Noël version François Pérusse

J'avais déjà blogué il y a des années (en 2010) son medley de Noël de l'Album du peuple Tome II. Maintenant, j'ai trouvé sa chanson de Noël du troisième album sur YouTube, alors je partage donc ici. François Pérusse y parodie surtout les Douxe jours de Noël, mais on peut reconnaître d'autres cantiques. Et c'est assez tordant.

The Twelve days of Christmas (a correspondence)

Today, I am plugging again this book, which is a satire of The Twelve Days of Christmas. I mentioned it on Vraie Fiction twice, here and here. It was written by John Julius Norwich and drawn by Quentin Blake. I had first seen it (and read it) in a Waterstone's back in 1999. I don't know why I didn't buy it then and there. I could find it online, but the illustrations of Blake enhances the reading experience and make it all the funnier. But nothing was lost in the end: even though I had not seen it again in a bookstore for years, it has recently been re-edited, with a foreword by Joanna Lumley. And I adore Joanna Lumley.

Anyway, what is the book about? It is about a presumably young man, Edward, sending his beloved fiancée Emily, who lives with her mother, each and every one of the items of the song, mainly, but not only, birds. Noisy birds. each and every day of the Christmas, for the whole twelve days of Christmas. Emily tells the story through letters sent to Edward, first completely smitten by his romantic idea and grateful for his original gift, then less than thrilled, finally outraged. There is a brilliant crescendo in her anger until the final bang, where the drummers drumming (the entire percussion section of the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra) show up on the twelfth day. I don't know why Liverpool's orchestra, but since I lived there for a year, it also adds to the pleasure of the text to me. In the end, it is simply a deliciously funny book. Whether you love or hate the original song that inspired it. Oh, and the pictures! They show such a display of emotions. And you can almost smell the menagerie.

Find the turtle doves

I am longing for snow, so I calm my longing by looking at pictures my father sent me of my very wintery home town of Chicoutimi. Here is one I particularly love, of the family's snowy garden. Can you find and count the turtle doves? The garden is full of birds all year round, various species of birds, but in the last few years there are many and mostly turtle doves. My father loves them and gets protective of them. They are particularly fitting during winter, and I guess even more so during Christmastime, because of this song. Here they camouflage fairly well in the snow, but you can still see them.

The Twelve Days of Christmas (twice)

It is still Christmastime and I thought I would upload two different takes on The Twelve Days of Christmas. I say two different takes, but both are parodies. One is a short pastiche written and (I think) read here by John Julius Norwich. I blogged about it four years ago. The second is a dramatisation of the German version of the carol, acted by Julie Andrews. I find both takes hilarious.

Une photo hivernale

Je faisais le tour des photos que j'avais reçu de mon père par le passé dans ma boîte de courriel. J'ai trouvé celle-ci, d'une tourterelle (je crois) dans une mangeoire, elle date de février 2007 et a bien sûr été prise à Chicoutimi. Puisque jusqu'ici la neige ne vient pas à moi, j'en mettrai donc sur ce blogue. Une tourterelle, c'est comme les "two turtle doves" de la chanson. Il n'y a pas de traduction en français de celle-là, pas à ce que je sache en tout cas. En fait si, il y a une adaptation, ou alors une chanson ayant la même origine, mais elle est complètement différente, quoique l'on peut facilement voir les similarités. Enfin bref, ça n'a pas d'importance: une tourterelle qui mange un jour d'hiver enneigé, ça me calme un peu du mal du pays.

Aftermaths of the Twelve Days of Christmas

For those who find Christmastime stressful, or who simply can't stand the famous song, you need to read this parody by John Julius Norwich absolutely. I really mean it. Read it. Now. Enjoy. I read it for the first time in book form in a Waterstone's, I was sadly not smart enough to buy it. It pictures perfectly how Christmas can sometimes be a pain. I always wondered what somebody could have done with all those animals, I mean you can milk the cows (or get them milked for you, as the maids are the gift after all), but what about the rest? You can eat the pears of the tree and the geese's eggs of course and well, you can pluck the partridge and put it in a tourtière, but that would make my wife very angry. And I don't think I could kill a partridge anyway, especially not if it was a gift. Same goes with the rest, so I would have to endure the stupid birds and the cows, the lords, the ladies dancing, the drummers, and the rest.

La Perdriole

Tiens, je viens de m'en rendre compte: on sera le dernier jour de mai. Mai est un mois qui passe un peu inaperçu chez moi: c'est le mois qui suit celui de ma fête et qui précède le plus chaud (enfin, la plupart du temps) mois de juin. J'associe octobre à l'Halloween, décembre à..enfin vous savez quoi, septembre au début de l'automne, août à la fin de l'été, mars au début du printemps et à la Saint-Patrick, mais mai... C'est un mois mi-chair, mi-poisson, pour ainsi dire. Tout jeune, je le confondais avec août, c'est dire. Cela dit, j'ai un souvenir précis de mai, c'est celui de la chanson La Perdriole (il y en a plusieurs versions, certaines ne faisant même pas allusion à mai). Une perdriole, si je ne trompe pas, c'est une perdrix, un oiseau que mon père chassait (à l'automne, pas en mai) et qui donne du goût aux tourtières. On remarquera que la chanson en question s'apparente sur bien des points aux Twelves Days of Christmas. Pauvre Perdriole, éclipsée par une chanson plus populaire (et en anglais en plus). Cela dit, j'associe l'oiseau et le mois de mai à cette chanson folklorique.