by Anonymous / Unidentified Author
Translation by Harry Rodney Bennett (1890 - 1948), as Rodney Bennett
Le pauvre laboureur
Language: French (Français)
Le pauvre laboureur
Il a bien du malheur
Du jour de sa naissance
'L est déjà malheureux.
Qu’il pleuve, qu’il tonne, qu’il vente,
Qu’il fasse mauvais temps,
L’on voit toujours, sans cesse,
Le laboureur aux champs.
[ ... ]
Le pauvre laboureur
[A de]1 petits enfants ;
Les [envoie]2 à la charrue
[À l’âge de]3 quinze ans.
[Il a perdu sa femme
À l’âge de trente ans ;
Elle le laisse tout seul
Avecques ses enfants.]4
Le pauvre laboureur,
Il est toujours [content]5 ;
Quand [’l]6 est à la charrue,
Il est toujours [chantant]7.
Il n’est [roi]8 ni prince,
Ni [duc]9, ni seigneur
Qui [ne vive]10 de la peine
Du pauvre laboureur.
R. Quilter sets stanzas 1, 3-4
About the headline (FAQ)
View original text (without footnotes)1 Quilter: "L'a deux"
2 Quilter: "mène"
3 Quilter: "N'ont pas encor'"
4 Quilter:
Qu’il pleuve, qu’il tonne, qu’il vente, Qu’il fasse mauvais temps, L’on voit toujours, sans cesse, Le laboureur aux champs.5 Quilter: "chantant"
6 Quilter: "il"
7 Quilter: "content"
8 Quilter: "ni roi"
9 Quilter: "ducque"
10 Quilter: "n'vive"
Text Authorship:
- by Anonymous / Unidentified Author, "Le pauvre labourer"
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Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]
This text was added to the website: 2022-01-30
Line count: 32
Word count: 152
The man behind the plough See base text
Language: English after the French (Français)
The man behind the plough,
He has trouble and to spare.
From the cradle to the grave
Heavy burden must he bear.
Come rain, come wind, come tempest,
No matter when or how,
His toil must be unceasing,
The man behind the plough.
...
The man behind the plough,
He has bairns to call his own;
Must breed them to his trade,
Some are babes and some half grown.
Come rain, come wind, come thunder,
No matter when or how,
His life is toil and labour,
The man behind the plough.
The man behind the plough,
He will sing the time along;
As he guides the cleaving share...
Never is the day an hour too long.
No prince, nor duke, nor lordling,
Nor king with crown on brow
But lives upon his labour,
The man behind the plough.
Composition:
- Set to music by Roger Quilter (1877 - 1953), "The man behind the plough", published 1947, stanzas 1,3-4 [ voice and piano ], from The Arnold Book of Old Songs, no. 9, London, Boosey & Hawkes, also set in French (Français)
Text Authorship:
- by Harry Rodney Bennett (1890 - 1948), as Rodney Bennett
Based on:
- a text in French (Français) by Anonymous/Unidentified Artist , "Le pauvre labourer"
Go to the general single-text view
Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]
This text was added to the website: 2022-01-30
Line count: 32
Word count: 137