Ah! si mon moine voulait danser
Danse, mon moine, danse!
Chanson traditionnelle du…XVIIe siècle?
At LA BONNE CHANSON we read:
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.
Father Gadbois’s note conjures up a curiously violent image: whipping a person to make him dance… (as if the spinning were not dancing enough…)
On the other hand, the text is not without a certain logic. A top doesn’t really look like a monk; so, if it is to be a monk, it will need all kinds of monkish objects (including clothing). These things a monk may be given as, in a sense, personal possessions. However, in view of the vow of poverty the monk-in-becoming will have taken, he may be given nothing else.
(For alternative interpretations, see the comments below.)
Here it is being sung by the incomparable Nana Mouskouri, from the 1985 album: Vieilles chansons de France. The album cover shows her wearing her trademark Nana-Mouskouri frames.
For a change of pace, here it is performed by what is perhaps a Cajun group, over an unrelated video by “Three Days Grace” (see the comment below by JW). The gifts in this version are musical instruments.
Conditional Sentences in This Song
The song gives many examples (though always with the same verbs) of what I call “the second kind of conditional sentence,” that is to say “present-contrary-to-fact/future less vivid,” with the verb of the condition in imperfect indicative and the verb of the consequence in present conditional.
The only variation is in the sixth stanza, where we have a pluperfect indicative (avait fait, for a past-contrary-to-fact condition) instead of an imperfect.
French Lyrics (English Translation Follows)
1 Ah! Si mon moine voulait danser!
Ah! Si mon moine voulait danser!
Un capuchon je lui donnerais
Un capuchon je lui donnerais
Danse, mon moine, danse!
Tu n’entends pas la danse
Tu n’entends pas mon moulin, lon la
Tu n’entends pas mon moulin marcher.
2 Ah! Si mon moine voulait danser!
Ah! Si mon moine voulait danser!
Un ceinturon je lui donnerais
Un ceinturon je lui donnerais.
Danse, mon moine danse!
Tu n’entends pas la danse
Tu n’entends pas mon moulin, lon la
Tu n’entends pas mon moulin marcher.
3 Ah! Si mon moine voulait danser!
Ah! Si mon moine voulait danser!
Un chapelet je lui donnerais
Un chapelet je lui donnerais.
Danse, mon moine danse!
Tu n’entends pas la danse
Tu n’entends pas mon moulin, lon la
Tu n’entends pas mon moulin marcher.
4 Ah! Si mon moine voulait danser!
Ah! Si mon moine voulait danser!
Un froc de bur’ je lui donnerais
Un froc de bur’ je lui donnerais.
Danse, mon moine danse!
Tu n’entends pas la danse
Tu n’entends pas mon moulin, lon la
Tu n’entends pas mon moulin marcher.
5 Ah! Si mon moine voulait danser!
Ah! Si mon moine voulait danser!
Un beau psautier je lui donnerais
Un beau psautier je lui donnerais.
Danse, mon moine danse!
Tu n’entends pas la danse
Tu n’entends pas mon moulin, lon la
Tu n’entends pas mon moulin marcher.
6 S’il n’avait fait voeu de pauvreté1
S’il n’avait fait voeu de pauvreté
Bien d’autres chose je lui donnerais
Bien d’autres chose je lui donnerais.
Danse, mon moine danse!
Tu n’entends pas la danse
Tu n’entends pas mon moulin, lon la
Tu n’entends pas mon moulin marcher.
French Lyrics With English Translation
| 1 Ah! Si mon moine voulait danser! Ah! Si mon moine voulait danser! Un capuchon je lui donnerais , Un capuchon je lui donnerais. | 1 Ah, if my monk wanted to dance, Ah, if my monk wanted to danse, A hood I would give him, A hood I would give him. |
| Danse, mon moine, danse!
Tu n’entends pas la danse ! Tu n’entends pas mon moulin-lon-la Tu n’entends pas mon moulin marcher. | Danse, my monk, danse! You don’t hear the danse! You don’t hear my mill-lo-la, You don’t hear my mill running. |
| 2 … Un ceinturon… | 2 … A belt… |
| 3 … Un chapelet… | 3 … A rosary… |
| 4 … Un froc de bur’… | 4 … A woolen frock… |
| 5 … Un beau psautier… | 5 … A fine psalter… |
| 6 S’il n’avait fait vœu de pauvreté, Bien d’autres choses je lui donnerais. | 6 If he hadn’t made a vow of poverty, Many other things I would give him. |
- In the “Si” (“If”) clause of a conditional sentence, the “ne” by itself suffices for the negative. See the file Ne Without Pas.[↩]
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In the sixth verse, we learn that the monk has made a vow of poverty, so he can’t be given too many things. In many versions, there is a seventh and final verse, more ribald, that refers to his vow of chastity, and the fact that I would give him many other things (bien d’autres choses) if it were not for this vow.
That seventh verse you speak of was in all likelihood not part of the original children’s song…
I actually disagree – the whole song is kind of insipid and pointless without the punchline in the seventh verse. We don’t know that this was a children’s song, although a version for children likely would leave out the last verse.
