Poor birdie...
Rich and I were at lunch at Red Robin today, where in celebration of somebody's birthday, the Red Robin staff were singing their non-copyrighted version of the birthday song, to the tune of "Alouette", the French song that many of us learned as children without having any idea what it meant. Rich calls it the "Jaunty Alouette" song, and I said I didn't think the word was "jaunty". Neither of us knew what Alouette was, I thought it was a girl's name. So, I decided to google for "Alouette lyrics".
In French, the words are:
Alouette, gentille alouette
Alouette, je te plumerai
Je te plumerai la tête
Je te plumerai la tête
Et la tête - et la tête
Alouette - alouette
O, o, o, o, o
translated to English, this is:
Lark, gentle lark
Lark, I will pull your feathers off
I will pull the feathers off your head
I will pull the feathers off your head
And the head - and the head
Lark, lark
O, o, o, o, o
Eeeek! It goes on with additional verses that add different parts of the body from which the person who is threatening to torture the gentle lark will pluck the feathers. I had no idea! I sat there in Red Robin singing all the verses, in English, with both of us laughing near to tears while I was doing so.
I always thought it was just a nice children's song...
In French, the words are:
Alouette, gentille alouette
Alouette, je te plumerai
Je te plumerai la tête
Je te plumerai la tête
Et la tête - et la tête
Alouette - alouette
O, o, o, o, o
translated to English, this is:
Lark, gentle lark
Lark, I will pull your feathers off
I will pull the feathers off your head
I will pull the feathers off your head
And the head - and the head
Lark, lark
O, o, o, o, o
Eeeek! It goes on with additional verses that add different parts of the body from which the person who is threatening to torture the gentle lark will pluck the feathers. I had no idea! I sat there in Red Robin singing all the verses, in English, with both of us laughing near to tears while I was doing so.
I always thought it was just a nice children's song...