L’oiseau qui vient de France (AU1998-1073-013)
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“C’est un oiseau qui vient de France” (”It’s a bird that comes from France“) is a sentimental, patriotic French song referencing the annexation by Prussia of Alsace-Lorraine following France’s defeat in the Franco-Prussian War in 1870. The lyrics are Belgian journalist, police informer, scam artist, and songwriter Alphonse Van Den Camp (1833-1901), writing under the pseudonym Camille Soubise, and the melody is by Frédéric Boissière (18 ??-1889).
One of most popular of a number of patriotic songs on the theme of Alsace-Lorraine, “C’est un oiseau qui vient de France” appears to have been an instant success from the moment it was first published in 1885 by J. Hiélard in Paris. It went on to become a perennial favorite in French-speaking communities on both sides of the Atlantic: there are numerous references to performances as well as recordings and sheet music editions published both in Franco-American New England and in Quebec between the Franco-Prussian War through the end of WWII.
Alberta Gagné’s version is virtually identical to the original lyrics and melody. She remembered having seen it in a published song collection from Quebec.
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(BEGIN SINGING)
L'OISEAU QUI VIENT DE FRANCE
Un matin du printemps dernier,
Dans une bourgade lointaine,
Un petit oiseau printanier,
Vint montrer son aile d'ébène.
Un enfant aux jolis yeux bleus,
Aperçut la brune hirondelle,
Et connaissant l'oiseau fidèle,
Le salua d'un air joyeux.
[Refrain] :
Les cœurs palpitaient d'espérance
Et l'enfant disait aux soldats :
« Sentinelles, ne le tirez pas,
Sentinelles, ne le tirez pas,
C'est un oiseau qui vient de France. »
La messagère du printemps,
Se reposait de son voyage,
Quand un vieillard aux cheveux blancs,
Vint à passer par le village.
Un cri joyeux poussé dans l'air,
Lui fit soudain lever la tête,
Et comme un ancien jour de fête,
Son œil brillait d'un regard fier,
Refrain
Tous les matins et tous les soirs,
Espérant son retour peut-être,
Une fillette aux cheveux noirs,
Apparaissait à sa fenêtre.
L'oiseau charmant vint se poser,
En dépit des soldats en armes,
Et l'enfant essuyant ses larmes,
Mit sur son aile un long baiser,
Refrain
Il venait de la plaine en fleurs,
Et tous les yeux suivaient ses traces,
Car il portait nos trois couleurs,
Qui flottaient gaiement dans l'espace.
Mais un soldat vise et fait feu,
Un grand coup part et l'hirondelle,
Qui soudain refermant ses ailes,
Tombe expirante du ciel bleu,
Il faut au cœur une espérance,
Rayon divin qui ne meurt pas,
Mais l'oiseau qui chantait là-bas,
Mais l'oiseau qui chantait là-bas,
Ne verra plus le ciel de France
(END SINGING)
MP: That last song--the word sentinelle is that a bird?
AG: Sentinelle is a soldier.
MP: Oh, yeah! OK!
AG: L'oiseau is a bird--l'oiseau qui vient de France.
(Unintelligible comments)
AG: Tu dois déjà avoir entendu ça.
AG: C'était sur les chansonniers canadiens ça.
UV: The child told the soldiers not to shoot the bird.
AG: Yeah. It's a long song but it's about a bird. And the little girl she knew ---- it was a sparrow---une hirondelle?
NG: Une hirondelle? A swallow.
AG: A swallow?
AG: And she didn't want to----the soldier to kill the bird. She kept telling him, but---
AG: ----they finally killed---
NG: I don't blame them---une hirondelle!
NG: --c't un beau p'tit oiseau une hirondelle. Y en a-tu chez vous de-t—ga Martha? Des hirondelles?
MP: What does it look like?
UV: A swallow?
NG: It's a small bird. They--they dive near--near the ground and pick up their insects. And their tail--a split tail like this--
MP: What color?
NG: Ah, they're bluish, dark bluish. Like a purple finch but prettier blue and --c'est orange icitte. Orange. They're a little bitty bird and they make their nest near barns, underneath eaves. House eaves or barn eaves. Usually they hang around where the barns are because there's a lot of insects. And they fly-and they're like this--they're divers and they fly near the ground. I mean they're--you know--their wing beats are not steady--they're like this.
MP: Yeah.
MP: I don't see them around my house.
NG: Les hirondelles? No?
NG: You know what they are though?
MP: Yeah. I--when you describe it I can picture it, but---
AG: I know my---
MP:--they're not common around my house.
AG: I know my--I know my--my mother was telling us we're not supposed to kill those birds.
MP: (Unintelligible)
NG: -----in the Spring, when they came--the guy I was hanging around with---he shot one---and he shot one--boy, was he mad! He said "Who gave you permission to shoot that bird?---
(Laughter)
AG: Any bird you're not supposed to shoot--
NG: ------Put that gun in your rig and when you go home leave it there. When you come back in the yard, there's no gun in your rig. That's the law here."
MP: Yeah.
NG: Boy! ------une hirondelle a part de-t-ça.
NG: Maman m'a -----I don't believe that old wives tale, but---Maman nous a dit, les hirondelles quand y en a sous les pieds à la grange laisse-les à la grange.
MP: Does it bring luck?
NG: (unintelligible)
MP: Yeah.
MP: You never know.
NG: Les hirondelles quand y on des p'tits là----
MP: Huh? ----a parle à sa mère.
AG: Yeah.
UV: It's a bird that God----that God protects.
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