Depuis plus de trois cents ans [First line] (AU1998-1071-001a)

Dublin Core

Title

Subject

Franco-Americans--New England

French-Canadians--New England

Folk Songs, French--New England

Folk Songs, French--Québec (Province)

Franco-Americans--Music

French-Canadians--Music

Description

Excerpt from interview of Alberta Gagné (TC1998-1071-001a) by Martha Pellerin. Part of a project (VFC1998-0007) on Franco-American song in New England funded by the Vermont Folklife Center and undertaken by Pellerin. Interview is one in a series of six conducted between 1995-01-09 and 1995-12-06 as an effort to document the French language song repertoire of Gagné.

“Depuis plus de trois cents ans” (“For more than three hundred years”) is a 1932 song written by Gaspé-born Montreal singer, songwriter, jaw harp, harmonica and fiddle player Mary Travers Bolduc (known affectionately to her audiences as “Madame Bolduc” or simply “La Bolduc”), titled “As-tu vu l’éclipse?” commemorating a solar eclipse which occurred on August 31, 1932. The verse has the same melody as another Bolduc song, “Le voleur de poule” which La Bolduc recorded in 1939 on the Starr label. Ah!

Madame Bolduc did not record “As-tu vu l’éclipse?” but she did apparently sing it in public, either on the radio or during one of her many tours with the Troupe du bon vieux temps, a vaudeville-style touring group which toured in Quebec and Franco-American New England in the 1930s. Alberta Gagné learned this song from one of her cousins.

Abstract

For over 300 years, we have heard experts say that an eclipse would occur in 1932; at four in the afternoon, it was as dark as night; the lights were on, everyone started to shout. What was the best was to see the animals: the little birds in their nests thought it was nighttime; all the hens took their perches; when the sun returned, the rooster began to crow. There were some who were undone, who began to weep, when they lost their nerve to see the sun eclipse. When darkness came, they were nearly dead with fear, I tell you that it wasn’t long, they were making their act of contrition. There were those with their heads up looking into the sky, with their piece of smoked glass; their faces were all filthy. They got a sprain and came home dizzy; from all that looking skywards, they no longer see clearly. Ah! I tell you in Sorel, people swarmed in like cockroaches; some were on boats, on roofs, on hillsides. When the moon saw this, she said to the sun: “Don’t show up”. It began to get dark; and she said: “Try to catch up with me.”

Source

VFC1998-0007 Martha Pellerin Collection. TC1998-1071 interview with Alberta Gagné. Vermont Folklife Center Archive, Vermont Folklife Center, Middlebury, Vermont, United States of America.

Date

1995-07-10

Rights

Identifier

vfc1998-0007_tc1998-1071-001a-001a

Coverage

Vermont (state)

New England (general region)

Quebec (province)

Highgate Center (inhabited place)

Song Item Type Metadata

Supplied Title

Depuis plus de trois cents ans qu'on entendait dire les savants (first line)

Standard Title

As-tu vu l’éclipse?

First Line

Depuis plus de trois cents ans qu'on entendait dire les savants

Transcription

Depuis plus de trois cents ans qu'on entendait dire les savants

Que l'eclipse doit avoir lieu et en mille neuf cent trente deux

A quatr' heure d'l'apres-midi Il faisait noir comme la nuit

Les lumieres sont allumees pi l'monde sont mis a crier