Marilee wrote me…
I was looking for a song my mother used to sing to my children when they were little. She said her father sang it, too. They were of French Canadian heritage and her father and mother lived in a French settlement in Illinois. My mother spoke French until she was 7 years old!
Anyway, the song I am looking for went like this, sang while bouncing a child on your leg:
Ce bonhomme, si gentil
Toujours danse, toujours rit
Dans (what followed sounded like “lac a teea dayna” from what I can remember)
Whoop! Whoop! Whoop!I do remember my mother placing the child on her knee, singing the first two lines and one more line and then going whoop whoop whoop while bouncing the child up and down on the lower part of the leg (the shin).
I hope you can find something on this. Thank you.
Marilee
Monique at Mama Lisa’s World en français provided the following translation:
This little man, so nice,
Always dances and always laughs
In the ?
If anyone can help with the rest of this song, please comment below.
Thanks!
Lisa
This article was posted on Saturday, October 14th, 2006 at 9:56 am and is filed under Canada, Canadian Children's Songs, Children's Songs, Countries & Cultures, France, French, French Kids Songs, Languages, Mama Lisa, Questions. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.
4 Responses to “Looking for a French Canadian Song”
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January 31st, 2010 at 2:25 pm
That is the song sung for Quebec’s winter carnival. It happens every annually in Quebec city, Canada.
‘bonhomme’ is the name of the snowman ‘mascot’ ( if you’d call it that ) of the festival.
I suggest visiting Quebec at this time ( starts on January 29, and ends in 17 days.) Perhaps even stay in the ice hotel.
January 31st, 2010 at 4:13 pm
That’s interesting Nicole. I wonder if you know the rest of the song?
January 31st, 2010 at 9:48 pm
That may be a different song called Salut Bonhomme which you can hear here.
August 27th, 2011 at 2:04 pm
the song that i need is 100 years old or more
here are some of the lyrics
mourir a peine age vinght ans
mon dieu consollez moi mes peines