Faut-il nous quitter sans espoir
Sans espoir de retour ?
Faut-il nous quitter sans espoir
De nous revoir un jour ?

Refrain
Ce n’est qu’un au revoir, mes frères,
Ce n’est qu’un au revoir.
Oui, nous nous reverrons, mes frères,
Ce n’est qu’un au revoir.

Here’s a literal English translation by Monique Palomares…

Must we leave each other without a hope
To see each other again some day
Must we leave each other without a hope
A hope of return

It’s only a goodbye, my brothers
It’s only a goodbye,
Yes, we’ll see each other again, my brothers
It’s only a goodbye.

Here you can hear the whole song…

Another Goodbye Song we have here today was written and sung by Alain Le Lait. It’s in French and English. Sit back and enjoy the song by clicking the MP3 below. You can read along with the lyrics in French and English…

Listen to Alain’s French Goodbye Song

Au revoir
by Alain Le Lait

Au revoir, good bye,
Now it is time for me to go away.
Au revoir, good bye,
But I wish I could stay with you all day.

Thanks for your smiles
And for singing along
I hope to see you again before too long.

Au revoir, good bye,
Il se fait tard et je dois m’en aller
Au revoir, good bye,
Mais j’aimerais rester toute la journée
Pour vos sourires et vos bien jolies voix
Je vous remercie et a une autre fois.

Au revoir, good bye,
Au revoir, good bye,
Au revoir, good bye.

(English Translation of French Verse)

Good bye, good bye
It’s getting late and I must go
Good bye, good bye
But I’d like to stay with you all day
For all your smiles and your pretty voices
I thank you and I’ll see you another time.

The French and English lyrics to this “Au revoir” song are © 1994 Alain Le Lait.

Alain Le Lait is a French native who grew up near Paris, France. He moved to the United States in the 1970s and now lives in Colorado. Alain writes and performs easy to learn children’s songs in French, Spanish and English. Check out his site www.Yadeeda.com to hear samples of his music and to buy his CD’s or mp3’s.

Merci Alain & Monique!

Feel free to share any French Hello or Goodbye songs you know in the comments below.

Mama Lisa

PS Here are some other Hello and Goodbye Songs…

Dear Mamma Lisa,

I am looking for a song called Bundawa. I am not sure if I have the spelling right. It is a campfire song from my friend’s Girl Scout days more than 20 years ago. This is part of it, but there are more verses we can’t remember:

Bundawa

Chorus:

Bundawa, Bundawa, Bundawa
Ho, Ho, Ho, Ho (with each “Ho” clap hand onto guitar or lap)
Bundawa, Bundawa,
Baby I don’t know.

Jack and Jill went up the hill
To fetch a pail of water
Jack fell down
And landed on his bum
Baby I don’t know.

Chorus

Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall,
Humpty Dumpty had a great fall,
All the king’s horses and all the kings men,
Had scrambled eggs again.

We would love it if you could help our Girl Scout Troop find the rest of the song.

Thank-you!

Jenny from Rochester, Minnesota, USA

If anyone can help out Jenny and her Girl Scout Troop, please comment below.

Thanks!

Mama Lisa

Dear Mama Lisa,

It has been suggested that I contact you with my request. I am the sketch producer of “The Live Wyre Gang Show” from the N.W. of England. (I’m also a cub leader).

Our Gang show is about to go into rehearsals and I have written a set to Celebrate 100 years of scouting, its finale is an International Camp fire. I would very much like to include as many International songs as possible, certainly at least one from each continent, so I wondered if you would be able to tell me where the best place to find the words and music of the songs you believe your members would vote for as their favourite. Detail/a picture of their uniforms, both boys and girls, their flags and any other details you think will be useful.

Thank you
Yours in scouting
Larraine Eastwood

PS. I notice you have many songs from all over the world but I don’t know which ones are scouting campfire songs and would really appreciate your help.

I know of two scouting (or Girl Guides) songs on Mama Lisa’s World. I’m linking to them below. One is the Maori stick tossing song ‘E Papa Waiari’ from New Zealand. The other is Banana Sweet from Ghana, Africa.

Some sites for Scouting lyrics are:

American Boy Scout Songs
Camp-Songs
Guides and Scouts Europe – Regional French Songs
Siempre Scout – Canciones Generales – Spanish Scout Campfire Songs
Canzioniere Scout – Italian Scout Songs
Canzoniere e Liturgie di TUTTOSCOUT.ORG – Italian Scout Songs
GruppenstundenTipps: Lieder – German Scout Songs

I think a good way to find more songs would be to type “scout songs” into Google in different languages. Just find an online dictionary to find out how “scout” and “song” are said in the other language and do a search. A good place to start that has free online dictionaries is www.freedict.com.

If anyone can suggest any other scout campfire songs or sites with scout songs from other countries, please comment below.

Thanks!

Lisa

Many thanks to Monique Palomares of Mama Lisa’s World en français for help with this post!