While I admit that a song such us Il était une bergère most likely did not begin as a children’s song, and would suffer by the omission of the final verses revealing the nature of the erotic “penance,” I think the reverse is probably true for “Ah! si mon moine”: the sudden turn to the vow of celibacy in the verse you mention strikes me as an afterthought. In any case, I am perfectly happy that there should exist two versions of this song, to suit differing moods.
There are actually songs which are considered children’s songs at least now that have a similar vein. In Germany, there is a song asking a “Quisel” (a devout woman) to dance, and prmising her things for that (an egg, a cow, a horse, a hoouse), she refuses until the last verse: “dance, quisel, i’ll give you a man/husband – yes, says the lovely quisel, then I will dance as best as I can”. People weren’t that prudish back then.
Thanks for this information! What is the song called in German?
I think that the whole song is a double entendre, and sexual in nature. In sung French the final silent e is pronounced, so the first line actually sounds as “Ah si mon moine ne voulait danser”. In a conditional “si” clause, no “pas” is required to complete the negative, so in that case the meaning of the lyric is turned on its head – if my monk does NOT want to dance. Couple this with the fact that no Quebec girl would refer to her priest as “mon moine”, but as “mon père, and it is clear that the man in question is not a monk at all, but a young man who behaves like one. That’s why it makes sense for the young woman to say that if he will not dance (have sex with her), then she will give him a monk’s clothing, because he might as well be one. If he were already a monk, he’d have all that gear, and the lyric wouldn’t make sense.
She says that he does not hear the dance, i.e. the dance of life. Here’s another telling thing – in my edition the line “tu n’entends pas mon moulin marcher” is not even translated. To my mind this is clearly a reference to her own sexual urges. She is hot to trot, even if he is not. In this context the final couplet makes perfect sense; if he had not taken a vow of (sexual) poverty, for whatever reason (maybe she’s ugly, maybe her father has threatened him with a shotgun), then she would give him all kinds of sexual favours.
The interpretations involving spinning tops etc. make no sense. This one does.
Your readings are persuasive!
My Father used to sing this song when I was a little boy
I think the song is of French origin
My father knew quite a few songs that he learned from his parents
The song, I believe was of French origin
Thanks, your site’s discussion of “Ah! si mon moine voulait danser” is the most thoughtful I’ve found.
As another example of a children’s song also having adult content, consider the very beautiful “Il pleut, bergère” (It’s Raining, Shepherdess), also known as “L’orage” (The Rainstorm) or “L’hospitalité” (Hospitality). I grew up with a bowdlerized English version on a Disney longplaying record, and only recently discovered the full version.
The full French lyrics (from http://www.mamalisa.com/?t=es&p=4171) are reprinted at the foot of this message. Here is an English translation of the romantic passages:
It’s raining, it’s raining, shepherdess,
Hasten your white sheep,
Let’s go into my thatched cottage,
Shepherdess, quick, let’s go.
….
Well there! There you are?
In her corset, how beautiful she is!
Mother, look at her.
….
Well then! Here is your bed,
Sleep there till daybreak;
Let me take, on your mouth,
A kiss of love.
Do not blush, shepherdess,
Tomorrow, my mother and I will
Go to your father’s house
To ask for your hand in marriage.
[Full French lyrics of the song:]
Il pleut, il pleut, bergère,
Presse tes blancs moutons ;
Allons sous ma chaumière,
Bergère, vite, allons :
J’entends sur le feuillage,
L’eau qui tombe à grand bruit ;
Voici, voici l’orage ;
Voilà l’éclair qui luit.
Entends-tu le tonnerre ?
Il roule en approchant ;
Prends un abri, bergère,
À ma droite, en marchant :
Je vois notre cabane…
Et, tiens, voici venir
Ma mère et ma sœur Anne,
Qui vont l’étable ouvrir.
Bonsoir, bonsoir, ma mère ;
Ma sœur Anne, bonsoir ;
J’amène ma bergère,
Près de vous pour ce soir.
Va te sécher, ma mie,
Auprès de nos tisons ;
Sœur, fais-lui compagnie.
Entrez, petits moutons.
Soignons bien, ô ma mère !
Son tant joli troupeau,
Donnez plus de litière
À son petit agneau.
C’est fait : allons près d’elle.
Eh bien ! donc, te voilà ?
En corset, qu’elle est belle !
Ma mère, voyez-la.
Soupons : prends cette chaise,
Tu seras près de moi ;
Ce flambeau de mélèze
Brûlera devant toi ;
Goûte de ce laitage ;
Mais tu ne manges pas ?
Tu te sens de l’orage,
Il a lassé tes pas.
Eh bien ! voilà ta couche,
Dors-y jusques au jour ;
Laisse-moi sur ta bouche
Prendre un baiser d’amour.
Ne rougis pas, bergère,
Ma mère et moi, demain,
Nous irons chez ton père
Lui demander ta main.
Very useful article.
I just have to point out that the last video you have here is not actually music from the band Three Days Grace. The user who posted the video just used video clips from Three Days Grace’s music videos as a back for someone else’s music. Not sure who is actually performing… some Cajun or Acadian group, I’d guess by the sound of it. Three Days Grace is a grunge rock band. Definitely not the style you hear in the video.