1 Legend

Text of song as in album in bold,
Original song text emphasized,
«English translation of foreign text» in quotes.

Please add missing languages, and comments/explanations on these songs.

Do not yet link. This page will move to www.asterix-obelix.nl as part of The Many Languages of Asterix. This version is under development. (Sorry for the slow speed)

2 Credits

3 Sources

I now try to add references to Wikipedia [W] and Youtube [Y]

4 Contents

• 3 Asterix and the Goths
• 4 Asterix the gladiator
• 5 Asterix and the banquet
• 7 Asterix and the big fight
• 8 Asterix in Britain
• 9 Asterix and the Normans
• 10 Asterix the legionary
• 12 Asterix at the Olympic games
• 14 Asterix in Spain
• 16 Asterix in Switzerland
• 17 The mansions of the gods
• 18 Asterix and the laurel wreath
• 21 Asterix and Caesar's gift
• 22 Asterix and the great crossing
• 28 Asterix and the magic carpet
• 29 Asterix and the secret weapon

5  

• 13 Asterix and the cauldron, except for Obelix' Tralalala! on p.42.
  In the French original there is a reference to a song of the French Foreign Legion. A legionary asks for boudin «bloodsausage», which refers to tiens, voilà du boudin..., les Alsaciens, les Suisses et les Lorrains «take, here's bloodsausage..., for Alsacians, Swiss and Lorraine people...»
• 20 Asterix in Corsica.
• 23 Obelix and Co., except for the villagers singing happy birthday to Obelix on p.11.

1 French

«On every road there are pebbles, there are pebbles on every road»

Charles Trenet La marche des jeunes:
Y a des cailloux sur les chemins,
Y a du vent qui court dans la plaine
Y a des cailloux sur les chemins
Mais à l'auberge y a du vin !

«There are pebbles on the paths, wind is running on the plain, There are pebbles on the paths, but good wine in the inn»

2 Dutch

Overal waar de meisjes zijn
En dat we toffe jongens zijn dat willen we we-e-ten
daarom komen wij, daarom komen wij en dat we toffe jongens zijn
dat willen we we-e-ten daarom komen wij -overal !

traditional,

3 English

The grand old Duke of York [W], a nursery rhyme:
The grand old Duke of York he had ten thousand men
He marched them up to the top of the hill
And he marched them down again.

4 Polish

kamienie leżą na wszystkich drogach!

«The stones are in all the roads»

1 French

«Drinking a little 'cervoise' is pleasant», where 'cervoise' is the raditional Gallic beer.

Reference to the traditional drinking song: Boire un petit coup «Drinking a little glass is pleasant»

2 Dutch

3 English

A WWI song [W]
It's a long way to Tipperary
It's a long way to go

4 Polish

«What a pleasure to have (to drink) a mug of beer!»

1 French

Charles Trenet again: Revoir Paris «to see Paris again»

2 English

Macbeth [W] by William Shakespeare, the witches chant

Double, double toil and trouble;
Fire burn, and caldron bubble.

1 French

Nursery rhyme:
Ils ont des chapeaux ronds
Vive la Bretagne
Ils ont des chapeaux ronds
Vive les Bretons

The people from Britain have "round hats" in the original, here the Celts have winged helmets (well, in the comic they do).

2 English

Maybe it's because I'm a Londoner,
That I love London so,
Maybe it's because I'm a Londoner
That I think of her wherever I go;

3 German

Freut euch des Lebens
Volkslied von Johann Martin Usteri, (1763-1827)

1 French

Marseille de mes amours, Massilia = Marseille. According to Rivière sung by Fernandel in a musical movie on Marseille

2 English

She's only a bird
In a gilded cage,
A beautiful sight to see,

Lyrics, sung by Shirley Temple, Glad Rags to Riches album.

3 German

1 French

nursery rhyme
l était un petit navire Il était un petit navire Qui n'avait ja ja jamais navigué Qui n'avait ja ja jamais navigué Ohé ! Ohé !

