Our Singing Country
Complete Text, Lyrics & Sheet Music
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Our Singing Country |
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SEPT ANS SUR MER (Seven Years at Sea)
c. No. 31. Julien and Elida Hofpauir, New Iberia, La., 1 34. See BaS, p. 1255 Ba, p. 27.
"Perhaps no other sailor's chantey can compare with 'Seven Years at Sea' for fame and historical interest. It is one of the most extensively travÂeled songs of European folk repertoires. Best known on the shores of BritÂtany and Poitou where it seems to have originated, it has spread across France and followed the seacoast into neighboring countries, north and south. It occurs in Icelandic, Danish, Norwegian, Catalan, Portuguese, Spanish and Swiss versions. . . . Thackeray adapted it for a humorous rhyme entitled 'Little Billee.'" * |
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i On a reste six ans sur mer Sans pouvoir border la terre.t
2 Au bout de la septieme annee On a manque de provisions.
3 On a mange souris et rats Jusque le touvre du navire. |
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4 On a tire la courte paille Pour voir lequel qui s'rait mange.
* Marius Barbeau, Folk-Songs of French Canada, p. 125. f Repeat couplet to form each stanza. |
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