Canadian Folk Songs Centennial Collection
Part 4 of 9:
Love ballads and laments
All the songs contained on this page are variants of traditional folk songs that came to Canada from either France or the British Isles. They include some long-time favorites, as well as a few fine examples of some of the lesser-known romantic songs and ballads that have considerable merit, both lyrically and melodically, although they may not have enjoyed, perhaps, as much general popularity as the others.
La Claire Fontaine (folk song)
3:25; Jacques Labrecque; [Track 1, side A] file: CFS401.mp3
By far the best-loved of all French romantic songs in Canada is this tender complaint of a lover who has lost his sweetheart because he refused to bring her a bouquet of roses. One day, while lying in the shade of an oak tree after having had a swim in a brooklet, he hears the gay song of a nightingale and, contrasting that joyful sound with his own unhappiness, he wishes that he and his girl friend were reunited.
Like many French songs of Canada, it has an interesting variety of versions. It has been sung as a work-song and a dance-song, as well as in other forms, with different refrains to suit its assorted uses. But the favorite of all versions has remained the one that is sung here.
More: article in Canadian Encyclopedia, Wikipedia article.
À la claire fontaine Refrain: J'ai trouvé l'eau si belle Sous les feuilles d'un chêne Sur la plus haute branche |
Chante, rossignol, chante, Tu as le coeur à rire, J'ai perdu ma maîtresse Pour un bouquet de roses Je voudrais que la rose |
When I Was In My Prime (folk song)
2:18; Diane Oxner; [Track 2, side A] file: CFS402mp3
"When I was in my prime
And flourished like a vine,
There came along a false young man
Who stole away my thyme."
In such symbolic terms does a young lady in this song lament the loss of a false lover who won her heart and vanished from her garden. And, finding no solace in any of the other flowers of her garden, there is little she can do but plant the "willow tree" (a traditional symbol of sadness) and hope for her lover's return.
This charming variant of a popular 17th century English folksong was collected in Nova Scotia by Dr. Helen Creighton.
When I was in my prime, I flourished like a vine. The gardener standing by, three offers he made me. The pink's no flower at all, it fades away too soon. |
In June the red rose blooms, but it`s not the flower for me. And the willow tree shall weep and the willow tree shall mourn. And if I'm spared young year more, and if God should grant me grace.
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C'est La Belle Françoise (folk song)
2:31; Alan Mills, Hélène Baillargeon; [Track 3, side A] file: CFS403.mp3
One of many sentimental songs dealing with the parting of lovers— a theme frequently found in the folklore of all people— this long-time favorite of French-speaking Canadians concerns a soldier who is called off to war on the eve of his scheduled marriage to "La belle François", and who consoles his weeping fiancée (as soldiers ever have done, and still do,) with his promise to marry her as soon as he returns from war.
This song comes from the Ernest Gagnon collection of Chansons populaires du Canada.
1. C'est la belle Françoise, lon gai 2. Son ami va la voir, lon gai 3. Il la trouve seulette... 4. Et qu'avez vous, la belle... |
5. Ma mère vient de me dire... 6. Elle a dit vrai, la belle... 7. Adieu, belle Françoise... 8. Reviendrai de la guerre...
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Mary Ann (folk song)
2:48; Charles Jordan; [Track 4, side A] file: CFS404.mp3
This is a most unusual variant of a widely popular English love song known both sides of the Atlantic as The True Lovers' Farewell and The Turtle Dove, among other titles, and which inspired Scotland's Robert Burns to write one of his best known love poems, My Love Is Like a Red, Red Rose.
The story concerns a sailor who has to leave his sweetheart and promises to "mourn" for her as the dove mourns for the return of her love. But the unusual aspect of this version— collected by Dr. Marius Barbeau in the fishing fegion of Tadoussac, Quebec— occurs in the third and fourth verses, wherein the sailor likens his love "schmertz" to the suffering of "a lobster boiling in the pot", and "a blue fish on the hook", and wishes he had a "flask of gin" to share a farewell drink with his "Mary Ann", all of which reflects the "Canadianization" of the song.
Fare thee well my own true love Oh yonder, don't you see the dove |
The lobster boiling in the pot Oh had I but a flask of gin |
L'Amour Prenait Racine (folk song)
3:54; Louise Forestier; [Track 5, side A] file: CFS405.mp3
One of the loveliest of the thousands of folk songs collected by Canada's foremost folklorist, Dr. Marius Barbeau, during a half-century or so devoted to that cause, this extremely beautiful lyric tells the romantic tale of a young suitor who meets his beloved at her window at midnight, and the nocturnal hours fly so swiftly that neither of them realizes the day is almost upon them until the song of a lark signals the coming dawn.
In words recalling the familiar lines of Shakespeare's Romeo & Juliet in a very similar— if not identical— love scene, the lovers complain"Belle alouett', que chantes-tu? Tu nous trahis! Tu chantes l'aurore du jour; il est minuit!" ("Sweet lark, what do you sing? You betray us! You sing of the dawning day; it is midnight!") The title of the song is taken from the equally poetic last verse:
| Ah! Si l'amour prenait racine, Dans mon jardin j'en planterais. J'en planterais, j'en sèmerais aux quatre coins. J'en ferais part à mes amis qui n'en ont point. |
(Ah! If love would take root, In my garden would I plant it; In all four courners would I plant and sow it, And I would share with all my friends who know not of it.) |
[Lyrics of many other variants are available]
The Gypsy Daisy (folk song)
2:44; Tom Kines, Jean Price; [Track 6, side A] file: CFS406.mp3
This is an Ontario version of one of the most popular traditional ballads of the British Isles and known throughout the English-speaking world under a variety of titles, among them The Gypsy Laddie and The Wraggle Taggle Gypsies. It tells the tale of a lady who deserts her lord and castle to run off with a "gypsy laddie"— or a band of gypsies, as some variants relate.
