'il faut que je meure... déliez-moi les pieds... Quand il eut le pieds libes... à la mer s'est jeté... Dès la première plonge... la mer a traversé... Quand il fut sur ces côtes... il s'est mis a chanter... Que Dieu béniss(s) les filles... surtout celle du geôlier... Si je retourne à Nantes... oui, je l'épouserai... |
[This text from Chansons du vieux Québec (1946) is somewhat different from the one sung here and is set to a completely different melody.]
The Broken Ring Song
(folk song)Tom Kines and Jean Price [Track 6, side A] File: CFS106.mp3
This Nova Scotia variant of a traditional British romantic ballad deals with one of the oldest and most widespread themes in folk-balladry, found in the legends and songs of many European countries. It is the theme of a long-absent lover who returns, unrecognized or in disguise, to his sweetheart, and after assuring himself of her faithfulness, finally identifies himself to her by producing his half of a golden ring which they had broken at parting, and shared as love-tokens.
Usually, the returning lover is a sailor who has been away for seven years, as is the case in this song.
I have been unable to find a Google reference to the text of this song. Interestingly, an opera based on this song was written by Donald Wetmore and Trevor Jones and premiered by the Nova Scotia Opera Association in 1953.
I'll Give My Love an Apple
(folk song)Charles Jordan, Joyce Sullivan [Track 1, side B] File: CFS107.mp3
This excellent version of a romantic English riddle-song, popularly known in the United States as "I Game My Love a Cherry", was collected in Nova Scoia by Dr. Helen Creighton.
I will give my love an apple without e'er a core |
My head is the apple without e'er a core, |
Une Perdriole
(folk song)Louise Forestier [Track 2, side B] File: CFS108.mp3
This is one of several Canadian versions of an old French riddle-song or game-song that is not unlike the well-known English game-song, "The Twelve Days of Christmas", in which a lover brings his sweetheart various odd gifts for each of the twelve days between Christmas and Epiphany. In fact, some French versions start with Le prmier jour d'l'anée (the first day of the year) in stead of Le pemier jour de mai (the first day of May) and continue to the twelfth day. This condensed version ends at the seventh day.
Au premier mois de l'année Au deuxième mois de l'année Au troisième mois de l'année Au quatrième mois de l'année
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Au cinquième mois de l'année Au sixième mois de l'année Au septième mois de l'année |
The Cambric Shirt
(folk song)Tom Kines and Jean Price [Track 3, side B] File: CFS109.mp3
This is a rare Newfoundland version of an old British riddle-ballad known as "The Elfin Knight", and the unusual part about it is that it identified the knight as the Devil, whereas he is not so identified in other versions of the song. However, he appears before an old woman and demands that she accomplish several impossible tasks, but she counters with some impossible demands of her own and thus, presumably escapes Satan's clutches. In more romantic versions of the song, known on both sides of he Atlantic, the central characters are a young man and a maid who try to outwit each other in much the same fshion before they can become true lovers. The version here recorded was collected by Kenneth Peacock.
Note: the tune and words of the song in this recording are nothing like those given for the song of the same name at this Lyon College - Wolf Collection site.
Brave Marin
Yves Albert [Track 4, side B] File: CFS110.mp3
This is a Quebec version of an old French traditional ballad, known under several titles in Canada, concerning a sailor — or soldier— who returns from the wars after a long absence and revisits his home, unrecognized, only to discover that his wife, whom he had left with three children, now has six of them. She tearfully explains that she had presumed him dead and had married another man in his absence, whereupon the original husband sadly takes his leave without a word and goes back to rejoin his comrades. The song was collected by Yves Albert.
Brave marin revient de guerre, tout doux Madame, je reviens de guerre, tout doux Brave marin se mit à boire, tout doux Qu'avez-vous donc, la belle hôtesse? tout doux |
C'est pas mon vin que je regrette, tout doux Dites-moi donc, la belle hôtesse, tout doux On m'a écrit de ses nouvelles, tout doux Brave marin vida son verre, tout doux
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The Cruel Mother
(folk song)Joyce Sullivan [Track 5, side B] File: CFS111.mp3
This highly dramatic traditional ballad of Britain is widely known throughout North America in one form or another, despite its gruesome tale of infanticide, and many fine versions of it have been found in eastern Canada. The one given here is a collation of 11 different versions collected in Newfoundland by Dr. Maud Karpeles. Briefly, the story concerns a lady who gives birth to twins after an illicit love affair with her father's clerk, and murders the babes. Later, they appear to her as ghosts and condemn her to suffer in hell for her cruelty to them. It might be interesting to note that while most versions of the ballad place the scene of the tragedy in York, this and one or two other Canadian variants bring the locale a little closer, to New York.
There was a lady dwelt in York: She laid her hand against a stone, She took a knife both long and sharp, |
As she was walking home one day, She said, "Dear children, can you tell, "O yes! dear mother, we can tell, |
Si Tu Te Mets Anguille
(folk song)Alan Mills, Hélène Baillargeon [Track 6, side B] File: CFS112.mp3
This Canadian variant of an old French folk song belongs in the category of Chansons des métamorphoses— songs of transformation— in which lovers try to outwit each other by taking various forms. Such songs seem to be better known through southern Europe than anywhere else, and the only well-known English equivalent is called "The Two Magicians". However, in the French song, a young lady threatens to escape her lover by transforming herself into an eel, then into a bird, and finally, into a nun. The lover counters by saying he will become a fisherman, a hunter and a preacher, in order to capture her. With such evidence of his devotion, the girl capitulates.
The tune of this song, incidentally, is very dear to the hearts of all French-speaking Canadians, for it is also used as the setting of their most-loved patriotic song, "Un Canadien errant", which is recorded elsewhere in this series.
Derriere chez ma tante, il y a un étang (bis) Si tu te fais anguille, anguille dans l’étang (bis) Si tu te fais pêcheur pour m avoir en pêchant (bis) Si tu te fais alouette, alouette dans les champs (bis) |
Si tu te fais chasseur pour m’avoir en chassant (bis) Si tu te fais minette, minette dans le vent (bis) Si tu te fais nonette, nonette dans un couvent (bis) Si tu te fais prêcheur pour m’avoir en prêchant (bis) la la la... |