Frère Jacques

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Frère Jacques is a well-known children's song. It can be sung as a simple melody or as a round with up to four parts.

Contents 1 French version 2 English version 3 Other languages 4 Who was Frère Jacques? 5 Discussion 5.1 Analysis 5.2 A Dark Interpretation 5.3 Frère Jacques as Pilgrim 5.4 Other Theories 5.5 A Simple Interpretation 6 Historical Record 6.1 First Publication 6.2 Comparison with Fra Jacopino 7 Cultural references 8 Alternative lyrics 8.1 Where is Thumbkin? 8.2 I hear thunder 8.3 Christmas down under 8.4 Happy Birthday 8.5 Other subjects 9 References 10 External links

[edit] French version

The song is popularly believed to be French in origin, and even in the English-speaking world, it is frequently sung in French (though typically with a somewhat anglicised pronunciation).

Frère Jacques,
Frère Jacques,
Dormez-vous?
Dormez-vous?
Sonnez les matines!
Sonnez les matines!
Din, dan, don.
Din, dan, don.

[edit] English version

The English version is a slightly free translation; some details (e.g. the name of the bell ringer) are changed, presumably to better fit a rhyme:

Are you sleeping,
Are you sleeping,
Brother John?
Brother John?
Morning bells are ringing,
Morning bells are ringing.
Ding, dang, dong.
Ding, dang, dong.

The final lyrics are sometimes replaced with "Ding, ding, dong".

[edit] Other languages

For other languages, see the article Translations of Frère Jacques.

[edit] Who was Frère Jacques?

There are many potential origins of Frère Jacques. There are several people that have been conjectured to be the subject of the song Frère Jacques. Some candidates for Frère Jacques include:

1. Frère Jacques de Molay
2. Frère Jacopone da Todi
3. Frère Jacques Beaulieu
4. Frère Jacques Clément
5. Frère Martin Luther

Alternatively, the song Frère Jacques could have been created to taunt Jacobin friars or Jews. Some argue that Frère Jacques might refer to any pilgrim on the Way of St. James (discussed below).

The earliest known printed version of the Frère Jacques tune is actually entitled Frère Blaise. There are also versions with lyrics about a "Brother Martin" and an early version about a "Father Theofil". Therefore, the song we know as Frère Jacques might not have originally been about a "Jacques" at all.

Another possibility is that the song Frère Jacques emerged independently at different times and in different places. There are speculative assertions in the literature that the song was originally French, Spanish, Austrian, Italian, Hungarian, or even Russian.^[1] However, it might conceivably have come from somewhere else. Without more evidence, it is probably impossible to determine with absolute certainty who Frère Jacques is referring to, if anyone, or where this song or nursery rhyme originated.

[edit] Discussion

The song Frère Jacques has many different versions with different sets of lyrics. These lyrics can give some clues to the meaning and origin of this song.

[edit] Analysis

The most common English translation of Frère Jacques has a distinctly different meaning than the standard French version. "Matines" are matins, or morning prayers. This would imply that the subject of the verse, Frère Jacques, is a friar or monk. The French verb "sonnez" is the imperative second person formal form of the verb "sonner". The infinitive "sonner" means "to sound", as in sounding a bell (in this case, a bell used to call people to morning prayers). "Sonnez" would not normally be used to address one's fraternal brother, but someone with whom the singer had a more formal relationship.

Also, using the word "frère" (brother) in conjunction with the first name is atypical in addressing someone in a family situation. However, the use of the word "frère" together with the imperative second person formal form of "sonner" suggests that Frère Jacques is a member of a monastic order. Typically, in a monastery, "frère" or "brother" is a title reserved not for a superior but for friars or monks of lower rank.^[2]

[edit] A Dark Interpretation

The most common English version suggests an attempt to rouse a sleepy sibling who has overslept, but the most common French version appears to refer to a command or a demand of a friar or monk to perform their task of ringing the bells calling people to morning prayers, and the friar or monk being unresponsive. Naturally, one might wonder why Frère Jacques is not ringing the bells in the French version.

Given that some maintain that nursery rhymes have serious themes when they are examined in detail (this might not always be true, however^[3]), one might infer some morbid undercurrent to the French version of this song. Admittedly, if the song originally was created to commemorate some negative event, it might have greater cultural resonance and be more likely to be incorporated into the canon of cultural elements that are transmitted from generation to generation. Once a memetic unit like this song reached sufficient familiarity and social penetration, it presumably would continue to be passed on as part of a tradition even though its original meaning had been forgotten. If one subscribes to this line of reasoning, one might expect Frère Jacques to refer to a well known figure and a well known event.

