This week's rave is complete nonsense.
That didn't mean that as a child I didn't sing it with gusto and great delight.
It went like this:
Frairo Jacker, frairo Jacker,
Dormay voo, dormay voo
Sunny lemon Tina, sunny lemon Tina,
Ding dong bell, ding dong bell.
I was under the impression at the time that this was French, and I used to wonder very much about sunny lemon Tina. I was glad she was happy, but I did wish I knew what silly things she kept doing to make herself such a lemon.
Eventually, with the attention of our French teacher, Mr Fisher, the real French words emerged.
Frère Jacques, frère Jacques,
Dormez-vous ? Dormez-vous ?
Sonnez les matines ! Sonnez les matines !
Ding, daing, dong. Ding, daing, dong.
Dormez-vous ? Dormez-vous ?
Sonnez les matines ! Sonnez les matines !
Ding, daing, dong. Ding, daing, dong.
And then I realised with some sorrow that the song wasn't about sunny lemon Tina at all, but about an alarm clock.
What I didn't realise, even then, was that Frère Jacques was a monk who was too lazy to get up for the first church services of the day. Mind you, this service might have taken place at midnight, so I do have some sympathy for the poor man.
Anyway, do you know something? Despite everything I still like the sunny lemon Tina version of Frère Jacques best of all.
Photo by André Karwath
Even if it's nonsense.
Word To Use Today: lemon. This word comes from the Arabic laymūn.
There's a thing! You could write a whole story about Sunny Lemon Tina! It would be brilliant...:))
ReplyDeleteThanks, Adele. Perhaps I'll have a think about her and see if she comes real.
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