First song of the morning | Behind our small farm

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by Henri Pourrat (1887 - 1959)

Translation © by Laura Prichard

Le chante‑matin

Language: French (Français)

Our translations: ENG

    [Proche de]¹ notre métairie,
    Dans cet endroit sous le sorbiers,
    Mi-terre vague, mi-prairie,
   Où les poules cherchent leur vie
Entre le puits-fontaine et le vieux colombier,
Perché sur les fagots, gonflé, battant des ailes,
Devers le jour vermeil au fin bout des touzelles,
Le coq chante au vent vif. Et sais-tu ce qu’il dit ?
    « Tiens-toi debout ! la nuit s’achève ;
    « Celui qui premier se lève
    « Entre en Paradis ! »

Available sung texts: (what is this?)

• G. Strong

View original text (without footnotes)

Confirmed with Henri Pourrat, Chansons: Liberté, Société littéraire de France, 1922.

¹ Strong: "Derrière"

Text Authorship:

by Henri Pourrat (1887 - 1959) [author's text checked 1 time 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 George Templeton Strong (1856 - 1948), "Le chante-matin", 1931, published 1937 [ high voice and piano or orchestra ], from Trois aquarelles pour chant et piano, no. 1, Genève, Éd. du Siècle Musical [sung text checked 1 time]

Research team for this page: Emily Ezust [Administrator] , Laura Prichard [Guest Editor]

This text was added to the website: 2025-08-07
Line count: 11
Word count: 73

First song of the morning

Language: English after the French (Français)

Behind our small farm,
    In this place under the ash trees,
    Half wasteland, half prairie,
    Where the chickens peck and scratch
Between the fountain’s basin and the old dovecote,
Perched on the sticks, puffed up, beating its wings,
Towards the vermillion sky over the tops of the turrets,
The rooster crows in the brisk wind. And do you know what it says?
    “Get on your feet! The night is over;
    He who rises first
    Will enter Paradise!”

Translator's note for line 5: a dovecote is a birdhouse for doves.

Text Authorship:

Translation from French (Français) to English copyright © 2025 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 Henri Pourrat (1887 - 1959)
- Go to the text page.

This text was added to the website: 2025-10-08
Line count: 11
Word count: 77