The version given here— one of about a dozen found in Canada— was collected by Edith Fulton Fowke.
La Belle Est En Prison D'Amour
1:51; Yves Albert ; [Track 1, side B] file: CFS407.mp3
In this charming song, a love-sick maiden wanders off to a quiet brooklet and unburdens her heart to a bird. "Must one sit near a brooklet, and not be able to drink?" she asks. "Must one be near a rosebush, and not pluck a rose? And must one be near one's lover and not speak of one's distress?" To which the bird replied: "Drink, my pretty one, for the brooklet runs for you. Pluck the rose, for it grows for you, and tell your lover, for his heart sighs for you."
The song is sung by Yves Albert, who collected it.
The Cuckoo (folk song)
2:13; Joyce Sullivan; [Track 2, side B] file: CFS408.mp3
Of all the birds that occur so frequently in the folk songs of all countries, the cuckoo is among the most popular, along with the lark, the nightingale and the turtle-dove. In this Newfoundland variant of a very popular old English folksong, a young lady seems to have been deserted by her "true love", as is implied by the reference to her "sorrow, grief and woe", while in the English version of the song, which this melody closely resembles, the evidence is more than implied that the girl's courtship was "a woe" and that her lover was anything but true to her. The song was collected by Dr. Maud Karpeles.
Oh the cuckoo, she's a pretty bird, she sings as she flies Oh come all you young women, take a warning by me |
If I am forsaken, I'll not be forsworn My Johnny's in the water, let him sink or let him swim |
Rossignolet Sauvage (folk song)
4:26; Jacques Labrecque; [Track 3, side B] file: CFS409.mp3
One of the most beautiful love songs in French-Canada, this is another gem from the vast treasure of songs collected by Dr. Marius Barbeau. In an exquisite melody far superior to its words, it tells of a young man who sends a nightingale to deliver a love-letter to his sweetheart, urging her to flee her "convent" and end his longing for her. She evidently decides to follow his advice and he greets her with vows of eternal love.
Rossignolet du bois, Rossignolet sauvage Comment il faut aimer, je m'en vais te le dire La Belle on dit partout que vous avez des pommes |
Non je ne permets pas que l'on touche à mes pommes Le jeune amant s'en va la haut sur la montagne Rossignolet du bois, Rossignolet sauvage |
Burns And His Highland Mary (folk song)
3:30; Tom Kines, Jean Price; [Track 4, side B] file: CFS410.mp3
This very fine romantic ballad about Scotland's beloved bard, Robert Burns, and his "Highland Mary", and of the tragic end of the romance, was believed to have been written by a Scottish policeman named Thompson, who emigrated to Canada many years ago. Several versions of the song have been collected in Nova Scotia by Dr. Helen Creighton.
Legend has it that the lovers had planned to become man and wife after Mary had gone to pay a brief visit to her home in Greenock, to bid farewell to her family and friends. Little could either of them suspect that they would never see each other again, but Mary never returned from Greenock. She was suddenly and fatally stsricken by malignant fever, and was buried there, leaving the poet to mourn her death for the rest of his life.
Their last meeting, according to Burns himself, took place "in a sequestered spot on the banks of the Ayr", on a Sunday in May, 1786, the year of Mary's death, and that farewell meeting is very movingly and graphically imagined in the ballad.
In green Caledonia there never wis twa lovers 2 And lang will his sang sae enchantin' and bonnie 3 It was on a May day when the flowers o' the summer 4 And oh! to them baith twas a meeting fu' tender 5 "O, Mary, dear Mary," exclaimed her fond lover 6 "My heart's sweetest treasure, my dear Highland Mary 7 O dinna bide lang in the Highlands frae me, |
8 "I winna bide lang in the Highlands dear laddie, 9 Then he kissed her lips, they were redder than roses 10 Then "Farewell" he said and he flew frae his Mary 11 But the sweet summer saw but a few sunny mornings 12 And Burns that sweet bard o' his ain Caledonia 13 Bring me the lilies and bring me the roses, 14 Bring me a sigh frae a fond lover's bosom |
Ah! Toi, Belle Hirondelle (folk song)
3:15; Louise Forestier ; [Track 5, side B] file: CFS411.mp3
Another extremely beautiful romantic ballad of French origin in which a bird— this time a swallow— is used as a messengerr of love. In this case, a girl bids the swallow fly out to sea and find her lover, to tell him of her devotion and of how she longs for his return. The little bird obliges and finds the sailor lamenting his long separation from his sweetheart. But he is soon heartened by the swallow's message and sends the bird back to his love with his own message of longing and devotion.
Ah toi belle hirondelle qui vole ici L'oiseau qu'est tout aimable prit sa volée L'aperçoit dans la hune du bâtiment |
L'amant plein de surprise l'entend parler Je te salue la belle salut à toé
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The Bold Fisherman (folk song)
2:05; Charles Jordan, Joyce Sullivan; [Track 6, side B] file: CFS412.mp3
This Nova Scotian variant of an old English folk song tells the charming story of an encounter between a girl and a young man she mistakenly believes to be a fisherman, until he takes off his cloak and reveals three "chains of gold" hanging from his nectk (an obvious sign of wealth and nobility), whereupon the girl falls to her knees and begs his pardon for calling him a fisherman. However, the young gentleman turns out to be a fellow of good and honest intentions. He escorts the maid home to her father and they— presumably— get married and "live happily ever after".
The song was collected by Dr. Helen Creighton.
As I walked out one May morning “Bold fisherman, bold fisherman He tied his boat unto a stand |
Then he embraced his morning gown She fell down on her bended knees He took her by the lilywhite hand
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