Jeune fillette, engagez-vous [first line] (AU1998-1073-002)

Dublin Core

Title

Jeune fillette, engagez-vous [first line] (AU1998-1073-002)

Description

Excerpt from interview of Alberta Gagné (TC1998-1073-002) 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.

“Jeune fillette engagez-vous” (”Young maiden, are you involved “) is a song on a theme which appears in a number of French-language songs passed down through oral tradition: a dialogue song between a young maiden who rebuffs the offers of her would-be older seducer. What makes this song a stand-out is that, to the best of the cataloguer’s knowledge, this is the first time this song has been documented. There are no known versions in either the Coirault or Laforte catalogues.

Abstract

“Young maiden, are you involved with lovers of your age, to taste the sweet pleasure of the wedding day? To be happy, one must love; that is earthly law; Would you like to be involved with me, little seamstress?” “Oh no, sir, I do not get involved with lovers of your age, They say in your regiment, that you are fickle; If I know how to sew and weave, I wish to remain a maiden; I do not need a carpenter in order to wield my needle;” “Someday love will find you, you will not forever stay a maiden, in the regiment you will find a tender and sensitive lover; you will love and marry him, this oh-so tender lover, you will love and marry him, in order to defend you.”

Source

VFC1998-0007 Martha Pellerin Collection. TC1998-1073 interview with Alberta Gagné. Vermont Folklife Center Archive, Vermont Folklife Center, Middlebury, Vermont, United States of America.

Date

1995-10-04

Rights

Copyright (c) Vermont Folklife Center

Relation

Full Interview: vfc1998-0005_tc1998-1073

Language

fra

Identifier

vfc1998-0007_tc1998-1073-001a-002

Song Item Type Metadata

Supplied Title

Jeune fillette engagez (first line)

Standard Title

[unknown]

Standard Title Reference

[not catalogued]

First Line

Jeune fillette engagez

Transcription

(BEGIN SINGING)

 

Jeune fillette, engagez-vous,

Avec des amants de votr’ âge,

Pour goûter le plaisir si doux,

Dans le temps du mariage ?

 

Pour être heureux, faut aimer,

C'est la loi sur terre.

Voudriez-vous vous y engagez,

Petite couturière? [repeat last four lines]

 

Ô, non, monsieur, je m'engage pas,

Avec des amants de votre âge,

On dit que dans votre régiment,

Vous avez passé pour volage.

 

Si je sais coudre et je sais mon métier,

Je veux rester fille,

J'ai pas besoin d'un charpentier,

Pour passer mon aiguille. [repeat last four lines]

 

Un jour l'amour viendra vous trouver,

Vous ne resterez pas toujours fille.

Dans le régiment vous en trouverez,

Un amant doux et sensible.

 

Vous l'aimerez, vous l'épouserez,

Cet amant si tendre.

Vous l'aimerez, vous l'épouserez,

Ce s'ra pour vous défendre. [repeat last four line]


(END SINGING)

 

Translation

strophic, four-line verses; four verses

Interviewer

Pellerin, Martha

Original Format

sound cassette (analog)

Files

vfc1998-0007_tc1998-1073-001a_002.mp3

Citation

“Jeune fillette, engagez-vous [first line] (AU1998-1073-002),” Vermont Folklife Center Digital Collections, accessed April 29, 2025, https://vtfolklifearchive.org/collections/items/show/317.

Position: 928 (483 views)