Pour un Instant

(music: S. Fiori-M. Normandeau/lyrics: M. Normandeau ©1973 Prime Quality Music)

Pour un instant j'ai oublié mon nom
Ça m'a permis enfin d'écrire cette chanson

Pour un instant, j'ai retourné mon miroir,
Ça m'a permis enfin de mieux me voir

Sans m'arrêter j'ai foncé dans le noir
Pris comme un loup qui n'a plus d'espoir

J'ai perdu mon temps à gagner du temps
J'ai besoin de me trouver une histoire à me conter

Pour un instant j'ai respiré très fort
Ça m'a permis de visiter mon corps

Des inconnus vivent en roi chez moi
Moi qui avait accepté leurs lois

J'ai perdu mon temps…

Pour un Instant j'ai oublié mon nom
Ça m'a permis enfin d'écrire cette chanson

Blog on Harmonium and other Quebec bands - Debra Cathcart

 

Nottamun Town

In Nottamun town, in Nottamun town,
Not a soul would look up, not a soul would look down.
Not a soul would look up, not a soul would look down,
To show me the way to fair Nottamun town

I had me a grey horse, a little grey mare.
Grey mane and grey tale, green stripe down the back.
Grey mane and grey tale, green stripe down the back,
She hadn't a hair on her be-what was coal black

She stood so still she threw me to the dirt.
She tore up my hide and she bruised my best shirt.
From saddle to stirrup I mounted again,
and on my ten toes I rode over the plain.

Met the king and the queen and a company more
They were riding behind and marching before
There was a stark naked drummer, beating his drum
With his hands in his pockets came marching along

They laughed and they smiled, not a soul did look gay
They talked all the while not a word did they say
I bought you a beer and I left you to pay
Just to stifle the dust while it rained the whole day.

I stepped up to court one of them that was there
She was dark, and no lass, I vow and declare;
She was the prettiest creature my eyes ever seen
Her age it was red and her hair was nineteen.

We sat ourselves down on a hot frozen stone
10,000 round us, but we were alone
I took my hat in my hand, to keep my head warm
While 10,000 got drownded that never were born.

 

Au Bord de la Fontaine

(Trad/N. Boulerice)

Au bord de la fontaine
La belle m'a dondaine (2x)
Au joli mois de mai
La belle m'a lalala
Au joli mois de mai
La belle m'a dondé

Sur la branche d'un chêne
La belle m'a dondaine (2x)
Beau rossignol chantait
La belle m'a lalala
Beau rossignol chantait
La belle m'a dondé

Chante rossignol chante
La belle m'a dondaine (2x)
Si tu as le coeur gai
La belle m'a lalala
Si tu as le Coeur gai
La belle m'a dondé

Le mien n'est pas de même
La belle m'a dondaine (2x)
Il est bien affligé
La belle m'a lalala
Il est bien affligé
La belle m'a dondé

Pierre mon ami Pierre
La belle m'a dondaine (2x)
En guerre s'est en allé
La belle m'a lalala
En guerre s'est en aller
La belle m'a dondé

Pour un bouquet de roses
La belle m'a dondaine (2x)
Que je lui refusai
La belle m'a lalala
Que je lui refusai
La belle m'a dondé

Je voudrais que la rose
La belle m'a dondaine (2x)
Fut encore au rosier
La belle m'a lalala
Fut encore au rosier
La belle m'a dondé

Et que mon ami Pierre
La belle m'a dondaine (2x)
Fut encore à m'aimer
La belle m'a lalala
Fut encore à m'aimer
La belle m'a dondé

Adieu Sweet Lovely Nancy

(trad)

Here's adieu, sweet lovely Nancy, ten thousand times adieu.
I am going over the ocean, love, to seek for something new.
Come change your ring with me, dear girl, come change your ring with me.
That it might be a token of true love while I am on the sea.

When I am far upon the sea you'll know not where I am.
Kind letters I will write to you from every foreign land.
The secrets of your heart, dear girl, and the best of my good will.
So let your body be where it might, my heart will be with you still.

There are tinkers, there's tailors, there's farmers, love, lie snoring fast asleep.
While we poor souls on the ocean wide are ploughing up the deep.
There's no one to protect us, love, 
or keep us from the cold.
On the ocean wide, where we must fight like jolly sailors bold.

There's a terrible storm rising up, see how it gathers down.
While we poor souls on the ocean wide are fighting for a crown
Our officer's commanding us, and him we must obey.
Expecting every moment for to get cast away.

 

Adieu Lovely Nancy

(trad)

"Adieu, lovely Nancy, for now I must leave you.
To the far-off West Indies I'm bound for to steer
But let my long journey be of no trouble to you.
For my love, I'll return in the course of a year"

"Talk not of leaving me here, lovely Jimmy.
Talk not of leaving me here on the shore.
You know very well your long absence will grieve me.
As you sail the wild ocean where the wild billows roar

I'll cut off my ringlets all curly and yellow.
I'll dress in the coats of a young cabin boy.

And when we are out on that dark, rolling ocean,
I will always be near you, my pride and my joy"

"Your lily-white hands, they could not handle the cables.
Your lily-white feet to the topmast could not go.
And the cold winter storms, well, you could not endure them.
Stay at home, lovely Nancy, where the wild winds won't blow"

As Jimmy set a-sailing, lovely Nancy stood a-wailing.
The tears from her eyes in great torrents did a-flow.
As she stood on the beach, oh her hands she was wringing,
Crying, "Oh and alas, will I e'er see you more?"

As Jimmy was a-walking on the quays of Philadelphia, 

The thoughts of his true love, they filled him with pride. 

He said, "Nancy, lovely Nancy, if I had you here, love,
How happy I'd be for to make you my bride"
So Jimmy wrote a letter to his own lovely Nancy, 

Saying, "If you have proved constant, well, I will prove true,"

Oh but Nancy was dying, for her poor heart was broken.
Oh the day that he left her, forever he'd rue.

Come all of you young maidens, I pray, take a warning.
And don't trust a sailor boy or any of his kind.
For first they will court you and then they'll deceive you.
For their love, it is tempestuous as the wavering wind