Frère Jacques

"Frère Jacques"
Sheet music
Nursery rhyme
English title	"Brother John"
Writer(s)	Unknown
Language	French

Frère Jacques (/ˌfrɛrə ˈʒɑːkə/, French: [fʁɛʁ ʒɑk], in the nursery rhyme and in song more generally [fʁɛʁə ʒɑkə]; English: "Brother John"; Dutch: "Vader Jacob" (Netherlands) or "Broeder Jacob" (Flanders), German: "Bruder Jakob", Italian: "Fra' Martino", Polish: "Panie Janie", Danish: "Mester Jakob"), is a nursery rhyme of French origin. The rhyme is traditionally sung in a round.

The song is about a friar who has overslept and is urged to wake up and sound the bell for the matins, the midnight or very early morning prayers for which a monk would be expected to wake.

The original French version of the song is as follows:

Frère Jacques, frère Jacques,
Dormez-vous? Dormez-vous?
Sonnez les matines! Sonnez les matines!
Ding, dang, dong. Ding, dang, dong.

The song is traditionally translated into English as:

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

This translation preserves the musicality but greatly distorts the meaning: the whole point is that the bells are not ringing, because brother John, who is supposed to ring them, is sleeping.

A very literal translation of the French lyrics would be:

Friar James, Friar James
Are you sleeping? Are you sleeping?
Sound the matins chimes! Sound the matins chimes!
Ding, dang, dong. Ding, dang, dong.

The song concerns a monk's duty to ring the bell for matines. Frère Jacques has apparently overslept, it is time to ring the bell for matines, and someone wakes him up with this song.

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Wikipedia