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Bilingual Bedtime/French songs
Chanson à gestesAction song

Alouette.

Alouette, gentille Alouette

The melody of Alouette on a staff, as engraved in the book
Download the tune

The melody as written on the staff, so you can learn the tune before you sing.

Verse 1

  1. Alouette, gentille Alouette,a-loo-eht-tuh, zhahn-teey a-loo-eht-tuh,Lark, sweet lark,
  2. Alouette, je te plumerai,a-loo-eht-tuh, zhuh tuh plew-muh-ray,Lark, I will pluck your feathers,

Verse 2

  1. Je te plumerai la tête, je te plumerai la tête,zhuh tuh plew-muh-ray la teht, zhuh tuh plew-muh-ray la teht,I will pluck your head, I will pluck your head,
  2. Et la tête, et la tête, O.ay la teht, ay la teht, oh.And your head, and your head, O.

Verse 3

  1. Je te plumerai le bec, je te plumerai le bec,zhuh tuh plew-muh-ray luh behk, zhuh tuh plew-muh-ray luh behk,I will pluck your beak, I will pluck your beak,
  2. Et le bec, et le bec.ay luh behk, ay luh behk.And your beak, and your beak.

Verse 4

  1. Je te plumerai le nez, je te plumerai le nez,zhuh tuh plew-muh-ray luh nay, zhuh tuh plew-muh-ray luh nay,I will pluck your nose, I will pluck your nose,
  2. Et le nez, et le nez.ay luh nay, ay luh nay.And your nose, and your nose.

Verse 5

  1. Je te plumerai le dos, je te plumerai le dos,zhuh tuh plew-muh-ray luh doh, zhuh tuh plew-muh-ray luh doh,I will pluck your back, I will pluck your back,
  2. Et le dos, et le dos.ay luh doh, ay luh doh.And your back, and your back.

Verse 6

  1. Je te plumerai les pattes, je te plumerai les pattes,zhuh tuh plew-muh-ray lay paht, zhuh tuh plew-muh-ray lay paht,I will pluck your feet, I will pluck your feet,
  2. Et les pattes, et les pattes.ay lay paht, ay lay paht.And your feet, and your feet.

Verse 7

  1. Je te plumerai le cou, je te plumerai le cou,zhuh tuh plew-muh-ray luh koo, zhuh tuh plew-muh-ray luh koo,I will pluck your neck, I will pluck your neck,
  2. Et le cou, et le cou.ay luh koo, ay luh koo.And your neck, and your neck.

About this song

A cumulative French-Canadian favourite: its first known printing is a Montreal student songbook of 1879, and it is now sung on both sides of the Atlantic. Alouette means lark. Each round adds one more body part to touch as you sing: head, beak, nose, back, feet, neck, repeating the whole growing list each time.

Where it comes from

The words: William Parker Greenough, Canadian Folk-Life and Folk-Lore (George H. Richmond, New York, 1897).

The tune: en.wikipedia 'Alouette (song)', Melody section: the article's LilyPond score block (G major, 4/4; refrain then verse), cross-checked against Greenough's own engraving (1897, p. 141, archive.org leaf n192): refrain and the verse's second bar agree note for note; Greenough sets the verse's first bar D D G F-sharp G B D and dots the eighths, and the modern 'Alouette, Alouette' bar before the falling 'Ah/O' is absent from his text, so it is left out here and the O carries the descent

From the book

Bilingual Bedtime

Thirty-Five French Songs for Children

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Il court, il court, le furetAll 35 songsSur le pont d'Avignon
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