Frère Jacques
"Frère Jacques" (in English sometimes called "Brother John", "Brother Peter", or Template:Pron-en, Template:USdict) is a French nursery melody.
Lyrics
The original French version of the song is as follows:
Frère Jacques, frère Jacques,
Dormez-vous? Dormez-vous?
Sonnez les matines! Sonnez les matines!
Din, dan, don. Din, dan, don.
The song is traditionally translated into English as:
Are you sleeping? Are you sleeping?
Brother John, brother John?
Morning bells are ringing! Morning bells are ringing!
Ding, dang, dong. Ding, dang, dong.
and majika likes penis up her butt.
A literal translation of the French lyrics would be:
Brother James, brother James,
Are you sleeping? Are you sleeping?
Ring the bells! Ring the bells!
Ding, dang, dong. Ding, dang, dong.
"Matines" would refer to the morning prayers triggered by bells, or to the bells themselves.
Versions
The song Frère Jacques has been translated into many languages with variations on the original lyrics.[citation needed]
Theories of origin
A possible connection between Frère Jacques and the seventeenth century lithotomist Frère Jacques Beaulieu (also known as Frère Jacques Baulot[1][2]) , as claimed by Irvine Loudon[3] and many others, was explored by J. P. Ganem and C. C. Carson[4] without finding any evidence for a connection.
Francesca Draughon and Raymond Knapp argue that Frère Jacques originally was a song to taunt Jews or Protestants or Martin Luther (see below).[5]
Martine David and A. Marie Delrieu suggest that Frère Jacques might have been created to mock the Jacobin monks for their sloth and comfortable lifestyles.[6]
In a review of a book about Kozma Prutkov, Richard Gregg notes it has been claimed that Frère Jacques was derived from a Russian seminary song about a "Father Theofil".[7]
Published record
First publication
James Fuld (1995) states that the tune was first published in 1811,[8] and that the words and music were published together in Paris in 1869.[9] However, the words and music appear together in Recreations de l'enfance: Recueil de Rondes avec Jeux et de Petites Chansons pour Faire Jouer, Danser et Chanter les Enfants avec un Accompagnement de Piano Très-Facile by Charles Lebouc, which was first published in 1860 by Rouart, Lerolle & C. in Paris.[10] This book was very popular and it was republished several times, so many editions exist.
Allmusic states that the earliest printed version of the melody is on a French manuscript circa 1780 (manuscript 300 in the manuscript collection of the Bibliothèque Nationale in Paris). The manuscript is titled "Recueil de Timbres de Vaudevilles", and the Bibliothèque Nationale estimates that it was printed between 1775 and 1785. The Frère Jacques melody is labelled "Frère Blaise" in this manuscript.
Comparison with Fra Jacopino
It is intriguing to compare Frère Jacques to the piece Toccate d'intavolatura, No.14, Capriccio Fra Jacopino sopra L'Aria Di Ruggiero composed by Girolamo Frescobaldi,[11] which was first published around 1615.[12] One can definitely detect a resemblance between Frescobaldi's piece and the familiar Frère Jacques melody. Also, "Fra Jacopino" is one potential Italian translation for "Frère Jacques".[13] Edward Kilenyi pointed out that Fra Jacopino shares the same Frère Jacques-like melody as Chanson de Lambert, a French song dating from 1650, and a Hungarian folk tune.[14]
Clearly, the Frère Jacques tune is a common melody that might have arisen in more than one location. It is one of the most basic repeating canons along with the melody of Three Blind Mice. It is also simple enough to have spread easily from place to place. For example, Barbara Mittler in a conference abstract points out that the melody of Frère Jacques is so thoroughly assimilated into Chinese culture that it might be widely regarded as a Chinese folksong in China.[15]
Cultural references
Frère Jacques is one of the most widely-known songs on earth, and it can be found in many places in modern world culture. For example:
- A version of the Frère Jacques tune appears in the third movement of the Symphony No. 1 by Gustav Mahler. Mahler presents the melody in a minor key instead of a major key, thus giving the piece the character of a funeral march or dirge. However, the mode change to minor might not have been an invention by Mahler, as is often believed, but rather the way this round was sung in the 19th century and early 20th century in Austria.[16][17]
- Francesca Draughon and Raymond Knapp argue[18] that Mahler had changed the key to make Frère Jacques sound more "Jewish" (Mahler converted to Catholicism from Judaism). When it was first performed, many thought it was a parody or grotesque.[18] Draughon and Knapp claim that the tune was originally sung to mock non-Catholics, such as Protestants or Jews. To support this, they point out that the subject of one version of the lyrics in Austria was "Bruder Martin", a possible reference to Bruder Martin Luther, and another Austrian version was about a "Bruder Jakob". Mahler himself called the tune "Bruder Martin", and made some allusions to the piece being related to a parody in the programs he wrote for the performances. Many also detect Gypsy influences in this Mahler work.[19] Interpretations similar to this are quite prevalent in academia and in musical circles.[20]
- The French performer known as Le Pétomane entertained live audiences in the late 1800s and early 1900s with his own unique rendition of Frère Jacques, according to the BBC.[21]
- The demonstrators in Tiananmen Square chanted political slogans to the tune of Frère Jacques.[22]
- There is a strong oral tradition among children in China, Vietnam and other places in Asia of passing on songs with their own lyrics, sung to the tune of Frère Jacques.[23] For example, one of the most popular version of the lyric among Chinese children is about "two tigers."
