C'est la Belle Francoise (Beautiful Francesca)

DESCRIPTION: French. "C'est la belle Francoise, hut-a-la-ma-le-lon-la", soon to be wed. Her lover finds her weeping. She has heard that he'll soon march away. "Arriving in the village, I hear the church-bells say ... 'Tis beautiful Francesca, whom now they lay away"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1946 (Berry-FolkSongsOfOldVincennes)
KEYWORDS: foreignlanguage grief love army war return burial death lover soldier
FOUND IN: US(MW) Canada(Que)
REFERENCES (2 citations):
Berry-FolkSongsOfOldVincennes, p. 30, "C'est la belle Francoise (Beautiful Francesca)" (1 text + translation, 1 tune)
ADDITIONAL: Edith Fowke and Richard Johnston, _Folk Songs of Quebec (Chansons de Quebec)_, Waterloo Music Company, 1957, pp. 20-21, "C'est La Belle Francoise (The Fair Francoise)" (1 French text plus English translation, 1 tune)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Blackbirds and Thrushes (I)" (plot)
NOTES [38 words]: The plot is similar to "Blackbirds and Thrushes (I)", but they differ in who says what to whom, and the gestalts don't match. No, I don't know why she's Francoise in the French version and Francesca in the English translation. - PJS
Last updated in version 3.1
File: BerV030

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