A song about wind or a song about ducks?
Or neither?
White duck image from https://www.coudouliere.fr/oiseaux/canard-blanc.html#google_vignette.
"V'là l'bon vent" (Go Good Wind) is a traditional French-Canadian folk song. According to Canadian folklorist Ernest Gagnon (1834-1915), the song is of Acadian origin and is over three hundred years old.
The original song has 7 verses and a chorus. Built on the theme of “the three ducks,” there are probably 100 versions of this oral tradition song, both lyrically and melodically different.
The song tells the story of a prince who comes with his silver gun to kill the narrator's white duck.
Other sources state that the theme of the three ducks originated in France, where the song is also well known, and reached Canada in the 17th century. There in the Old World, possibly even Brittany, the tune is known to be about someone getting news from their friend, the wind, about a white duck which has been wantonly slain by the King's son.
While today it is treated like a children's song—similar to "nursery rhymes" which were preserved in the lore of the oppressed peasantry—it tells the same dark tale which many other old folk songs, like the Breton air "Eur sulvezh a viz mai" ("One Sunday in May"), tell in slightly more explicit terms: a peasant girl is raped and murdered by a soldier or a nobleman. And there is no justice in this life to be had, only the memory to be preserved among her fellow peasants. The white color of the duck is therefore seen to symbolize innocence.
The story of the king's son killing one of the three ducks remains similar in most variations. It is a traveller’s song probably invented by travellers who travelled by canoe. Today it is regarded as a canoeing song.
Lyrics (original French - one of many versions):
REFRAIN
V’là l’bon vent, v’là l’joli vent
V’là l’bon vent, ma mie m’appelle
V’là l’bon vent, v’là l’joli vent
V’là l’bon vent, ma mie m’attend.
Derrière chez nous y a un étang (x2)
Trois beaux canards s’en vont baignant.
REFRAIN
Trois beaux canards s’en vont baignant (x2)
Le fils du roi s’en va chassant.
REFRAIN
Le fils du roi s’en va chassant (x2)
Avec son grand fusil d’argent.
REFRAIN
Avec son grand fusil d’argent. (x2)
Visa le noir, tua le blanc.
REFRAIN
Visa le noir, tua le blanc. (x2)
Ô fils du roi, tu es méchant
REFRAIN
Ô fils du roi, tu es méchant (x2)
D’avoir tué mon canard blanc !
REFRAIN
D’avoir tué mon canard blanc ! (x2)
Par-dessus l’aile, il perd son sang.
REFRAIN
Par-dessus l’aile, il perd son sang. (x2)
De ses yeux lui sortent des diamants,
REFRAIN
De ses yeux lui sortent des diamants, (x2)
Et de son bec l’or et l’argent.
REFRAIN
Here is an approximative translation into English:
Chorus
Here comes the good wind, here comes the lovely wind
Here comes the good wind, my friend is calling me
Here comes the good wind, here comes the lovely wind
Here comes the good wind, my friend waits for me.
Behind our house there is a pond
It’s not as deep as it is wide
Three handsome ducks went for a swim
The king’s son went hunting
With his great silver gun
Wounded the black, killed the white
O, son of the king, you are cruel
You have killed my white duck
From ‘neath its wing it loses blood
and from its eyes, diamonds
And from its beak, gold and silver
What use to us is lots of money?
We send all our girls to the convent
And all the boys to the army.
Score for one verse of "V'là bon vent." Taken from https://frenchmoments.eu/v-la-le-bon-vent/.
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