Another piece of evidence that appears to support a dark interpretation of this song is the fact that in some places such as Austria, it was at one time commonly sung in a minor key, rather than a major key, giving the song the quality of a funeral dirge.^[4][5]

In this vein, some have suggested that this verse might not refer to sleep, but to the death of a friar or monk, or perhaps a member of one of the religious military orders. For example, it is widely believed in France that the renowned Frère Jacques de Molay of the Templar Knights, who was executed in 1314, is the subject of the Frère Jacques song.^[6][7] This claim should be probably approached with an air of caution, because there are many alternate interpretations. For example, the poet Jean-Luc Aotret has written a poem suggesting that the subject of Frère Jacques is the excommunicated Franciscan poet Jacopone da Todi (1236–1306).^[8][9][10]

Another candidate for Frère Jacques is Frère Jacques Clément (1567-1589),^[11] a Dominican Friar and the assassin of Henry III of France. The letters of Clément's name can be rearranged to form the famous anagram, "c'est l'Enfer qui m'a créé", which can be translated as "it is Hell that created me". Clément was drawn and quartered for committing regicide, but some believed his actions were defensible.^[12][13] This theory does not appear to be as popular as some of the others in the literature.

Others have suggested that the subject of Frère Jacques is a friar or monk who has died of the plague. However, this might be an effort to cast Frère Jacques in the same light as the familiar children's songs Ring around the Rosie, or Oh du lieber Augustin.

[edit] Frère Jacques as Pilgrim

Another theory is that the song Frère Jacques is related to the pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela where the Apostle St. James the Great^[14] has been honored since the early Middle Ages. Frère Jacques in this case could be any of the pilgrims going on this pilgrimage, called the Way of St. James, or "El Camino". This is a common belief in some places in Europe.^{[citation needed]}

This theory is constructed from the following reasoning. During pilgrimages, strangers meet and become "brothers" and "sisters" while following the same route. The route is to the purported resting place of Saint "Jacques". Combining these two observations, it is assumed that the phrase "Frère Jaques" refers to every pilgrim on the route. The song "Frère Jaques" is about a pilgrim on the route who has been assigned the task of waking his fellows in the morning, but is being woken by others instead.

[edit] Other Theories

A possible connection between Frère Jacques and the seventeenth century lithotomist Frère Jacques Beaulieu (also known as Frère Jacques Baulot^[15][16]) , as claimed by Irvine Loudon^[17] and many others, was explored by J. P. Ganem and C. C. Carson^[18] without finding any evidence for a connection.

Francesca Draughon and Raymond Knapp argue that Frère Jacques originally was a song to taunt Jews or Protestants or Martin Luther (see below).^[19]

Martine David and A. Marie Delrieu suggest that Frère Jacques might have been created to mock the Jacobin monks for their sloth and comfortable lifestyles.^[20]

In a review of a book about Kozma Prutkov, Richard Gregg notes it has been claimed that Frère Jacques was derived from a Russian seminary song about a "Father Theofil".^[21]

[edit] A Simple Interpretation

Of course, the simplest explanation is that "Frère Jaques" is a bell-ringer in a monastery, who is sleeping instead of ringing the bell for the morning prayer.

[edit] Historical Record

Our best data about the origin of the song Frère Jacques come from the published versions of the song.

[edit] First Publication

James Fuld^[22] states that the tune was first published in 1811,^[23] and that the words and music were published together in Paris in 1869. However, the words and music appear together in Recreations de l'enfance: Recueil de Rondes avec Jeux et de Petites Chansons pour Faire Jouer, Danser et Chanter les Enfants avec un Accompagnement de Piano Très-Facile by Charles Lebouc, which was first published in 1860 by Rouart, Lerolle & C. in Paris.^[24] This book was very popular and it was republished several times, so many editions exist.

All Music Guide states that the earliest printed version of the melody is on a French manuscript circa 1780 (manuscript 300 in the manuscript collection of the Bibliothèque Nationale in Paris). The manuscript is titled "Recueil de Timbres de Vaudevilles," and the Bibliothèque Nationale estimates that it was printed between 1775 and 1785. The Frère Jacques melody is labelled "Frère Blaise" in this manuscript.

