À la claire fontaine
Je voudrais que la rose fût encore au rosier
A traditional song going back to the 18th century, well known in both France and Québec. The first line has been adopted as the name of many a camping site in those places. Meanwhile the refrain (Il y a longtemps que je t’aime) has been used as the title of a feature film starring Kristin Scott Thomas.
There are quite a few YouTube videos of this song, but often with quite deplorable animation. Also, you need to look out for a reality series about junior soccer players calling itself “A la Clairefontaine.” You may be best off with this version that is taken from another feature film (The Painted Veil). [The Song in the Film at YouTube.]
The Present That Begins in the Past
If you learn the refrain of the song, it will help you to remember that, in this kind of construction, the present tense covers a portion of the past as well as the present: “I have loved you for a long time.” It is the equivalent of: Je t’aime depuis longtemps.
See Temporal Expressions & Their Tenses.
The Imperfect Subjunctive in Secondary Sequence
There is a verb in this tense and mood in stanza 5: Je voudrais que la rose / Fût encore au rosier. The subjunctive is normal after a verb of wishing (vouloir). Imperfect subjunctive is appropriate in secondary (historical) sequence. (See the Language file Literary Subjunctive: Formation and the topic Literary Subjunctive in Secondary Sequence.)
Conditional present (voudrais) initiates secondary sequence, just as any past tense does. In what sense is conditional present a past tense? It is so, because the conditional is, in its original function, a future-in-the-past. See Uses of the Conditional A.
French Lyrics (English Translation Follows)
1 À la claire fontaine1
M’en allant promener
J’ai trouvé l’eau si belle
Que je m’y suis baigné.
Il y a longtemps que je t’aime,
Jamais je ne t’oublierai.
2 Sous les feuilles d’un chêne
Je me suis fait sécher.
Sur la plus haute branche
Un rossignol chantait.
Il y a longtemps que je t’aime,
Jamais je ne t’oublierai.
3 Chante, rossignol, chante,
Toi qui as le cœur gai;
Tu as le cœur à rire,
Moi, je l’ai-t-à pleurer.2
Il y a longtemps que je t’aime,
Jamais je ne t’oublierai.
4 J’ai perdu ma maîtresse
Sans l’avoir mérité
Pour un bouquet de roses
Que je lui refusai.3
Il y a longtemps que je t’aime,
Jamais je ne t’oublierai.
5 Je voudrais que la rose
Fût encore au rosier
Et moi et ma maîtresse
Dans les mêmes amitiés.
Il y a longtemps que je t’aime,
Jamais je ne t’oublierai.
French Lyrics With English Translation
| 1 À la claire fontaine M’en allant promener J’ai trouvé l’eau si belle Que je m’y suis baigné. | 1 At/To the bright/clear spring Going off on a walk I found the water so fine That I took a dip in it. |
| Il y a longtemps que je t’aime, Jamais je ne t’oublierai. | I have loved you for a long time. Never will I forget you. |
| 2 Sous les feuilles d’un chêne Je me suis fait sécher. Sur la plus haute branche Un rossignol chantait. | 2 Beneath the leaves of an oak I let myself dry off. On the highest branch A nightingale was singing. |
| Il y a longtemps, etc. | I have loved you, etc. |
| 3 Chante, rossignol, chante, Toi qui as le cœur gai; Tu as le cœur à rire, Moi, je l’ai-t-à pleurer. | 3 Sing, nightingale, sing, You who have a gay heart; You have a heart for laughing, I have a heart for weeping. |
| Il y a longtemps, etc. | I have loved you, etc. |
| 4 J’ai perdu ma maîtresse Sans l’avoir mérité Pour un bouquet de roses Que je lui refusai. | 4 I have lost my girl-friend Without having deserved it On account of a bouquet of roses That I wouldn’t give her. |
| Il y a longtemps, etc. | I have loved you, etc. |
| 5 Je voudrais que la rose Fût encore au rosier Et moi et ma maîtresse Dans les mêmes amitiés. | 5 I could wish that the rose Were still on the rose-bush, And me and my lady-friend On the same good terms. |
| Il y a longtemps, etc. | I have loved you, etc. |
- “Une fontaine” has the same meaning in French as “une source,” that is, a spring of fresh water as it emerges from the ground.[↩]
- “Je l’ai-t-à” – the “t” is totally adventitious. It comes from a) analogy with the “t” that gets added to the third person singular verb in inversion: a-t-il, a-t-elle, and from b) the French dislike of “hiatus,” that is, one vowel following another without an intervening consonant.[↩]
- “Lui” – French students, note the indirect object lui used with this verb.[↩]
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verse 4 and 5 are incorrect :
4 J’ai perdu ma maîtresse
Sans l’avoir mérité is NOT original but instead should be : J’ai perdu mon amie Etc…
and same
5 Et moi et ma maîtresse
Dans les mêmes amitiés.
should be : Et que ma douce amie fût encore à m’aimer.
Thanks for the amendment.
I met a wonderful Breton singer at the traditional singing festival that used to take place in Ennistymon, Co. Clare. I sang the Québécois version I grew up with and she taught me the version she knew. My version is voiced by a man regretting that he didn’t give his girlfriend a bouquet of roses. The older version is voiced by a female— “J’ai Perdue mon ami Pierre… pour un bouton de rose (code for maidenhead) que je lui refusai…” — whole different story! I always thought the Québec version was a bit soppy :)
I learned ‘bouton de rose’, too.
Actually, I learned ‘C’est pour mon ami Pierre / Qui [qqc] m’aimer…’
The French do grief over lost love much more honestly than English songwriters. Perhaps the English have a stronger taboo over self-pity?
Plaisir D’amour comes to mind: the pleasure of love lasts just a moment, the grief of love lasts all your life.
Dude, get over yourself!