Il pleut il pleut bergère

Il pleut il pleut bergère is a traditional French song with lyrics dating from the 18th century.

The story of the song

Il pleut il pleut bergère is a song from the one-act comic opera "Laure et Pétrarque", written in 1780 by Fabre d'Églantine (1750-1794), a French actor, dramatist, poet, and politician of the French Revolution.

The music is by Louis-Victor Simon (1764-1820) who was born into a family of musicians from Metz. His father was a musician at the Cathedral of Saint-Etienne in Metz.

The song first became known under the title Le Retour aux champs before it took on its present title around 1787. It is also known by other names: L'Orage or L'Hospitalité.

The French Revolution

Therefore, the song was popular a couple of years before the beginning of the French Revolution (1789). 

It would have been sung the day after the storming of the Bastille in July 1789, when the National Guard was created.

Thus, the shepherdess would be Queen Marie-Antoinette of Austria who liked to play the shepherdess in the Queen's hamlet in the park of the Palace of Versailles.

The storm mentioned in the first verses would refer to the troubles of the French Revolution. 

Legend has it that its author, Fabre d'Eglantine, hummed the song on 5 April 1794 as he stepped onto the guillotine's scaffold.

A double meaning song

Like most nursery rhymes from this period, the seemingly innocuous lyrics have a double meaning for adults on closer inspection.

Il pleut il pleut bergère

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The lyrics in French

The original song of Il pleut il pleut bergère has 6 verses.

Translation of the lyrics into English

Here is an approximative translation into English:

Verse 1

It rains, it rains, shepherdess
Press your white sheep
Let's go under my thatched cottage
Shepherdess, let's go quickly
I hear under the foliage
The water falling with great noise
Here comes the storm
Here comes the lightning

Verse 2

Can you hear the thunder?
It rolls as it approaches
Take shelter, shepherdess
To my right as I walk
I see our hut
And here comes
My mother and my sister Anne
Who are going to open the stable

Verse 3

Good evening, good evening my mother
My sister Anne, good evening
I bring my shepherdess
Close to us for this evening
Go dry yourself, my dear
By our fireplaces
Sister, keep her company
Come in little sheep

Verse 4

Let's take good care, oh my mother
Her so pretty flock
Give more bedding
To her little lamb
It's done, let's go near her
Well then, here you are
In a corset she is beautiful
My mother, see her!

Verse 5

Let's have a meal, take this chair
You'll be near me
This torch of larch
Will burn before you
Taste this milk
But aren't you eating?
You feel the storm
It has wearied your steps

Verse 6

Well here is your bed
Sleep on it until the day
On your pure forehead my mouth
Take a kiss of love
Do not blush, shepherdess
My mother and I tomorrow
We'll go to your father
To ask for your hand