Sarah Brightman - Baïlèro

Pastrè dè délaï l'aïo,
As gaïré dè buon tèms?
Dio lou baïlèro lèrô,
Lèrô lèrô lèrô lèrô baïlèro lô.

Pastré lou prat faï flour,
Li cal gorda toun troupel.
Dio lou baïlèro lèrô,
Lèrô lèrô lèrô lèrô baïlèro lô.

Pastré couci foraï,
En obal io lou bel riou!
Dio lou baïlèro lèrô,
Lèrô lèrô lèrô lèrô baïlèro lô.

Music and lyrics: Traditional, adapted by Peterson.

This is actually one of the Songs of the Auvergne collected by the French composer Joseph Canteloube; several artists have recorded songs from this collection

The Auvergne is an region in France, west of Lyon. The language spoken there, Auvergnat, is a dialect of the Occitan (aka Languedoc/Provençal) language, which is still spoken by a decent percentage of the population of southern France today. It is rarely heard of, however, because the French government refuses to give it any official recognition or status, and they brush the language aside by saying it is only a "dialect" of French, which is a lie. Occitan in fact, is a Romance language much older than French. There is also a law in France saying that only French can be used in public.

[Thanks to Mark Valencia and Steven Knapstad for info.]

From: Eden (1998).
And from: Classics (2001).

Source of the lyrics: the CD-booklet.

The song is in the Auvergnat language and a translation of the above lines was sent to me by Adelaide. Apparently the words "baïlèro lô" are not translatable.

Baïlèro     --     Shepherd's Song

Shepherd across the river,
You're hardly having a good time,
Sing baïlèro lèrô

Shepherd, the meadows are in bloom.
You should graze your flock on this side,
Sing baïlèro lèrô

Shepherd, the water divides us,
And I can't cross it,
Sing baïlèro lèrô

Adelaide informs me that Sarah does not sing the entire song as it appears on her Virgin classics recording of Chants d'Auvergne (7243 5 61120 2 5); the translation given on that recording reads in full:
Shepherd across the river,
You're hardly having a good time,
Sing baïlèro lèrô
No, I'm not,
And you, too, can sing baïlèro

Shepherd, the meadows are in bloom.
You should graze your flock on this side,
Sing baïlèro lèrô
The grass is greener in the meadows on this side,
Baïlèro lèrô

Shepherd, the water divides us,
And I can't cross it,
Sing baïlèro lèrô
Then I'll come down and find you,
Baïlèro lèrô

 
Gary Fujitani informs me that a fully instrumental, version of the song was made the jazz pianist Bob James. He named the song "Shepherd's Song" and it is the second track on the album "H" released in 1980. Gary adds:
most of the songs on the CD sound very dated in the old 80's style of jazz fusion. However, "Shepherd's Song" still sounds very good and classic.
The song also appears on James' album The Essential Collection from 2002; you can hear that song here
 
Stephen Bradley has pointed me to a
Scottish version by Eddi Reader - with different lyrics, but the same gorgeous melody
You can see and here Eddi with "Shephard's Song" here and here and at more places.

 
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last modified: 30 March 2011