Au clair de la lune
Au clair de la lune
Under the Moonlight
Chanson enfantine
Children's Song
(French)
(English)
Au clair de la lune
Mon ami Pierrot
Prête-moi ta plume
Pour écrire un mot
Ma chandelle est morte
Je n'ai plus de feu
Ouvre-moi ta porte
Pour l'amour de Dieu
Au clair de la lune
Pierrot répondit
Je n'ai pas de plume
Je suis dans mon lit
Va chez la voisine
Je crois qu'elle y est
Car dans sa cuisine
On bat le briquet
Au clair de la lune
L'aimable Lubin
Frappe chez la brune
Qui répond soudain
Qui frapp' de la sorte
Il dit à son tour
Ouvrez votre porte
Au dieu de l'amour
Au clair de la lune
On n'y voit qu'un peu
On chercha la plume
On chercha du feu
En cherchant d' la sorte
Je n' sais c' qu'on trouva
Mais je sais qu' la porte
Sur eux se ferma.
Under the moonlight:
"My friend Pierrot
Lend me your pen
So I can write a note.
My candle is out,
I no longer have a light.
Open your door for me,
For the love of God!"
Under the moonlight:
Pierrot replied,
"I don't have a pen,
I'm in my bed.
Go to the neighbor's house,
I believe she's there,
Because in her kitchen,
Someone lit a match."
Under the moonlight:
Kind Rubin
Knocks at the brunette's door.
All of a sudden she replies,
"Who's knocking like that?"
He says in turn,
"Open your door,
For the god of love."
Under the moonlight:
Only a little can be seen,
The pen was looked for
A light was looked for,
Searching like this
I don't know what was found,
But I do know that the door
Was closed on them.
Comments
We asked Vee, a graphic artist from Martinique, about which songs she grew up with. She wrote, "We were mostly rocked by the rhymes of France: 'Frère Jacques', 'Au clair de la Lune', 'Il était un petit navire'."
Thanks and Acknowledgements
Many thanks to Elena for contributing the 1st two verses of this song and to Monique Palomares for contributing the missing verses and creating the midi music. Translation by Lisa Yannucci and Monique Palomares. Thanks to Vee for letting us know about songs sung to children in Martinque!
The illustration is from Chansons et rondes enfantines (1871) with a little graphical editing and cropping by Lisa Yannucci.
Merci beaucoup !
