In my house, we sing lots of comptines, or French nursery rhymes.

I’m partial myself to Au clair de la lune, which coincidentally, is the song featured on one of the earliest recordings ever made in 1860. (You can listen to it here, although it is somewhat difficult to hear.) However, there is a simpler (and newer) song that, once it gets into your head, it gets stuck! My son is partial to this song, in particular, and often sings it during car rides. Called “Les petites poissons dans l’eau,” it features only four lines of lyrics, or paroles:

Les petits poissons dans l’eau

Les petits poissons dans l’eau, nagent, nagent, nagent, nagent ,
Les petits poissons dans l’eau nagent aussi bien que les grands.

les grands, les petits nagent comme il faut

Nager, here conjugated in the third person plural nagent means “to swim.” Note that, as in many French songs and poetry, the typically silent “e” at the end of nagent is pronounced. You can listen to it here:

Another favorite is “Il était un petit navire,” which, like some of the older French  nursery rhymes, is more complex and darker. It didn’t start out as a children’s song and if you take a listen to the lyrics, you might understand why. It tells the story of a young shipwrecked sailor who is picked to be eaten by his famished crew mates–and then saved by the grace of god. Some scholars believe that it is about the wreck of the Medusa in 1810–and that the song must date back to shortly after that time.

The song is lengthy, but repetitious–and the melody is very catchy.

The first verses begin:

Il était un petit navire

There was once a little boat

Qui n’avait ja-ja-jamais navigué

That had never sailed

Ohé ! Ohé !

Ahoy! Ahoy!

Ohé ! Ohé ! Matelot,

Ahoy! Ahoy! Sailor,

Matelot navigue sur les flots

Sailor sailing on the high seas

Ohé ! Ohé ! Matelot,

Ahoy! Ahoy! Sailor,

Matelot navigue sur les flots

Sailor sailing on the high seas

 

Some of the later verses recount the darkest moments of the shipwreck:

On tira à la courte paille,

They drew straws,

Pour savoir qui-qui-qui serait mangé,

To figure out who would be eaten,

Ohé ! Ohé !

Ahoy! Ahoy!

 

Le sort tomba sur le plus jeune,

Fate selected the youngest boy,

C’est donc lui qui-qui-qui fut désigné,

It was thus him who was chosen,

Ohé ! Ohé !

Ahoy! Ahoy!

You can listen to the song and watch an animated video of it here.

Of course, the song ends on a high note, but it’s a pretty dark tale to recount. Many nursery rhymes have entered into history this way and relate stories some parents would consider too macabre for their children today, in English as well (“Ring around the rosies,” anyone?.

Can you think of other French nursery rhymes you are particularly fond of?