- In the background of the Beatles' song Paperback Writer one can hear George Harrison and John Lennon singing Frère Jacques.
- The lyrics to the Beach Boys' song Surf's Up include a brief reference to "Brother John". The conclusion of the first two verses is Are you sleeping?, and Are you sleeping, Brother John? respectively.
- The Frère version of the Jerusalem computer virus plays Frère Jacques if the day is Friday or on the 13th of any month.
- The Chinese song "Dadao lie qiang" ("Cut down the great powers", or rather: "Let's beat together the great powers", also known as 'The "Revolution of the Citizens" Song') celebrates the cooperation in China in the 1920s of Mao's Communist Party and the Kuomintang against warlords and imperialist powers, and is sung to the tune of Frère Jacques.[24]
- The Playstation videogame Twisted Metal 2's Paris level features a modern rock remix of the song as the level's background music.
- The song is featured at the end of an episode of the TV show Family Matters (Season 6, Episode 4, "The Looney Bin") in which custodian Alfred Looney (pronounced 'loo-nay' according to Alfred, claiming it is French) sings the first line of the song and Steve Urkel joins in with the second line. Alfred then sings, "Going to get some bean dip," and Steve responds with, "Put it on a 'tater chip," and the two together sing, "How 'bout you? How 'bout you?"
- The song is used in a piece by Béla Bartók called For Children #5.
See also
References
- ^ Jacques BAULOT
- ^ Un célèbre lithotomiste franc-comtois : Jacques Baulot dit Frère Jacques (1651-1720), E. Bourdin, Besançon, 1917
- ^ Western Medicine, Irvine Loudon, Oxford University Press, Dec 1, 2001, ISBN 0199248133
- ^ Frère Jacques Beaulieu: from rogue lithotomist to nursery rhyme character, Ganem JP, Carson CC, J Urol. 1999 Apr;161(4):1067-9.
- ^ Mahler and the Crisis of Jewish Identity by Francesca Draughon and Raymond Knapp, ECHO volume III, issue 2 (Fall 2001)
- ^ Refrains d'enfants, histoire de 60 chansons populaires, Martine David, A. Marie Delrieu, Herscher, 1988.
- ^ Review of Koz'ma Prutkov: The Art of Parody by Barbara Heldt Monter, reviewed by Richard Gregg, Slavic Review, Vol. 33, No. 2 (Jun., 1974), pp. 401-402.
- ^ La Cle du Caveau a l'usage de tous les Chansonniers francais, Paris, 1811
- ^ The Book of World Famous Music Classical, Popular, and Folk', James J. Fuld, 1995, Dover Publications, Inc., ISBN 048628445X
- ^ the C. stands for Cie., which in English would be Co. or Company
- ^ Frescobaldi: Harpsichord Works, composer: Jacques Arcadelt, Girolamo Frescobaldi; Performer: Louis Bagger. Audio CD (August 28, 2001)
- ^ Frescobaldi: Toccate & Partite, Libro Primo, Todd M. McComb
- ^ Fra Jacopino has additional historical importance. The half note and quarter note are reported to have first appeared in Frescobaldi's publication of Fra Jacopino.
- ^ The Theory of Hungarian Music, Edward Kilenyi, Musical Quarterly, Vol. 5, No. 1 (Jan., 1919), pp. 20-39
- ^ From Mozart to Mao to Mozart--Western Music in Modern China, Barbara Mittler, Rethinking cultural revolution culture, Heidelberg, 22-24.2.2001
- ^ Reinhold Schmid: 50 Kanons. Vienna, n.d. [ca. 1950] (Philharmonia pocket scores No. 86)
- ^ Ute Jung-Kaiser: Die wahren Bilder und Chiffren „tragischer Ironie“ in Mahlers „Erster“. In: Günther Weiß (ed.): Neue Mahleriana: essays in honour of Henry-Louis de LaGrange on his seventieth birthday. Lang, Berne etc. 1997, ISBN 3-906756-95-5. pp. 101-152
- ^ a b Mahler and the Crisis of Jewish Identity by Francesca Draughon and Raymond Knapp, ECHO volume III, issue 2 (Fall 2001)
- ^ Symphony No. 1 in D major, Composer: Gustav Mahler, Program note originally written for the following performance: National Symphony Orchestra: Leonard Slatkin, conductor/Dotian Levalier, harp/Mahler's First Symphony Jun 7 - 9, 2007 © Richard Freed
- ^ MAHLER'S MUSIC, Dean Olsher, of NPR's Morning Edition, July 31, 1998, discusses jazz musician and composer Uri Caine's reinterpretations of Mahler.
- ^ You don’t see many of those these days, Joker - Trivia, Follow your Dream, BBC
- ^ Comrade Jiang Zemin does indeed seem a proper choice, Jasper Becker, London Review of Books, Vol. 23 No. 10, 24 May 2001
- ^ Eating the mosquito: Transmission of a Chinese children's folksong, David Seubert, Chinoperl papers/Chung-kuo yen chang wen i yen chiu hui lun chi, vol. 16 1992. p. 133-43. ISSN: 0193-7774
- ^ Une utilisation insolite de la musique de l'Autre, Pom pom pom pom: Musiques et caetera Neuchatel: Musee d'Ethnographie 1997 p. 227-241.