2 English

Spanish Ladies:
Farewell and adieu to you, Spanish Ladies,
Farewell and adieu to you, ladies of Spain;

3 German

1 French

Charles Trenet:
Ménilmontant, mais oui madame
C'est là que j'ai laissé mon coeur
C'est là que j'viens retrouver mon âme
Toute ma flamme, tout mon bonheur

C'est le petit vin blanc, qu'on boit sous les dolmens...

drinking song:
Ah ! le petit vin blanc
Qu'on boit sous les tonnelles
Quand les filles sont belles
Du coté de Nogent

see also Olympic games.

2 English

Love is a many splendored thing - by Frank Sinatra
Roamin' in the gloamin'... - Scottish Traditional

3 German

1 French

Song from opera Faust.
Salut! ô mon dernier matin!
J'arrive sans terreur au terme du voyage;
Et je suis, avec ce breuvage,
Le seul maître de mon destin!

word play between 'latin' and 'matin' ("morning")

Jolie fleur de pa pa pa jolie fleur de patricien...

Fleur de papillon, 1955:
Jolie fleur de pa pa pa
Jolie fleur de papillon
Dit une voix dans le pa pa pa
Dans le pavillon

2 English

For Gau-aul Lang Syne, My Dears ...

For Auld Lang Syne, My Dears ... - by Robert Burns (and a New Year's Traditional song)

3 German

1 French

Song from Lille.

Dors min p'tit Quinquin, min p'tit pouchin, min gros rogin
Te m'feras du chagrin, si te'n'dors point ch'qu'à d'main

«Sleep my little child, ...»

2 Dutch

Dutch version of Mozart's lullaby it seems.

3 Dutch new

Slaap, kindje, slaap / Daar buiten loopt een schaap

«Sleep, baby, sleep / Outside walks a sheep»

Silly text, but it rhymes. The latin porcus means pig, not sheep. But it rhymes. Messenvorcus is the name of the centurion, from the Dutch Mes en vork, or «knife and fork».

4 English

5 German

Lullaby, Mozart. [Y]

Schlafe, mein Prinzchen, schlaf ein / Es rhu'n Schäfchen und Vögelein / Garten und Wiesen verstummt / Auch nicht ein Bienchen mehr summt

1 French

see Asterix the Gladiator.

2 Dutch

3 Dutch new

Mussels from Massilia.

?? Zeg ken jij de mosselman, die woont in Scheveningen

4 English

Molly Malone [W] (or "Cockles and Mussels", or "In Dublin's Fair City"). Popular song.

In Dublin's fair city,/ Where the girls are so pretty,/ I first set my eyes on sweet Molly Malone,/ As she wheeled her wheel-barrow,/ Through streets broad and narrow,/ Crying, "Cockles and mussels, alive, alive, oh!"

Scampix and crawfix, wordplay on scampi and crawfish [W].

1 French

Nuits de Chine \ Nuits Câlines \ Nuits d'amour \ Nuits d'ivresse

By Ernest Dumont (1922)

2 Dutch

3 Dutch new

4 English

Much appreciated by Getafix having been flattened by a menhir!

If You Were The Only Girl in The World, by Clifford Grey & Nat D. Ayer (1916)

1 French

Unknown to Rivière.

2 Dutch

Famous hit by the Selvera's [W.nl] [Y]

Twee reebruine ogen die keken de jager aan \ Twee reebruine ogen die hij niet vergeten kan

3 Dutch new

4 English

John Brown's body lies a-mouldering in the grave, / But his soul goes marching on

[W]

1 French

2 English

Poem by George P. Morris [W] (1802 - 1864) set to music by Henry Russell (1812-1900) [Y]

1 French

Vive l'arôme du bon vin

According to Rivière: this is an unknown drinking song. According to Botanix this is an invention of the authors, just for the pun.

