Giroflé, girofla Lyrics

The title is the refrain, Giroflé, girofla, which sounds roughly like zhee-ro-FLAY zhee-ro-FLAH, and the words are French. The two words look like girofle (clove) and giroflée (a garden flower), but the book does not say what they mean, and the page treats them as the refrain. The last line of every verse, L'amour m'y compt'ra, is also a refrain, and is not explained either; the translation above is a literal best guess.

The songbook's note says a child stands in the middle of the ring and sings the solo, the other children answer in chorus, and solo and chorus alternate to the end. In each verse the first line comes back as the third. The talk is a little story. The soloist asks for one of the fine daughters and is told not even the tail of one (a way of saying not a bit of one). Then the soloist says they will go into the wood alone (seulette is an old, small form of seule) to pick violets (la violette) to pin on the collar (coll'rette). The chorus asks what if the king meets them in the wood, and the soloist says three bows (trois révérences), and the same for the queen. The bows are a polite way of greeting.

The songbook has two more exchanges after these, and they are left out; the page ends on the second set of bows, which closes the scene.

The songbook prints the words as two voices, a solo and a chorus, and this page joins them in the order the singers sing them. It also gives a short note on how to play: one child in the middle of the ring takes the solo, and the others answer.

The song has more exchanges in the book than this page uses, so the full song runs longer than the version here.