959. Mademoiselle From Armentieres (Traditional)

[fly4fun610]

Wow, haven't heard this song in about 40 years or so and never so many verses. Great job! Thanks for posting.

[raymondcrooke]

@fly4fun610 You're welcome.

[skiprydell1]

This is how my grandfather would have heard it at his aerodrome.

[skokian1able]

Thank you - you're fabulous!



[raymondcrooke]

@skokian1able Thanks for watching.

[IvoniceAstrid]

lol.. i like this, reminds me of a not so charming rugby song i used to know at school !! ..( and it beats me why a girlie like me would have learnt such a song) .. brings back memories of my school days ;-))

[raymondcrooke]

@IvoniceAstrid Thanks for watching, Ivonice. I don't think I'll get started on the rugby songs!

[DitzyBrunett247]

My Dad used to sing a verse- The first marine went over the top parlez vous, the first marine went over the top parlez vous, the first marine went over the top he thought he heard a cannon shot. Hinky, dinky parlez vous. Do you know Over There? Over there. Over there. Say the word, say the word and beware. That the Yanks are coming, the Yanks are coming the Yanks are coming over there.... Another WWII song my dad used to like to sing. :)

[raymondcrooke]

@DitzyBrunett247 Yes. I'll put "Over There" on my list of songs to do. Right now I'm 'over here" in Bulgaria so it will have to wait until I get home.

[ismokedmt]

Good job, youre a great singer. I love this song and all its permutations, hearing it is like time travel

[raymondcrooke]

@ismokedmt Thanks for your comment.

[hapag16]

Well done Mate!

[raymondcrooke]

@hapag16 Danke, mein freund.

[ELOCN]

I understand the "doughboy" and the "Yanks" verses refer to Americans, but which verse(s) refer to ANZAC? Thanks in advance.

[raymondcrooke]

@ELOCN Sorry. I don't have that information.

[ELOCN]

I enjoyed your singing and playing so much! This is a very funny song. You did a great job.

[raymondcrooke]

@ELOCN Thanks. I'm glad you enjoyed it.

[p1ckerings]

Raymond this is fantastic as a ww1 re-enactor here in England you can not fond better singer for this song on this side off 1914 i love it the way you managed to add the doughboys and anzacs in it to. many thanks for posting.

[raymondcrooke]

@p1ckerings Thanks. I'm glad you liked it.

[Robbobli]

hi raymond here are the verses that i remember two german officers crossed the line parlez vous two german officers crossed the line parlez vous two german officers crossed the linr to kiss the women and drink the wine inky dinky parlez vous oh landlord have you daughter fair parlez vous oh landlord have you daughter fair parlez vous oh landlord have you daughter fair with lilly white breasts and long black hair inky dinky parlez vous

[raymondcrooke]

@Robbobli Thanks for that.

[Robbobli]

hi raymond my dad fought in the ttrenches in france in wwi he used to sing a different version to me as a child a clean version of course if you are interested i will post them to you

[raymondcrooke]

@Robbobli There are many versions of this song. Yes, please send me your version.

[Gascarius]

Hello MMJ,

I write in english for the other fellows.

I live in Warneton, on the German side of the trench lines just 4 km to Ploegsteert.

This song is only known nowadays by the very old french people from Armentières and only on the French lyrics version. That one is a politically correct version where the madmoizelle marry with a british lieutenant - colonel.. Needless to say the troopers version gets my favour.

[raymondcrooke]

@Gascarius Thanks for that information.

[mmj273]

I live in Ploegsteert - Belgium, on the front line trenches of WW1. At Saint-Yvon, Lt. Bruce Bairnsfather prmiers made his drawings in a house and thus created the character Old Bill.

Further, 2km is Armentieres.

Can I use your song to make a clip-video-cartoon drawings of the war 1914 ? Plug-street with your voice ?

[raymondcrooke]

@mmj273 Yes, certainly. You are welcome to use it. I'll be interested to see how it turns out.

Thanks for the video response.

[waredragon92]

My aunt and I found a letter writen by my great grandma (not sure when but we know it was before she was married) it was something that my great grandfather sent her from WWI. It another version of this song(a dirty version) needless to say it was very shocking for us to find something writen by her that had words like that in it.

[raymondcrooke]

@waredragon92 Nice to be reminded that our ancestors were ordinary human beings like ourselves.

[starwarsequalslife]

My great great uncle wrote this!!

[raymondcrooke]

So what was his name?

[starwarsequalslife]

George Nicholson. Unfortunately, he has not been credited for it :(

[raymondcrooke]

I can't find any information to confirm this. Do you have anything to prove it?

[mktmic7]

awesome *******

[raymondcrooke]

Thanks for watching.

[edberge]

Nice performance, but with respect to the tune, I've always heard it referred to as a close relative of the same song family as Johnny I Hardly Knew Ye and When Paddy Works on the Railway (or more distantly, Captain Kidd) - makes sense to me; the meter and the verse structure are very close.

[raymondcrooke]

"Johnny I Hardly Knew Ye" is the most popular video I've uploaded to YouTube. There are obvious similarities between these songs. Maybe "Mademoiselle" was based on "When Johnny Comes Marching Home" which would have been well-known in the services.

[barttheanorak]

I'd always wondered where that stray line about Hinky Dinky Parly Voo came from - thanks for enlightening us, it all makes sense now.

[raymondcrooke]

So what does "Hinky Dinky" mean? It doesn't make sense to me!

[OfficialArmonist]

Nice song!

[raymondcrooke]

Thanks.

[raymondcrooke]

Thanks, Max. I'd be interested to hear your lyrics.

[lewdite]

I can't imagine where you managed to find all these verses...

Great rendition.

[raymondcrooke]

You should hear the ones I left out!

[JeanaDylan83]

Hmmm nice raymond.

Like the noise. :)

5 stars.

JeanaDylan83

[raymondcrooke]

I thought a bit of censorship was in order, this being a family channel! : -)

[nondepouk]

straight in my favourites Raymond; very beautiful and 5 stars.

salutations from France,

Jean

[raymondcrooke]

Thanks, Jean. Not quite a French song, but almost!

[SirCoughsalot]

This is simply hilarious.

[raymondcrooke]

Thanks. I suppose the soldiers needed something to keep their spirits up as they marched into battle.

[hultonclint]

ha ha, I laughed when I saw the title and that you would be presenting this classic. Good one!

[raymondcrooke]

Thanks for the video response. Ranzo.

[hultonclint]

There is another rare song that is probably a distant relative of this...but you have to drop in all the other "relatives" in between before the connection makes sense...especially since this has been converted to a chantey format:

/watch?v=OKWL11AZ4Sg

It relates to the soldiers who "crossed the Rhine" to see the Madamoiselle...but that's a discussion for another time.

[blinddrunkal]

Never heard so many verses of this before !! Wonderful, Raymond ***** All the best :o) Alan

[raymondcrooke]

Thanks, Alan. There are more, but I thought that was enough!