Trois jeunes tambours

Part of the French Medley.

Trois jeunes tambours	Three young drummers
Sont revenus de guerre	Have returned from war
Trois jeunes tambours
Sont revenus de guerr'
Et ri et ran, ran pa ta plan,	And tra la la, fa la la la
Sont revenus de guerre.
Le plus jeune a	The youngest one has
Dans sa bouche une rose.	In his mouth a rose.
Le plus jeune a
Dans sa bouche une ros'
Et ri et ran, ran pa ta plan,
Dans sa bouche une rose.
Fille du roi	Daughter of the king
était à sa fenêtre.	Was at her window.
Joli tambour,	Handsome drummer
Donne-moi donc ta rose.	Give me your rose.
Fille du roi	Daughter of the king
Donne-moi donc ton coeur.	Give [familiar] me your heart.
Joli tambour,	Handsome drummer
Demande-le à mon père !	Ask my father for it!
Sire le roi,	King, Sire,
Donnez-moi votre fille !	Give [polite] me your daughter!
Joli tambour,	Handsome drummer
Tu n'es pas assez riche.	You're not rich enough.
J'ai trois vaisseux	I have three ships
Dessus la mer jolie.	On the fine ocean.
L'un chargé d'or,	One filled with gold,
L'autre de pierreries.	The other with jewels.
Et le troisième	And the third
Pour promener ma mie.	To take my sweetheart around.
Joli tambour,	Handsome drummer
Dis-moi quel est ton père.	Tell me who your father is
Sire le roi,	King, Sire,
C'est le roi d'Angleterre.	He's the king of England.
Joli tambour,	Handsome drummer
Tu auras donc ma fille.	Then you will have my daughter.
Sire le roi,	King, Sire,
Je vous en remercie.	I thank you for it.
Dans mon pays	In my country
Y en a de plus jolies.	There are prettier ones.

As we sing this song, the majority is in 6/8 time but the second line of the second repeat of the first half of each verse is in 2/4. Thus in 6/8: "Trois jeunes tambours/Sont revenus de guerre/Trois jeunes tambours"; then in 2/4: "Sont revenus de guerr'"; then back to 6/8 for the rest: "Et ri et ran, ran pa ta plan/Sont revenus de guerre". The mute e at the end of the second line of every verse is sung in 6/8 time and omitted in 2/4 time. (I don't know what happens in verse five, whose second line doesn't end in a mute e.) This is hard to describe but makes sense once you've heard the song sung.

An alternate way to sing this song is entirely in 6/8 time. In this case, the mute e at the end of the second line is omitted, but the "et" of "et ri et ran..." is sung at the end of the second line, which solves the problem with verse five. That's the folk process for you. Speaking of which, an alternate version of the first verse runs Trois jeunes tambours, s'en revenant de guerre; that is, "three young drummers, coming back from war."

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