1053. Alouette (Traditional French)

The origins of this popular cumulative children's song are unclear. It is generally believed to be of French Canadian origin, and it was first published in Montreal in 1879 in A Pocket Song Book for the Use of Students and Graduates of McGill College, but Canadian folklorist Marius Barbeau believed it was originally from France.

An "alouette" is a skylark, and the song is about plucking the feathers from various parts of the body to prepare it for eating. American servicemen learned it in France during WWI and took it back to America with them.

I sing it here with a little help from my two-year-old grandson and my wife. Please excuse my poor pronunciation. After all, I'm only 25% French!

A playlist of my children's songs is here: http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=9A4DBB328B5832A5

You can see a playlist of my European songs here: http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLA7AAFFAA9C4D61BD

For lyrics and chords of all my songs, please see my website: http://www.raymondcrooke.com

Category:

Music

Tags:

• folk
• song
• france
• Canada
• skylark
• pluck
• feathers
• axel
• cross
• arms
• children
• kids

[wizardmagic10288]

I am Haitian (French descent) and I grew up with French songs like this one. My mom would sing this to me and my sisters all the time. It's one of our favorites. Hearing it again brings back good memories.

[raymondcrooke]

@wizardmagic10288 I'm pleased to hear it brought back happy memories for you.

[taxii2011]

My grandad uster sing this to me. Brings back memories

[raymondcrooke]

@taxii2011 It's a good one to sing to grandchildren.

[michael74FR]

Great. Thank you

[raymondcrooke]

@michael74FR You're welcome.

[TreebranchGump]

so whats the name of your grandson the little boy on the song

[raymondcrooke]

@TreebranchGump My wife!

[TreebranchGump]

who is yoong

i really would like to know

[raymondcrooke]

@knoxtunes You're welcome. He sings this song all the time now. Drives his parents crazy!