2 American

Bottle of Wine, by Tom Paxton
Bottle of wine, fruit of the vine,
When you gonna let me get sober?
Leave me along, let me go home.
Let me go back and start over.

3 Dutch

4 English

Roll out ..., see under American below.

Sukisuix adds: as far as I know still popular among the older folks of the Eastend of London.

Mechanical Music Digest refers to "Skoda Lasky" by Jaromir Vejvoda, in German-speaking regions known as "Rosamunde".

5 Swedish

«May rome Live, May rome live, Wine as long as we live!»

1 French

Nursery rhyme

see also Asterix the gladiator.

2 American

Roll out the barrel, we'll have a barrel of fun
Roll out the barrel, we've got the blues on the run
Zing boom tararrel, ring out a song of good cheer
Now's the time to roll the barrel, for the gang's all here

Beer Barrel Polka

3 Dutch

4 English

Little Brown Jug
Ha, ha, ha, you and me,
Little brown jug, don't I love thee!
Ha, ha, ha, you and me,
Little brown jug, don't I love thee!

5 Swedish

«Knights of the round table, drink out of...»

1 French

2 Dutch

Refers to the Monkees.

3 Dutch new

Refers to Beatnix = hippies.

4 English

Refers to the Rolling Stones, but 'Yeah' seems to be the Beatles.

1 French

2 Dutch

3 Dutch new

4 English

Unclear. invisifan: Hard to say ... reminds me of an Allan Sherman song (Shake Hands with your Uncle Max) but I doubt it ...

1 French

Song Ma Normandie
J'aime à revoir ma Normandie !
C'est le pays qui m'a donné le jour.

2 Dutch

3 Dutch new

1 French

Nursery rhyme un kilomètre à pieds, ça use ça use, un kilomètre à pieds ça use les souliers

«one kilometer on foot, (that) wears your shoes, two ... ».

Here, they say 'millia passum' instead of 'kilometer' and 'caligae', roman shoes, instead of 'soulier'. It's a song for walking, and you continue 'two kilometers on foot... ' until you are completely worn out... The last line sung by Cacofonix ends here with '3246' !

2 Dutch

Ends with '7593'

3 Dutch new

This is the most well known song that can be extended to infinity by numbering the verses. Ends already with '16'.

4 English

'centum quinquaginta septem' = 157.

This old man
This old man, he played one,
He played knick-knack on my thumb.
With a knick-knack, paddy whack,
Give a dog a bone,
This old man came rolling home.

1 French

Ça balance! Ça balance! Oh, oui!

«It rocks!»

2 Dutch

3 Dutch new

Ik hou van Holland, Joseph Schmit (The Netherlands) - 1910/1920, made popular by artist Heintje.
Ik hou van Holland, met je bossen en je hei
Jouw blonde duinen in een bonte rij,

4 English

Lassie
I love a lassie, a bonnie bonnie lassie,
She's as pure as a lily in the dell,
She's sweet as the heather, The bonnie bloomin' heather

However 'Get with it! I'm real gone!' is intended to make it more "youth-culturish" similar to the 'Yeah's.

1 French

Popular 60s song by Antoine :
Ma mère m'a dit Antoine fais-toi couper les cheveux, je lui ai dit ma m&eegrave;re je fais ce que je veux

«My mother told me 'Antoine, have your hair cut', I answered 'mother, I do as I please'. »

Very cheeky for the time ? Here, Cacofonix sings «My mother told me : Cacofonix have your hair braided...»

2 Dutch

3 Dutch new

4 English

'America' from "West Side Story" and Bill Hailey's 'Rock around the clock'

1 French

«And all these make excellent Gauls», Reference to Maurice Chevalier
Et tout ça, ça fait d'excellents Français

«And all these make excellent Frenchmen», Botanix: I think this song describes ironically an army, it's a funny song, I guess.

Ça se balance !

"It rocks!"