[edit] Comparison with Fra Jacopino

It is intriguing to compare Frère Jacques to the piece Toccate d'intavolatura, No.14, Capriccio Fra Jacopino sopra L'Aria Di Ruggiero composed by Girolamo Frescobaldi,^[25] which was first published around 1615.^[26] One can definitely detect a resemblance between Frescobaldi's piece and the familiar Frère Jacques melody. Also, "Fra Jacopino" is one potential Italian translation for "Frère Jacques".^[27] Edward Kilenyi pointed out that Fra Jacopino shares the same Frère Jacques-like melody as Chanson de Lambert, a French song dating from 1650, and a Hungarian folk tune.^[28]

Clearly, the Frère Jacques tune is a common melody that might have arisen in more than one location. It is also simple enough that it might have spread easily from place to place. For example, Barbara Mittler in a conference abstract points out that the melody of Frère Jacques is so thoroughly assimilated into Chinese culture that it might be widely regarded as a Chinese folksong in China.^[29]

[edit] Cultural references

Frère Jacques is one of the most widely-known songs on earth, and it can be found many places in modern world culture.

• A version of the Frère Jacques tune appears in the third movement of the Symphony No. 1 by Gustav Mahler. Mahler presents the melody in a minor key instead of a major key, thus giving the piece the character of a funeral march or dirge. However, the mode change to minor might not have been an invention by Mahler, as is often believed, but rather the way this round was sung in the 19th century and early 20th century in Austria.^[30][31]

• Francesca Draughon and Raymond Knapp argue^[32] that Mahler had changed the key to make Frère Jacques sound more "Jewish" (Mahler converted to Catholicism from Judaism). When it was first performed, many thought it was a parody or grotesque.^[33] Draughon and Knapp claim that the tune was originally sung to mock non-Catholics, such as Protestants or Jews. To support this, they point out that the subject of one version of the lyrics in Austria was "Bruder Martin", a possible reference to Bruder Martin Luther, and another Austrian version was about a "Bruder Jakob". Mahler himself called the tune "Bruder Martin", and made some allusions to the piece being related to a parody in the programs he wrote for the performances. Many also detect Gypsy influences in this Mahler work.^[34] Interpretations similar to this are quite prevalent in academia and in musical circles (for example, consider this vignette from NPR's Morning Edition on July 31, 1998).

• The French performer known as Le Pétomane entertained live audiences in the late 1800s and early 1900s with his own unique rendition of Frère Jacques, according to the BBC.^[35]

• Frère Jacques has lead to many parodies. For example, Allan Sherman is noted for writing new lyrics to Frère Jacques based on typical Jewish-American family gossip and small talk. The resulting song, "Sarah Jackman", became quite famous at the time, and led to Sherman's career in musical parody.

• Versions of Frère Jacques can be reproduced using a DTMF ("touch-tone ®") telephone keypad (the push-button telephone dialing system prevalent in the USA, Canada and some other countries. The aricle on numbered musical notation uses Frère Jacques as an example, and demonstrates that numbered musical notation systems like jianpu and the Ziffersystem have some similarity to DTMF representations of tunes.

• Henry Bernstein, a French playwright, wrote a comedic play entitled Frère Jacques (translated as Brother Jacques) with Pierre Véber in 1904.^[36][37]

• A French comedic film, Mon Frère Jacques, directed by Marcel Manchez, was released in 1925.

• Frère Jacques is a type of semi-soft cow's milk cheese with a mild hazelnut taste, produced by Benedictine monks from the Saint-Benoit-du-lac Abbey in Quebec, Canada^[38]

• Touché, Pussy Cat!, an Oscar-nominated Tom and Jerry cartoon released in 1954, featured Frère Jacques prominently.

• Four French singers, brothers André and Georges Bellec, François Soubeyran and Paul Tourenne formed a comedic singing group in 1944 known as the Frères Jacques, even though none of them were named "Jacques". The group name was a bit of a play on words since a common French expression, "faire le jacques", means to act like a clown. They had successful careers over the next few decades.^[39]

• Leonard Bernstein made use of Frère Jacques to illustrate counterpoint in his television program What Makes Music Symphonic?^[40](one of a series of 53 programs, the Young People's Concerts with the New York Philharmonic, combining music and lectures that were televised between 1959 and 1972).

• The demonstrators in Tiananmen Square chanted political slogans to the tune of Frère Jacques.^[41]

• There is a strong oral tradition among children in China, Vietnam and other places in Asia of passing on songs with their own lyrics, sung to the tune of Frère Jacques.^[42] For example, one of the most popular version of the lyric among Chinese children is about "two tigers."

• In one Loopy de Loop cartoon, Loopy sings a song in the tune of Frere Jacques.

• In the background of the Beatles' song Paperback Writer one can hear George Harrison and John Lennon singing Frère Jacques.

• Brian Wilson's song "Surf's Up" uses a reference to Frere Jacques.

• Not to be outdone by his heroes above, Jeff Lynne added a recording of Dutch children singing "Frère Jacques" to Hello My Old Friend, an unreleased track from the Electric Light Orchestra's Secret Messages album.

