Sur le Pont d'Avignon

DESCRIPTION: French round: "Sur le pont d'Avignon, L'on y danse, l'on y danse." "On the bridge at Avignon, see them dance, see them dance." The song tells how men, women, and soldiers bow and dance
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1846 (Du Mersan, "Chansons et Rondes Enfantines"); reportedly known since 1503
KEYWORDS: dancing nonballad
FOUND IN: France
REFERENCES (2 citations):
Silber/Silber-FolksingersWordbook, p. 390, "Sur Le Pont D'Avignon (On The Bridge At Avignon)" (1 text)
Fuld-BookOfWorldFamousMusic, pp. 539-540, "Sur le Pont d'Avignon"
RECORDINGS:
Marianne Corbino, "Sur le pont d'Avignon" (Piotr-Archive #635, recorded 08/10/2023)
NOTES [103 words]: One of the best-known songs in all of France. The great bridge on the Rhône was finished in 1185. The need to carry larger ships has resulted in much of the span being torn down, but a portion still stands (sticking out into the middle of nowhere), mostly as a tourist attraction.
Giles Booker says this is known "from 1503" (Gilles Booker, "'Malbrouk, s'en va-t-en guerre' or, How History Reaches the Nursery," essay in Gillian Avery and Julia Briggs, editors, Children and Their Books: A Celebration of the Work of Iona and Peter Opie, Oxford University Press, 1989, p. 136) but does not document the statement. - RBW
Last updated in version 6.7
File: FSWB390A

Go to the Ballad Search form
Go to the Ballad Index Song List

Go to the Ballad Index Instructions
Go to the Ballad Index Bibliography or Discography