Song of the rat | Abi-Abiruneeba

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by Léon-Paul Fargue (1876 - 1947)

Translation © by Peter Low

Air du rat

Language: French (Français)

Our translations: ENG

Abi Abirounère
Qui que tu n'étais don?
Une blanche monère
Un jo
Un joli goulifon
Un oeil
Un oeil à son pépère
Un jo
Un joli goulifon.

Text Authorship:

by Léon-Paul Fargue (1876 - 1947), nonsense poems [author's text not yet checked against a primary source]

Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive):

by Alfred Erik Leslie Satie (1866 - 1925), "Air du rat", 1923, from Ludions, no. 1 [sung text checked 1 time]

Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):

ENG English (Peter Low) , "Song of the rat", copyright © 2001, (re)printed on this website with kind permission

Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]

This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 9
Word count: 27

Song of the rat

Language: English after the French (Français)

 Abi-Abiruneeba,
 so who then were you not?
 A little white amoeba,
 a han-
 a handsome gobble-gob
 an eye -
  an eye for watching granpop
 a han -
 a handsome gobble-pot.

Translator's Note: The toy called a "ludion" in French, in English a "bottle-imp", is a figurine floating in a narrow bottle which has elastic over its mouth. When you press the elastic, the toy bobs up and down. Perhaps the poems (and songs?) could be called "Little Bobbing Bottle-Boys". The French words are playful and incoherent.

Text Authorship:

Translation from French (Français) to English copyright © 2001 by Peter Low, (re)printed on this website with kind permission. To reprint and distribute this author's work for concert programs, CD booklets, etc., you may ask the copyright-holder(s) directly or ask us; we are authorized to grant permission on their behalf. Please provide the translator's name when contacting us.
Contact: licenses@email.lieder.example.net

Based on:

a text in French (Français) by Léon-Paul Fargue (1876 - 1947), nonsense poems
- Go to the text page.

This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 9
Word count: 29