| HISTORY |
This
song is probably of French-Canadian origin rather than French or Acadian.
In his collection of songs titled "La Bonne Chanson", Father Charle-Emile
Gadbois included the following note with this song (whose author is unknown):
"The text of this song is based on a game of words. In the vernacular of
colonial Quebec, the name "Moine /Monk" is given to a small toy called
in France: "German Top / toupie d'Allemagne". Apparently, the "Moine/ Monk"
is actually a top (toupie) that the child puts into a spin with a cord
and as it spins, the child tries to make the top dance by whipping it lightly
with the cord." So this explains the metaphor of referring to the toy top
as a monk, and then singing this song which basically tells the top (Monk)
that if it dances, the child will give it a list of things that are important
to a monk, a hood, a cincture, a rosary, a monk's habit, a book of psalms
and in the final verse, a general promise to give other things. |
| INTERPRETATION |
Each
verse is written in the first person of the child who repeats in each verse
that "If only my monk wanted to dance, I would give him a (hood, cincture,
a rosary, a monk's habit, a book of psalms and in the sixth verse, a general
promise to give other things.) And then, in the refrain (the last four
lines of each verse), the child speaks directly to the 'Monk' telling him
to danse. And in the last three lines, paraphrasing "you are not dancingprobably
because you don't hear
the
dance (dancing music) or probably because you don't hear the rhythm of
my mill...the rhythm of my mill working." |
| LYRICS |
Ah!
si mon moi-ne vou-lait dan-ser!
Ah!
si mon moi-ne vou-lait dan-ser!
Ah!
si mon moi-ne vou-lait dan-ser!
Un
ca-pu-chon je lui donn-e-rais,
Un
ca-pu-chon je lui donn-e-rais.
Dan-se,
mon moin', dan-se!
Tu
n'en-tends pas la dan-se,
Tu
n'en-tends pas mon mou-lin, lon la.
Tu
n'en-tends pas mon mou-lin mar-cher.
Ah!
si mon moi-ne vou-lait dan-ser!
Ah!
si mon moi-ne vou-lait dan-ser!
Un
cein-tur-on je lui donn-e-rais.
Un
cein-tur-on je lui donn-e-rais.
Dan-se,
mon moin', dan-se!
Tu
n'en-tends pas la dan-se,
Tu
n'en-tends pas mon mou-lin, lon la.
Tu
n'en-tends pas mon mou-lin mar-cher.
Ah!
si mon moi-ne vou-lait dan-ser!
Ah!
si mon moi-ne vou-lait dan-ser!
Un
chap-e-lai je lui donn-e-rais.
Un
chap-e-lai je lui donn-e-rais.
Dan-se,
mon moin', dan-se!
Tu
n'en-tends pas la dan-se,
Tu
n'en-tends pas mon mou-lin, lon la.
Tu
n'en-tends pas mon mou-lin mar-cher.
Ah!
si mon moi-ne vou-lait dan-ser!
Ah!
si mon moi-ne vou-lait dan-ser!
Un
froc de bur' je lui donn-e-rais.
Un
froc de bur' je lui donn-e-rais.
Dan-se,
mon moin', dan-se!
Tu
n'en-tends pas la dan-se,
Tu
n'en-tends pas mon mou-lin, lon la.
Tu
n'en-tends pas mon mou-lin mar-cher.
Ah!
si mon moi-ne vou-lait dan-ser!
Ah!
si mon moi-ne vou-lait dan-ser!
Un
beau psau-tier je lui donn-e-rais.
Un
beau psau-tier je lui donn-e-rais.
Dan-se,
mon moin', dan-se!
Tu
n'en-tends pas la dan-se,
Tu
n'en-tends pas mon mou-lin, lon la.
Tu
n'en-tends pas mon mou-lin mar-cher.
S'il
n'a-vit fait voeu de pau-vre-te!
S'il
n'a-vit fait voeu de pau-vre-te!
Bien
d'aut-res chos' je lui donn-e-rais.
Bien
d'aut-res chos' je lui donn-e-rais.
Dan-se,
mon moin', dan-se!
Tu
n'en-tends pas la dan-se,
Tu
n'en-tends pas mon mou-lin, lon la.
Tu
n'en-tends pas mon mou-lin mar-cher. Fin. |