(♦)
Good Friday to you Guests!
I have a belated post for you today, very late, very late indeed! I have an update to the post La Fille Damnee (♣), I now have the proper French-English translation. This is all thanks to Micheline. While it still might not be the exact translation because as Micheline explained to me in an email, her French is Canadian. The French in the song is from France. The two types of French are very close though, and will give a better understanding than the translation I provided you.
So once again, here is the translation of Cécile Corbel’s song “La Fille Damnee”
Dis moi combien, combien de deniers
Tell me how much, how much money
Forgeron, pour ferrer mon coursier
Blacksmith, to shoe my horse
C'est cinq sols, pour vous mon prince
It's five pounds, for you my prince
Seulement cinq sols et un dernier
Only five pounds and the last
J'etends chanter, j'entends chanter
I hear singing, I hear singing
La fille damnée, j'entends chanter
The damned girl, I hear singing
A la lune montante, j'etends l'oiseau chanter
To the rising moon, I hear the bird singing
Ma jolie, ma si jolie, file dans la nuit
My pretty, my so pretty, girl in the night
Au premier fer que tu mettras
With the first iron which you will put
Mon bon père, il va t'appeler
My good father, he will call
Au premier clou que tu poseras
With the first nail which you will pose
Il va t'appeler "mon père"
He will call "my father"
Qui est ce diable qui m'appelle père
Who is this devil which calls me father
Dis moi qui est-il sur le champ
Tell me who is in the field
C'est ta fille, ta chère fille Jeanne
It is your daughter, your dear daughter Jeanne
Ta fille, morte et enterrée
Your daughter, dead and buried
Dis moi, ma fille, qui t'a damnée
Tell me, my daughter, who your damned you
Là bas sur la lande et les blés
There low on the moor and in the wheat
C'est cet homme le long de la mer
It is a man along the sea
Chaque jour Il venait me trouver
Each day He came to find me
Prenez mon corps mon coeur et ma robe
Take my body my heart and my dress
Sous la lune il faut les brûler
Under the moon they should be burned
A la brune vous jetterez mes cendres
To the tide you will throw my ashes
Au vent, au vent vous les jetterez
To the wind, to the wind you will throw them
A big thanks once again to Micheline for the translation,
I hope you all enjoyed it
Wishing you cool breezes on warm summer days,
Links:
Cécile Corbel's Official Site (♥)
Cécile Corbel's Last.FM Profile (♥)
magnificent
ReplyDeleteAgreed, Ms. Corbel is an awesome artist.
ReplyDeleteHi there, I just found this blog while I was searching for the lyrics of "La fille damnée" and since French is my native language (wich means English isn't, so please excuse my awkwardness) I have one or two precisions to give to the really nice translation that is offered here, if you'll allow me...
ReplyDeleteDis moi combien, combien de deniers
Tell me how much, how much money
Forgeron, pour ferrer mon coursier
Blacksmith, to shoe my horse
C'est cinq sols, pour vous mon prince
It's five pounds, for you my prince
Seulement cinq sols et un dernier
Only five pounds and one denarius
J'entends chanter, j'entends chanter
I hear singing, I hear singing
La fille damnée, j'entends chanter
The damned girl, I hear singing
A la lune montante, j'etends l'oiseau chanter
To the rising moon, I hear the bird singing
Ma jolie, ma si jolie, file dans la nuit
My pretty, my so pretty, flee in the night
Au premier fer que tu mettras
When you will put the first horseshoe
Mon bon père, il va t'appeler
"My good father", he will call
Au premier clou que tu poseras
when you'll put the first nail
Il va t'appeler "mon père"
He will call "my father"
Qui est ce diable qui m'appelle père
Who is this devil which calls me father
Dis moi qui est-il sur le champ
Tell me who is in the field
C'est ta fille, ta chère fille Jeanne
It is your daughter, your dear daughter Jeanne
Ta fille, morte et enterrée
Your daughter, dead and buried
Dis moi, ma fille, qui t'a damnée
Tell me, my daughter, who damned you
Là bas sur la lande et les blés
There low on the moor and in the wheat
C'est cet homme le long de la mer
It(s that man along the sea
Chaque jour Il venait me trouver
Each day He came to meet me
Prenez mon corps mon coeur et ma robe
Take my body my heart and my dress
Sous la lune il faut les brûler
Under the moon they should be burned
A la brune vous jetterez mes cendres
At dusk you will throw my ashes
Au vent, au vent vous les jetterez
To the wind, to the wind you will throw them
It's minor precisions, I admit (but I told you the first translation was really nice !) but it could help a better understanding.
phenomenal! i adore this song, and cecile corbel. and thank you, altrast for the clarification on the lyrics. does anyone know if there is a folk tale behind the song? i love folk and faerie tales, so i would be very interested to know the full story.
ReplyDeleteActually I was re-reading my last post and I found some more errors in it, so I correct myself^^
ReplyDeleteDis moi combien, combien de deniers
Tell me how much, how much money
Forgeron, pour ferrer mon coursier
Blacksmith, to shoe my horse
C'est cinq sols, pour vous mon prince
It's five pounds, for you my prince
Seulement cinq sols et un denier
Only five pounds and one denarius
J'entends chanter, j'entends chanter
I hear singing, I hear singing
La fille damnée, j'entends chanter
The damned girl, I hear singing
A la lune montante, j'entends l'oiseau chanter
To the rising moon, I hear the bird singing
Ma jolie, ma si jolie, file dans la nuit
My pretty, my so pretty, flee in the night
Au premier fer que tu mettras
When you will put the first horseshoe
Mon bon père, il va t'appeler
"My good father", he will call you
Au premier clou que tu poseras
when you'll put the first nail
Il va t'appeler "mon père"
He will call you "my father"
Qui est ce diable qui m'appelle père
Who is this devil who calls me father
Dis moi qui est-il sur le champ
Tell me who is right now
C'est ta fille, ta chère fille Jeanne
It is your daughter, your dear daughter Jeanne
Ta fille, morte et enterrée
Your daughter, dead and buried
Dis moi, ma fille, qui t'a damnée
Tell me, my daughter, who damned you
Là bas sur la lande et les blés
There on the moor and in the wheat
C'est cet homme le long de la mer
It's that man along the sea
Chaque jour Il venait me trouver
Each day He came to meet me
Prenez mon corps mon coeur et ma robe
Take my body my heart and my dress
Sous la lune il faut les brûler
Under the moon they should be burned
A la brune vous jetterez mes cendres
At dusk you will throw my ashes
Au vent, au vent vous les jetterez
To the wind, to the wind you will throw them
And about a fairytale-based song : of course Cecile Corbel took inspiration from a long, long tradition of "lost young people", particularly frequent among the celtic tales (but not only among celtic ones). But it's more a general theme than a precise story in this case, even if we can find that it's a celtic based story who have been "catholicised", a current thing in Brittany. We can feel this catholic touch because transformation is a damnation in the song when metamorphosis is one of the most well considered way to receive occult initiation in the celtic mythology !