{"id":43081,"date":"2024-05-10T15:53:25","date_gmt":"2024-05-10T13:53:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/412faea1-289f-4001-a35d-279b3567f292"},"modified":"2024-05-10T16:40:02","modified_gmt":"2024-05-10T14:40:02","slug":"frere-jacques-lyrics-what-are-the-lyrics-to-the-famous-french-nursery-rhyme","status":"publish","type":"rss_feed","link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/rss_feed\/frere-jacques-lyrics-what-are-the-lyrics-to-the-famous-french-nursery-rhyme\/","title":{"rendered":"‘Fr\u00e8re Jacques’ lyrics: what are the lyrics to the famous French nursery rhyme?"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/p>

By <\/p>

Published: Friday, 10 May 2024 at 13:53 PM<\/p>

\n\n

Was Fr\u00e8re Jacques about a lazy monk? It is thought the French nursery rhyme<\/a> ‘Fr\u00e8re Jacques’ is about a friar who has overslept and forgotten to ring the bells for the matins. The song dates, probably, to around 1780.<\/strong> Here are the lyrics to ‘Fr\u00e8re Jacques’.<\/strong><\/p>

10 darkest nursery rhymes<\/strong><\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/div><\/div>
Fr\u00e8re Jacques English lyrics<\/h2>
<\/div><\/figure><p>Are you sleeping<br\/>Are you sleeping?<br\/>Brother John<br\/>Brother John?<br\/>Morning bells are ringing<br\/>Morning bells are ringing<br\/>Ding ding dong<br\/>Ding ding dong<\/p><h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-frere-jacques-french-lyrics\">Fr\u00e8re Jacques French lyrics<\/h2><figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Frere Jacques - French Nursery Rhyme\" width=\"800\" height=\"450\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/QI0abuwq31g?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" allowfullscreen=\"\"\/><\/div><\/figure><p>Fr\u00e8re Jacques<br\/>Fr\u00e8re Jacques<br\/>Dormez vous?<br\/>Dormez vous?<br\/>Sonnez les matines<br\/>Sonnez les matines<br\/>Ding ding dong<br\/>Ding ding dong<\/p><h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-what-is-frere-jacques-about\">What is Fr\u00e8re Jacques about?<\/h2><p>The song tells ther story of a <em>fr\u00e8re<\/em> (or friar)\u00a0who has overslept. The lyrics of the song urge Fr\u00e8re Jacques to wake up and sound the bell for <em>les matines<\/em>, or\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Matins\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"><strong>matins<\/strong><\/a> – early morning prayers. You’ll note than in the original French, Jacques is urged to wake up and go and ring the bells (Sonnez les matines!), whereas in the English translation the bells are already ringing and it’s time to get up. Why the change? The rhythm of the words works better that way in English…<\/p><h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-which-classical-work-features-the-melody-from-frere-jacques\">Which classical work features the melody from Fr\u00e8re Jacques?<\/h2><p>Did you know the Austrian composer Gustav <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/features\/composers\/gustav-mahler\">Mahler<\/a><\/strong>‘s march in the third movement of his<strong> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/features\/recordings\/guide-mahlers-first-symphony\/\">Symphony No. 1 <\/a><\/strong>is based on the Fr\u00e8re Jacques <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/features\/musical-terms\/what-is-a-melody\">melody<\/a><\/strong>? The idea was to depict a procession of animals attending a hunter\u2019s funeral. <\/p><p>Mahler transposes the melody from a major to a minor <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/features\/musical-terms\/musical-keys-explained\">key<\/a><\/strong>. The effect is to give feel of a funeral march. Interestingly, Mahler himself may not have been the cause of this change from major to minor. Instead, it’s possible that, in 19th-century Austria, the song was sung this way. Either way, Mahler would have known the tune by its German name, ‘Bruder Martin’. <\/p><div class=\"wp-block-group highlight-box is-layout-flow wp-block-group-is-layout-flow\"><div class=\"wp-block-group__inner-container\"><h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-more-nursery-rhyme-lyrics\">More nursery rhyme lyrics<\/h4><ul><li><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/features\/articles\/ding-dong-bell-lyrics\/\">‘Ding Dong Bell’ lyrics<\/a><\/strong><\/li><li><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/features\/works\/daisy-bell-lyrics\/\">‘Daisy Bell’ lyrics<\/a><\/strong><\/li><li><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/features\/articles\/rock-a-bye-baby-lyrics\/\">‘Rock-a-bye Baby’ lyrics<\/a><\/strong><\/li><li><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/features\/articles\/goosey-goosey-gander-lyrics\/\">‘Goosey Goosey Gander’ lyrics<\/a><\/strong><\/li><li><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/features\/articles\/ring-around-the-rosie-lyrics\/\">‘Ring around the rosie’ lyrics<\/a><\/strong><\/li><\/ul><\/div><\/div><p>Main image \u00a9 Getty Images<\/p> <\/body><\/html>\n<hr class=\"no-tts wp-block-separator\"\/>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Published: Friday, 10 May 2024 at 13:53 PM Was Fr\u00e8re Jacques about a lazy monk? It is thought the French nursery rhyme ‘Fr\u00e8re Jacques’ is about a friar who has overslept and forgotten to ring the bells for the matins. The song dates, probably, to around 1780. Here are the lyrics to ‘Fr\u00e8re Jacques’. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":43082,"template":"","categories":[1],"acf":{"readingTimeMinutes":"2"},"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2024\/05\/frere-jacques-lyrics-what-are-the-lyrics-to-the-famous-french-nursery-rhyme.jpg",1890,1268,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2024\/05\/frere-jacques-lyrics-what-are-the-lyrics-to-the-famous-french-nursery-rhyme-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2024\/05\/frere-jacques-lyrics-what-are-the-lyrics-to-the-famous-french-nursery-rhyme-300x201.jpg",300,201,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2024\/05\/frere-jacques-lyrics-what-are-the-lyrics-to-the-famous-french-nursery-rhyme-768x515.jpg",768,515,true],"large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2024\/05\/frere-jacques-lyrics-what-are-the-lyrics-to-the-famous-french-nursery-rhyme-1024x687.jpg",800,537,true],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2024\/05\/frere-jacques-lyrics-what-are-the-lyrics-to-the-famous-french-nursery-rhyme-1536x1031.jpg",1536,1031,true],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2024\/05\/frere-jacques-lyrics-what-are-the-lyrics-to-the-famous-french-nursery-rhyme.jpg",1890,1268,false]},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"importmanagerhub@sprylab.com","author_link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/author\/importmanagerhubsprylab-com\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"By Published: Friday, 10 May 2024 at 13:53 PM Was Fr\u00e8re Jacques about a lazy monk? It is thought the French nursery rhyme ‘Fr\u00e8re Jacques’ is about a friar who has overslept and forgotten to ring the bells for the matins. The song dates, probably, to around 1780. Here are the lyrics to ‘Fr\u00e8re Jacques’.…","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed\/43081"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/rss_feed"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/24"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/43082"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=43081"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=43081"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}