La prière d’un vieillard (AU1998-1071-010)
Dublin Core
Title
La prière d’un vieillard (AU1998-1071-010)
Subject
Description
Excerpt from interview of Alberta Gagné (TC1998-1071-010) 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.
“La prière d’un vieillard” (“The old man’s prayer”) is a song of unknown authorship which is more commonly known in Quebec and Franco-American New England as “Souvenir(s) d’un vieillard.” The earliest known appearances of this song date to late 1930 when the song was recorded on the Starr label by Eugène Daignault (issue # 15784; matrix # 4611, side A) and early 1931, when the song was recorded for the Victor label by Conrad Gauthier (issue # 263794, side A). In both cases, the record label information includes the information “vieille chanson” (“old song”) but furnishes no information about its composer.
The song was published by Abbé Charles-Émile Gadbois in his immensely popular moralizing songbook series, La Bonne Chanson, which was widely disseminated throughout Franco-American New England in the mid-20th century.
Alberta Gagné’s version includes the usual first, fifth and sixth verses of this song, but omits the second, third, and fourth verses.
“La prière d’un vieillard” (“The old man’s prayer”) is a song of unknown authorship which is more commonly known in Quebec and Franco-American New England as “Souvenir(s) d’un vieillard.” The earliest known appearances of this song date to late 1930 when the song was recorded on the Starr label by Eugène Daignault (issue # 15784; matrix # 4611, side A) and early 1931, when the song was recorded for the Victor label by Conrad Gauthier (issue # 263794, side A). In both cases, the record label information includes the information “vieille chanson” (“old song”) but furnishes no information about its composer.
The song was published by Abbé Charles-Émile Gadbois in his immensely popular moralizing songbook series, La Bonne Chanson, which was widely disseminated throughout Franco-American New England in the mid-20th century.
Alberta Gagné’s version includes the usual first, fifth and sixth verses of this song, but omits the second, third, and fourth verses.
Abstract
Little children, run in the fields; sing and play in the gay perfume of the flowers; enjoy the springtime of life; too soon, alas, you will shed tears. Little children, when I was your age, I enjoyed the sweet pleasure of love. My life then flowed without labor; I saw naught but days of happiness. In getting older, I came to know sadness; those whom I loved, I saw them disappear. Oh! Allow me to express my tenderness; it is while showing my love that I would like to die.
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
Rights
Copyright (c) Vermont Folklife Center
Relation
Full Interview: vfc1998-0005_tc1998-1071
Language
fra
Identifier
vfc1998-0007_tc1998-1071-001b-003
Song Item Type Metadata
Supplied Title
La prière d’un vieillard
Standard Title
Souvenir(s) d’un vieillard
First Line
Petits enfants courez dans la prairie
Transcription
(BEGIN SINGING)
A. "Petits enfants courez dans la prairie"
Petits enfants, courez dans la prairie,
Chantez, jouez au gai parfum des fleurs,
Profitez bien du printemps de la vie,
Trop tôt hélas ! vous verserez des pleurs.
[Refrain] :
Derniers amours de ma vieillesse,
Venez à moi, petits enfants.
Je veux de vous une caresse,
Pour oublier, pour oublier mes cheveux blancs.
Petits enfants, quand j'étais à votre âge,
Je profitais de la douce joie du cœur.
Ma vie alors s'écoulait sans d'ouvrage,
Je ne voyais que des jours de bonheur.
Refrain
En grandissant j'ai connu la tristesse,
Ceux que j'aimais, je les ai vu partir.
Oh ! Laissez-moi vous prouver mes tendresses,
C'est en aimant que je voudrais mourir.
Refrain
(END SINGING)
Translation
[Refrain]:
Final loves of my old age,
Little children, come to me.
I seek from you an embrace,
To forget, to forget my whitened hair.
strophic; four-line verses; three verses; one four-line refrain sung between verses and after last verse
Final loves of my old age,
Little children, come to me.
I seek from you an embrace,
To forget, to forget my whitened hair.
strophic; four-line verses; three verses; one four-line refrain sung between verses and after last verse
Interviewer
Location
Original Format
sound cassette (analog)
Files
Citation
“La prière d’un vieillard (AU1998-1071-010),” Vermont Folklife Center Digital Collections, accessed December 26, 2024, https://vtfolklifearchive.org/collections/items/show/296.
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