Beatific Beat
January 6th, 2007
One more song in French! The most famous and successful French language song in America wasn’t French. It was Belgian. The Singing Nun’s Dominique was #1 when JFK was assassinated.
The short video above has the real Singing Nun, from the Ed Sullivan show one month before The Beatles made their first appearance. Jeanine Deckers of Belgium took the name “Soeur Sourire” when she took her vows. Here’s the song, then the lyrics.
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Dominique, oh Dominique
Over the land he plods along
Never looking for reward
He just talks about the Lord,
he just talks about the Lord,
he just talks about the LordAt a time when John Lackland
Over England was the king
Dominic was in the backland
Fighting sin like anythingNow a heretic one day
Among the thorn forced him to crawl
Dominic with just one prayer
Made him hear the good Lord’s callWithout horses or fancy wagon
He crossed Europe up and down
Poverty was his companion
As he walked from town to townTo bring back the straying liars
And the lost sheep to the fold
He brought forth the Preaching Friars
Heaven’s soldiers brave and boldOne day in the budding Order
There was nothing left to eat
Suddenly two angels walked in
With a load of bread and meatDominic once in his slumber
Saw the Virgin coat unfurled
Over Friars without number
Preaching all around the worldGrant us now oh Dominic
The grace of love and simple mirth
That we all may help to quicken
Godly love and truth on earth
In 1966, Debbie Reynolds starred in the movie “The Singing Nun.” The lyrics were in English and had not much to do with the actual song. This recreation of Ed Sullivan presenting “Sister Ann” is at least semi-factual.
Hmm. How about a TV show where the nun does something crazy — I dunno, how about flying? — instead of singing?
7 Comments
1. jeaniebeanie | January 7th, 2007 at 10:16 am
Actually, the refrain, strictly translated, is “Ils ne pas connais mon dieu,” which means They do not know my Lord.,” not “he just talks about the Lord.”
2. DogRat | January 7th, 2007 at 11:58 am
I wouldn’t know! I grabbed that translation off the Web.
3. Yours Sincerely | August 7th, 2007 at 5:17 pm
Fantastic Song, fantastic album, fantastic tunes, a genius
4. Catriona | May 13th, 2008 at 9:22 pm
My French is not all that good, but according to the printed French lyrics I’ve found, the last line is “Il ne parle que du bon Dieu” which is actually close to the last line in English — that is “he only speaks of the good God.”
5. DOuG pRATt | May 13th, 2008 at 11:41 pm
Thanks for the interpretation of the last line of the lyric. I don’t know any French at all.
Catriona’s comment is why I’m now posting the most recent comments on the front page. Without an RSS feed, you wouldn’t know a comment had been made for an old posting.
6. Marianne | February 2nd, 2009 at 4:24 pm
Thanks for posting this, which brought me back to the 60s! Great memories!
7. DOuG pRATt | February 2nd, 2009 at 4:44 pm
You’re welcome. This item, already a couple of years old, is a consistent target for web searches. The previous song in French I allude to, by the way, is “Sailor” by Petula Clark, posted shortly before this one.
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