• The 1973 Spanish horror film with the US title House of Psychotic Women directed by Carlos Aured made use of the song Frère Jacques to set the mood.

• Frère Jacques is also the name of a chain of franchised French restaurants in the UK^[43] and the name of a French restaurant in the Murray Hill section of New York City.^[44] Les Frères Jacques is the name of a French restaurant in Dublin.^[45]

• The post-punk group Television Personalities used Frère Jacques as the chorus to their song "Hello Edward", found on their album 'Paisley Shirts & Mini Skirts' (1996).

• Ron Haselden, a British artist living in the French town of Brizard, in Brittany, has produced a well-known interactive multimedia piece featuring Frère Jacques in collaboration with Peter Cusack.^[46]

• The Swedish punk rock band Millencolin closed the song "That's Up To Me" on their 1994 Skauch album with a rendition of Frère Jacques on a kazoo.

• The Frère version of the Jerusalem computer virus plays Frère Jacques if the day is Friday or on the 13th of any month.

• Sam Shaber, a New York City folksinger, released a song based on Frère Jacques on her 1999 album, perfecT.

• The Matthew Shipp Quartet jazz group's album Pastoral Composure in the year 2000 includes a piece called Frère Jacques that draws on the Frère Jacques melody.

• The Chinese song "Dadao lie qiang" ("Cut down the great powers", or rather: "Let's beat together the great powers", also known as 'The "Revolution of the Citizens" Song') celebrates the cooperation in China in the 1920s of Mao's Communist Party and the Kuomintang against warlords and imperialist powers, and is sung to the tune of Frère Jacques^[47]

• On an episode of Sports Night, Dan Rydell, after finding out that the song Happy Birthday is copyrighted (and the station is being sued for copyright infringement, since Dan sung it to his partner Casey on air), decides to sing songs that are of public use, and settles on Frère Jacques for his boss Isaac.

• Argentinian Composer Juan Maria Solare's piece "Frère Jacques the Ripper (deconstructing the Canon) for Flute, Clarinet, Violin and Cello" transforms the familiar "Frère Jacques" melody by altering the speed, the tonality, the key, inverting the tune and applying fractal transformations to the tune. This piece was performed in Cologne in 2003.

• In 1971, the Allman Brothers Band slipped in the Frère Jacques melody during the extended jam portion of "Whipping Post" on their "Live at Fillmore East" album. It can be heard starting at about 17:40 into the song. The melody is transposed into the key of C.

• The song "Underdog" by Sly and the Family Stone starts and ends with a version of the "Frère Jacques" tune.

• In the Star Trek: The Next Generation episode Disaster, Captain Picard sings "Frère Jacques" to calm children trapped with him in a disabled turbolift.

[edit] Alternative lyrics

[edit] Where is Thumbkin?

The song (like many other children's songs) has other popular lyrics in English, such as "Where is Thumbkin?":

Where is Thumbkin?
Where is Thumbkin?
Here I am!
Here I am!
How are you today, Sir?
Very well. I thank you!
Run and hide!
Run and hide!

Another version replaces "run and hide" with "run away". The song "Where is Thumbkin?" has several other verses.^[48]

[edit] I hear thunder

In India, English-speaking children are taught another version of this rhyme in the nursery. Perhaps it is related to the monsoon season on the Indian subcontinent:

I hear thunder,
I hear thunder,
Hark don't you? (oh don't you)
Hark don't you? (oh don't you)
Pit-a-patter raindrops,
Pit-a-patter raindrops,
I'm wet through,
I'm wet through (so are you).

[edit] Christmas down under

In Australia, there is a Christmas song that is sung to the tune of Frère Jacques:

Where is Santa?
Where is Santa?
Here I am.
Here I am.
Merry, merry Christmas.
Merry, merry Christmas.
Ho, Ho, Ho.
Ho, Ho, Ho.

There are dances that go with this song.^[49]

[edit] Happy Birthday

In the Garfield and Friends episode "Peace and Quiet", Binky the Clown sings a Happy Birthday song set to the tune of Frère Jacques:

Happy Birthday,
Happy Birthday,
Whoop-tee-doo,
Whoop-tee-doo,
May your day be pleasant,
Open up your present,
Just for you,
Just for you.

[edit] Other subjects

There are numerous other alternative lyrics to Frere Jacques, about the water cycle,^[50] snow,^[51] marsupials,^[52] garbage,^[53] squares,^[54] counseling,^[55] lead pollution,^[56] groundhogs,^[57] labor rights,^[58][59] educational theories,^[60] Chinese New Year,^[61] and many more.

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• A "Frère Jacques" interactive and multilingual collection on video