Friday, June 4, 2010

RE: La Fille Damnee

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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 ()

5 comments:

  1. Agreed, Ms. Corbel is an awesome artist.

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  2. Hi 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...

    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 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.

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  3. 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.

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  4. Actually I was re-reading my last post and I found some more errors in it, so I correct myself^^
     
    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 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 !

    ReplyDelete