by
Michel Veber (1896 - 1965), as Nino
Le bengali
Language: French (Français)
J'avais le plus joli de tous les bengalis;
Il chantait tout le jour
Mille chansons d'amour,
Cui, cui, cui, cui, cui, cui.
Quand il n'était pas sage,
Je mettais dans sa cage
Un morceau de pain sec
Pour qu'il y fit son bec.
Mais quand il était mignon
Je lui donnais du bon mouron,
Du millet, du chènevis,
Et même un morceau de biscuit,
Cuit, cuit, cuit, cuit, cuit, cuit.
Mais tout passe, tout lasse, tout casse.
Bengali tomba dans la casserole
où cuisait la soupe aux choux
Et nous l'avons mangé tout cuit,
Cuit, cuit, cuit, cuit, cuit, cuit.
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 bengal finch", copyright © 2016, (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: 18
Word count: 100
The bengal finch
Language: English after the French (Français)
I had the prettiest of all bengali finches;
He sang all day
A thousand songs of love
Cui, cui, cui, cui, cui, cui.
When it was not well behaved,
I put in his cage
A piece of dry bread
Upon which to sharpen its beak.
But when he was cute
I gave him good birdseed,
Some millet, some hemp,
And even a piece of biscuit,
Cuit, cuit, cuit, cuit, cuit, cuit.
But everything passes, everything wears out, everything breaks.
The bengal finch fell into the casserole dish
when I was cooking the cabbage soup
And we ate it all cooked
Cuit, cuit, cuit, cuit, cuit, cuit.
Translator's notes:
Line 13 - a play on the sound of the bird, echoing the last syllable of the word “biscuit”
Line 18 - a play on the sound of the bird, echoing the word “cooked”
Text Authorship:
- Translation from French (Français) to English copyright © 2016 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.
Contact: licenses@email.lieder.example.net
Based on:
- a text in French (Français) by Michel Veber (1896 - 1965), as Nino
This text was added to the website: 2016-04-14
Line count: 18
Word count: 106