Le Carillon de Vendôme

1. Mes amis que reste-t-il
A ce Dauphin si gentil?
Orléans, Beaugency,
Notre Dame de Cléry,
Vendôme, Vendôme!

(1.) My friends, what is left
To this Dauphin so nice?
Orléans, Beaugency,
Notre Dame de Cléry,
Vendôme, Vendôme !


I found a song called “What a Bore” with words from 1717, but the tune is from the sixteenth century and this is the original, still sung as a children’s song in France. It is set to the tune of chimes in the city of Vendôme and laments losses to the English in the Hundred Years’ War. The Dauphin was future King Charles VII, and the cities named were those of the resistance which he still controlled.

(If you listened to the music I did in the 60’s and 70’s you might remember David Crosby’s haunting “Orleans”. It’s just the list of cities from this song, sung slowly and with a slight change in melody, changing it to a minor.)