Re: Morning bells are ringing,. Ding-dang-dong, ding-dang-dong.

n Fri, 22 Nov 2024 7:09:13 +0000, occam wrote:

On 08/11/2024 19:52, Aidan Kehoe wrote:

>
 Ar an t-ochtú lá de mí na Samhain, scríobh HenHanna:
>
 > Are you sleeping?
 > Are you sleeping?
 > Brother John
 > Brother John
 > Morning bells are ringing
 > Morning bells are ringing
 > Ding, ding, dong
 > Ding, ding, dong
>
Huh, I’d forgotten there were English words to « Frère Jacques ».
>

>
Yes, as there are translations in many other languages.
>
None of them start with 'are you sleeping?'. Your erratic source has the
third and fourth lines transposed with the first two lines. You can put
that down to the fact that the clucking Hen is a bit of a ding-dong
himself. (Hint, the song is called "Frère Jacques".)

Another hint: The top priority in song lyrics is to
fit the tune, and the version above does.  Your suggestion
doesn't.
Also, "Jacques" is a cognate of "Jacob" and "James",
not "John".  But "John" sounds better.
--
Jerry Friedman
--