from Volkslieder (Folksongs)
Translation © by Laura Prichard

Lou coucut
Language: Occitan 
Our translations:  ENG
Lou coucut oqu'os un áuzel
Que n'io pas capt plus de to bel
Coumo lou coucut qué canto,
Lou mió coucut, lou tió coucut, 
è lou coucut dès autrès !
Dió ? Obès pas èntendut canta lou coucut ?

Per obal, found del prat,
Sé ni’o un áubré flourit è gronat,
Qué lou coucut l'i canto.
Lou mió coucut, lou tió coucut, 
E lou coucut des autrès.
Dió ? Obès pas èntendut canta lou coucut ?

E se toutse les coucuts
Bou lioù pourta souneto,
ô ! forióu çin cent troumpetoï !
Lou mió coucut, lou tió coucut,
E lou coucut des autrès.
Dió ? Obès pas èntendut canta lou coucut ?

Text Authorship:

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

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

  • ENG English (Laura Prichard) , "The cuckoo", copyright © 2019, (re)printed on this website with kind permission


Researcher for this page: Laura Prichard [Guest Editor]

This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 18
Word count: 103

The cuckoo
Language: English  after the Occitan 
The cuckoo is a bird
[And] none is more beautiful
When the cuckoo sings,
My cuckoo, your cuckoo.
and the cuckoo of others!
Say? Haven’t you heard the cuckoo’s song?

Below, in the meadow,
There’s a tree, flowering and verdant,
Where the cuckoo sings.
My cuckoo, your cuckoo,
And the cuckoo of others.
Say? Haven’t you heard the cuckoo’s song?

If all of the cuckoos
Wore a little bell,
oh! they’d sound like five hundred trumpets!
My cuckoo, your cuckoo,
And the cuckoo of others.
Say? Haven’t you heard the cuckoo’s song?

Translator's note for line 1-2: Literally, “than which” or “of which”

Text Authorship:

  • Translation from Occitan to English copyright © 2019 by Laura Prichard, (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.
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Based on:

 

This text was added to the website: 2019-07-20
Line count: 18
Word count: 92