Lyr Req: Le long de la mer jolie

Subject: Lyr Req: Le long de la mer jolie
From: Artful Codger
Date: 08 Sep 05 - 11:18 PM

Does anyone have the lyrics to the song "Le long de la mer jolie", aka "Du long de la mer jolie" or simply "La mer jolie"? It was performed by Gabriel Yacoub on his album Pierre de Grenoble. Per Googling, it has also been recorded by Suzie LeBlanc and Les Petits Chanteurs du Mont Royale, though I don't know if this is the same song. It also appears in collections of songs of French Canada or Acadia. I believe it begins "Belle en barquee, belle en barquee...", and the chorus runs "Le long de la mer, de la jolie mer, jolie."

It may be contained in the following collection:
Boudreau, Daniel, ed. Chansons d'Acadie: Séries 1 à 4. Montreal: AGMV Marquis Imprimeur Inc. 2002.

Thanks in advance...

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Le long de la mer jolie
From: Malcolm Douglas
Date: 09 Sep 05 - 12:48 AM

My copy of Pierre de Grenoble has been missing in action for many years, so I can't quote any source information there may have been; but I do still have lyric transcriptions made long ago; that's if I can find them.

I won't trust to quoting from memory, but I can tell you meanwhile that "Belle en barquee" is gibberish; it's "Belle embarquez".

Gabriel Yacoub may have got the song from Marius Barbeau's collection; a set, pretty much identical, appears in A L Lloyd and Isabel Aretz de Ramón Rivera, Folk Songs of the Americas (London: Novello, 1965, 12) reproduced from Barbeau's Romancero du Canada (Toronto: MacMillan, 1937).

I'll try to revisit this tomorrow if your question remains unanswered.

Subject: Lyr/Tune Add: LE LONG DE LA MER JOLIE
From: Malcolm Douglas
Date: 09 Sep 05 - 10:36 PM

Gabriel Yacoub sang it a little differently from the Barbeau set, but the differences are not great. Lloyd & Rivera include a translation into English that I don't much care for, so I won't quote it. Presumably you won't want to sing the song unless you understand sufficient French to do it properly, in any case.

Le Long de la Mer Jolie

Belle', embarquez, bell' embarquez,
Dans mon gentil navire,
Le long de la mer, la joli' mer,
Le long de la mer jolie.

Mais quand la bell' fut embarqué,
Ell' rougit, ell' soupire.
Qu'avez-vous, qu'avez-vous donc,
Qu'a'-vous à soupirer?

Mon beau galant, si tu savais
De qui je suis la fille!
Je suis la fille du bourreau,
Le plus gros de la ville.

Bell', débarquez, bell' débarquez,
De mon gentil navire!
Quand la bell' fut débarqué',
Ell' ne faisait que rire.

Le marinier a demandé:
Qu'avez-vous, bell', à tant rire?
Mon beau galant, si tu savais
De qui je suis la fille!

Je suis la fille du bourgeouis,
Le plus rich' de la ville.
Bell' revenez, bell' revenez!
Je vous donn'rai cent livres!

Ni pour un cent, ni pour deux cents,
Ni pour cent mille livres.
Il faut plumer la perdrix
Tandis qu'elle est prise.
Le long de la mer, la joli' mer,
Le long de la mer jolie.


X:1
T:Le Long de la Mer Jolie
B:Folk Songs of the Americas, Lloyd and Rivera. London: Novello, 1965
S:(previous) Marius Barbeau, Romancero du Canada, 1937
L:1/8
Q:1/4=100
M:6/8
K:Bb
GAB c2 d|(c/B3/2)G F2 F|B3 BcB|
w:Bell', em-bar-quez, bell', em_bar-quez, Dans mon gen-til na-
G2 F/E/ F3/2F/F|{EF}G3-G2 4 F|(G/A/)Bc-c2 d
w:vi-re, Le long de la mer,_ la jo_lie' mer,_ Le
e3/2d/c G2 c|G {A}F2-HF3||FFF c2 d|(c/B3/2)G F2F|
w:long de la mer jo-li-e._ Mais quand la bell' fut em_bar-que',- Ell'-
c3 Bcd|(c/B/ G2) G2 z|(GA)B c2 d|(c/B3/)G F2 F|
w:rou-git, ell' sou-pi__re. Qu'a_vez-vous, qu'a-vez_vous donc, Qu'a-
B3 B3/2c/B|(G3/2F/)E/ {FE}F3/2F/F|{F}G3-G2 F|
w:vous a sou-pi-rer?_ Le long de la mer,_ La
(G/A/)Bc-c2 d|e3/2d/c G2 c|G/ {AG}F2-F3|]
w:jo_li' mer,_ Le long de la mer jo-li-e._

Subject: Lyr Add: LE LONG DE LA MER JOLIE
From: GUEST
Date: 09 Sep 05 - 10:38 PM

Le Long De La Mer Jolie
(Beside The Bright Sea)


1. Belle, embarquez, belle, embarquez
      Dans mon gentil navire.'

        REFRAIN: Le long de la mer, La jolie mer,
                Le long de la mer jolie.

2. Mais quand la bell' fut embarquee,
    Ell' rougit, ell' soupire,
    -Qu'avez-vous, qu'avez-vous donc,
    Qu' a' -vous a soupirer?

3. - Mon beau galant, si tu savais
        De qui je suis la fille!        
        Je suis la fille du bourreau,                
          Le plus gros de la ville.        .

4. - Bell'; debarque, bell', debarque        
      De mon gentil navire!        .
      Quand .Ia bell' fut debarque',                
       Ell' ne faisait que rire.        

5.   Le marinier a demande:
    -Qu'avez-vous, be!le, a tant rire?
       - Mon beau galant, si tu savais
       De qui je suis la fille . . .

6.    Je suis la fille du bourgeois
       - Le plus rich' de la ville.
         -.Bell', revenez, bell', revenez!
       Je vous donn'rai cent livres

7.   - Ni pour un cent, ni pour deux cents,
      Ni pour cent mille livres
      Il fallait plumer la perdrix
       Tandis qu'elle etait prise.

Dr. Barbeau declares without reservation that this sailors' and fishermen's song is one of the finest of our notional repertoire. He recalls with delight hearing it. along the sea coast on a summer evening, its ethereal notes rising and falling like swallows before a storm.
This particular form of the song has been found only in Canada, particularly among the Acadians of the Gaspe shore, but the story of the maid who used her wits to elude the sailor was known in various ports of France as for bock as the sixteenth century, and also spread to Italy and Spain. A similar tale is told in on old English ballad that was found in Nova Scotia: 'The Sea Captain" or- "The Maid on the Shore" (see, FOLK .SONGS OF CAf\iADA page 158).


From: "Chansons De Quebec" by E. F. Fowke & R Johnston, 1955, Waterloo Music Company, Waterloo, Ontario

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Le long de la mer jolie
From: Artful Codger
Date: 10 Sep 05 - 12:55 AM

What a wonderful group you are! Thank you for such obliging and speedy responses.

As for my "gibberish", I think I may be forgiven, considering that French is neither my first nor even third language. If I knew French well enough to avoid gibberish, I wouldn't have to ask for the lyrics. :-}

FYI: Most of the songs on Pierre de Grenoble he apparently later recorded with his group Malicorne; someone captured those lyrics in another online database. A Google search should turn them up, for anyone interested.