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Bilingual Bedtime/French songs
ComptineCounting rhyme

Papa, les p'tits bateaux.

The melody of Papa, les p'tits bateaux 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.

  1. Papa, les p'tits bateauxpah-pah, lay ptee bah-tohPapa, the little boats
  2. Qui vont sur l'eau, ont-ils des jambes ?kee vohn sewr loh, ohn-teel day zhahn-buh ?That go on the water, do they have legs?
  3. Mais oui, petit bêta,meh wee, puh-tee beh-tah,Why yes, you little silly,
  4. S'ils n'en avaient pas, ils n'march'raient pas !seel nahn-nah-veh pah, eel n'mahrsh-reh pah !If they didn't have any, they wouldn't walk!

About this song

A question every French toddler asks and every parent answers, printed with its tune by Boutet de Monvel in 1883; families sing Maman today where the old print has Papa. Bêta is an affectionate silly-billy. Bounce the child on your knee like a boat on the water, and lift them high on the last pas.

Where it comes from

The words: Maurice Boutet de Monvel, Vieilles chansons et rondes pour les petits enfants (Plon, 1883), p. 30, music by J.-B. Weckerlin.

The tune: Boutet de Monvel, Vieilles chansons et rondes pour les petits enfants (Plon, 1883), p. 30: the plate's own vocal staff (Weckerlin, Allegro, B-flat major, 2/4, eighth-note pickup), read on the fr.wikisource scan of the 1931 reprint and checked bar for bar against Mama Lisa's World's engraving and MIDI and fr.wikipedia's score (both G major), which agree with it throughout; engraved at the plate's key

From the book

Bilingual Bedtime

Thirty-Five French Songs for Children

Buy paperbackBuy KindleBuy hardcoverAbout this edition
Il était un petit navireAll 35 songsFais dodo, Colas, mon p'tit frère
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