Gentil coquelicot Lyrics
A garden song from France. The singer goes down into the garden to pick rosemary, and before three sprigs are picked a nightingale lands on a hand and says three words in Latin. Every verse ends with the same refrain about a poppy. The four verses below are the first four of eight, with an English translation.
Gentil coquelicot
J'ai descendu dans mon jardin,
J'ai descendu dans mon jardin,
Pour y cueillir le romarin...
Gentil coq'licot, Mesdames,
Gentil coq'licot nouveau.
Pour y cueillir du romarin,
Pour y cueillir du romarin,
J' n'en avais pas cueilli trois brins;
Gentil coq'licot, mesdames,
Gentil coq'licot nouveau.
J' n'en avais pas cueilli trois brins,
J' n'en avais pas cueilli trois brins,
Qu'un rossignol vint sur ma main;
Gentil coq'licot, mesdames,
Gentil coq'licot nouveau.
Qu'un rossignol vint sur ma main,
Qu'un rossignol vint sur ma main,
Il me dit trois mots en latin;
Gentil coq'licot, mesdames,
Gentil coq'licot nouveau.
In English
I went down into my garden,
I went down into my garden,
To pick some rosemary...
Nice poppy, ladies,
Nice new poppy.
To pick some rosemary,
To pick some rosemary,
I had not picked three sprigs;
Nice poppy, ladies,
Nice new poppy.
I had not yet picked three sprigs,
I had not yet picked three sprigs,
When a nightingale came onto my hand;
Nice poppy, ladies,
Nice new poppy.
When a nightingale came onto my hand,
When a nightingale came onto my hand,
It said three words to me in Latin;
Nice poppy, ladies,
Nice new poppy.
Printed from https://nurseryrhymes.co/gentil-coquelicot/
- Type
- Action Songs
- Tune
- Light and walking, with the refrain sung out to finish each verse
- Best for ages
- 3 to 9 years
What Does Gentil coquelicot Mean?
A coquelicot is a poppy, the wild red flower that grows in fields. The songbook prints the word as coq'licot, which you can say as kok-lee-ko. Gentil is a kindly word that can mean nice or pretty, and nouveau means new. So the refrain says "Nice poppy, ladies, nice new poppy", and mesdames means ladies, as the singers speak to the others.
Each verse takes the end of the line before and sings it again, so the story moves like a chain: the singer goes to the garden, picks le romarin (rosemary, a herb with narrow leaves), has not picked three sprigs (brins), and a rossignol (a nightingale, a small brown bird known for its song) lands on a hand. Then it speaks, "three words in Latin", an old language that the bird should not know, which is what makes the verse funny.
The songbook has eight verses. This page stops after the fourth, because the later verses tell what the nightingale said and run down men and boys, and they are left out. The four verses here are a complete little scene.
History and Origin
The words come from Chansons de France pour les petits Français, a Paris songbook with tunes arranged by Jean-Baptiste Weckerlin and pictures by Louis-Maurice Boutet de Monvel. The French national library (BnF) catalogue lists a Plon edition of this book from 1886.
The songbook prints the song under the title Gentil coq'licot. This page uses the modern spelling of the first word, coquelicot, because that is how most people spell the word and search for the song.
Learning Activities
- Herb sniff: smell a sprig of rosemary, if you have one, and talk about what it smells like.
- Garden walk: walk round the room on 'I went down into my garden' and stop on each refrain.
- What did it say?: ask what three words the nightingale might say, and let each child make one up.
- Poppy picture: draw a red poppy with a black centre and four petals.