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"Alouette" is a popular French-Canadian〔()〕 children's song about plucking the feathers from a lark, in retribution for being woken up by its song. Although it is in French, it is well-known among speakers of other languages; in this respect it is similar to "Frère Jacques". Many American doughboys and other Allied soldiers learned the song while serving in France during World War I and took it home with them, passing it on to their children and grandchildren.〔Conrad LaForte, Survivances médiévales dans la chanson folklorique, les presses de l'Université Laval, 1981〕〔Larousse gastronomique, Hamlyn, London, New York, Sydney, Toronto, 1974〕 ==History== Its origin is uncertain, though the most popular theory is that it is French-Canadian. The song was first published in ''A Pocket Song Book for the Use of Students and Graduates of McGill College'' (Montreal, 1879). However, Canadian folklorist Marius Barbeau was of the opinion that the song's ultimate origin was France.〔 The Canadian theory is based on the French fur trade that was active for over 300 years in North America. Canoes were used to transport trade goods in exchange for furs through established expansive trade routes consisting of interconnecting lakes, and rivers, and portages in the hinterland of present-day Canada and United States. The songs of the French fur trade were adapted to accompany the motion of paddles dipped in unison. Singing helped to pass the time and made the work seem lighter. In fact, it is likely that the Montreal Agents and Wintering Partners sought out and preferred to hire ''voyageurs'' who liked to sing and were good at it. They believed that singing helped the ''voyageurs'' to paddle faster and longer. French colonists ate horned larks, which they considered a game bird. "Alouette" informs the lark that the singer will pluck its head, nose, eyes, wings and tail. ''En roulant ma boule'' sings of ponds, bonnie ducks and a prince ''on hunting bound''. Many of the songs favored by the voyageurs have been passed down to our own era. Allouette has become a symbol of French Canada for the world, an unofficial national song.〔 Today, the song is used to teach French- and English-speaking children in Canada, and others learning French around the world, the names of body parts. Singers will point to or touch the part of their body that corresponds to the word being sung in the song. Ethnomusicologist Conrad LaForte points out that, in song, the lark (''l'alouette'') is the bird of the morning, and that it is the first bird to sing in the morning, hence waking up lovers and causing them to part, and waking up others as well, something which is not always appreciated. In French songs, the lark also has the reputation of being a gossip, a know-it-all, and cannot be relied on to carry a message, as she will tell everyone; she also carries bad news. However the nightingale, being the first bird of spring, in Europe, sings happily all the time, during the lovely seasons of spring and summer. The nightingale (i.e., rossignol) also carries messages faithfully and dispenses advice, in Latin, no less, a language which lovers understand. LaForte explains that this alludes to the Middle Ages, when only a select few still understood Latin.〔Conrad LaForte, Survivances Médiévales dans la chanson folklorique, les presses de l'Université Laval, 1981, pp.227-229.〕 And so, as the lark makes lovers part or wakes up the sleepyhead, this would explain why the singer of "Alouette" wants to pluck it in so many ways.. if he can catch it, for, as Laporte notes, this bird is flighty as well. The lark was eaten in Europe, and when eaten was known as a "mauviette", which is also a term for a sickly person.〔"Lark", Larousse Gastronomique, the encyclopedia of food, wine and cooking, Hamlyn: London, New York. Sydney, Toronto, 14th edition, 1974.〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Alouette (song)」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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