by
Max Jacob (1876 - 1944)
Berceuse
Language: French (Français)
Available translation(s): ENG ENG GER
Ton père est à la messe,
Ta mère au cabaret,
Tu auras sur les fesses
Si tu vas encore crier.
Ma mère était pauvresse
Sur la lande à Auray
Et moi je fais des crêpes
En te berçant du pied.
Si tu mourais du croup,
Coliques ou diarrhées
Si tu mourais des croûtes
Que tu as sur le nez,
Je pêcherais des crevettes
À l'heure de la marée
Pour faire la soupe aux têtes:
Y a pas besoin de crochets.
First published in the revue Commerce, no. 22, Winter 1929, as the second of a collection of poems titled "Morven Le Gaëlique- Poèmes", and then later in Chants Bretons et inédits signés Morven le Gaélique, Paris, Éd. NRF Gallimard, 1953.
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 (Faith J. Cormier) , "Lullaby", copyright © 2004, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
- ENG English [singable] (Michael P Rosewall) , "Lullaby", copyright © 2023, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
- GER German (Deutsch) (Bertram Kottmann) , "Wiegenlied", copyright © 2015, (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: 16
Word count: 80
Lullaby
Language: English  after the French (Français)
Your father is at Mass,
your mother at the cabaret.
You'll have a spanking
if you cry again.
My mother was a poor woman,
on the plain of Auray,
and I make pancakes
and rock you with my foot.
If you died of the croup,
colic or diarrhea,
if you died of the crust
on your nose,
I would fish for shrimp
when the tide came in.
You don't need hooks
to make fishhead chowder.
Authorship:
- Translation from French (Français) to English copyright © 2004 by Faith J. Cormier, (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: 2004-12-09
Line count: 16
Word count: 75