Fais dodo, Colas, mon p'tit frère Lyrics
One of the best-known French lullabies. A child sings to a little brother called Colas: go to sleep, and there will be milk, while mother bakes a cake upstairs and father makes chocolate downstairs. The French is followed by an English translation.
Fais dodo, Colas, mon p'tit frère
Fais dodo, Colas, mon p'tit Frère;
Fais dodo, t'auras du lolo;
Maman est en haut
Qui fait du gâteau,
Papa est en bas
Qui fait du chocolat:
Fais dodo, Colas, mon p'tit Frère,
Fais dodo, t'auras du lolo.
In English
Go to sleep, Colas, my little brother;
Go to sleep, you will have some milk;
Mama is upstairs
Making a cake,
Papa is downstairs
Making chocolate:
Go to sleep, Colas, my little brother,
Go to sleep, you will have some milk.
Printed from https://nurseryrhymes.co/fais-dodo-colas-mon-ptit-frere/
- Type
- Lullabies, Rhymes for Babies
- Tune
- Slow and soft, rocking the baby, with the same pair of lines at the beginning and end
- Best for ages
- 0 to 5 years
Hand Motions and Actions
| When you sing | Do this |
|---|---|
| Fais dodo, Colas | Rock gently from side to side, holding the baby or a doll. |
| Maman est en haut | Point one finger slowly upward. |
| Papa est en bas | Point one finger slowly downward. |
What Does Fais dodo, Colas, mon p'tit frère Mean?
Fais dodo means "go to sleep": dodo is the French baby word for sleep, and faire dodo is what a French parent says at bedtime. It is said roughly fay doe-DOH, ko-LAH. Colas is the baby's name, and mon p'tit frère means "my little brother", so the singer is an older child, though a parent can sing it too.
The word lolo is a child's word for milk. The promise is simple: sleep now, and milk will come. The next lines make the house a calm picture. Maman est en haut, mother is upstairs, making a cake (gâteau). Papa est en bas, father is downstairs, making chocolate (chocolat). Everything in the house is busy and warm, and the baby needs only to sleep.
The first two lines come back at the end, so the lullaby has a shape like a circle and ends where it began.
History and Origin
Charles-Marie Widor's Paris songbook prints these eight lines as one verse. Library catalogues date the songbook to the 1880s, and it holds many other old French songs for small children.
The lullaby is still sung in France, and many French parents know it by heart. Variants of the words and the tune exist, so a family's version may differ a little from the book.
Learning Activities
- Up and down: point a finger up for 'en haut' and down for 'en bas' while singing the lines about the house.
- Sleepy voice: sing the whole lullaby once in a normal voice and again in a whisper, and ask which sounds sleepier.
- Rock the doll: let each child rock a doll or soft toy in time with the lines while the grown-up sings.
- Learn three words: say dodo, lolo and gâteau together, then draw what each one means.