2 Dutch

Tussen Keulen en Parijs,
Ligt de weg naar Rome
Al wie met ons mee wil gaan,
Die moet onze manieren verstaan.
Zo zijn onze manieren, ...

Oh yeah!.. Oh yeah

3 Dutch new

4 English

Reference to Auld Lang Syne, We'll tak' a cup o' kindness yet, and the Normans' penchant for using skulls as cups. Another 'get with it!', note the Normans are realy gone, or at least going as fast as they can.

1 French

Les lavandières du Portugal, movie song,
Et tape ! et tape ! et tape sur ton battoir !
Et tape, et tape, et tape, tu dormiras mieux ce soir !

'Portugal' replaced by its old name 'Lusitanie'.

2 English

Parody of the British WW II propoganda song - We're going to hand out the washing on the Siegfied Line If Siegfried Line's still there.

'Catiline' [W] (or Catilina) was a Roman politician.

1 French

2 Dutch

3 English

1 French

À la Bastille
On aime bien
Nini-Peau-d'chien :
Elle est si bonne et si gentille !

Change of 'Bastille' a quarter of Paris into Lutèce the city, and the animal 'chien' (dog) into sanglier (boar).

Rivière

2 Alsatian

D'r Hans im Schnookeloch
Hett alles, was'r will ;
Und was er hett, des will er nit
und was er will, des hett er nit;
Lyrics

3 Dutch

4 English

When Father papered the parlour
You couldn't see him for paste
Dabbing it here! dabbing it there!
Paste and paper everywhere

Lyrics by R.P. Weston, performed by Billy Williams.

5 German

1 French

Ah ! le petit vin blanc
Qu'on boit sous les tonnelles
Quand les filles sont belles
Du coté de Nogent

2 Alsatian

Wer soll das bezahlen,
Wer hat das bestellt,
Wer hat so viel Pinke-pinke,
Wer hat so viel Geld?
Lyrics by Walter Stein (Kurt Feltz) 1949

3 Dutch

4 English

Tavern in the Town:
There is a tavern in the town, in the town,
And there my true love sits him down, sits him down,
And drinks his wine 'mid laughter free,
And never, never thinks of me.

Maid of Amsterdam, traditional:
I'll go no more a rovin, with you fair maid.
A roving, A roving, since roving's been my ru-i-in,
I'll go no more a roving, with you fair maid.

1 English

Rockabye, Pepe, on the tree top...

Wunderful, wonderful Durovernum...

1 English

1 English

1 English

1 English

1 French

from the nursery rhyme, using childlish words : fais dodo, Colin mon p'tit frère, fais dodo t'auras du lolo.

«sleep, Colin little brother, sleep (and) you'll have milk».
Well, it sounds quite dull in English.

2 English

A nursery rhyme [W]:

Bye, baby Bunting, Father's gone a-hunting,
Mother's gone a-milking, Sister's gone a-silking,

1 French

Après des siècles, des siècles d'esclavage,
Le belge sortant du tombeau

2 Dutch

Bij ons staat op de keukendeur
Bij ons staat op de keukendeur, 't is niet altijd rozengeur
En m'n vader schreef op 't behang, Lekker is maar ene vinger lang
Tony Bass, De Twee Pinten, 1969, a classic carnival song.

3 English

Rule Britannia, sung every year at the 'Last Night of the Proms':
Rule Britannia, Britannia rule the waves,
Britons never never never shall be slaves.

1 French

Douce nuit, «Sweet night, all is getting asleep, (there is) no noise», slight variation of the famous Christmas song, originally German 'Gothic'. Funny because the appearent contradiction between the behaviour of the Goths and the meaning of the song.

2 Dutch

de volle maan, zo koen en kil ... verlicht het woud, zo groen en stihiiiiiiil! (in Gothic print)

3 English

Silent night, holy night, all is calm ...

A very classic Christmas Carol:
Silent night, holy night,
All is calm, all is bright

invisifan: I'm guessing Silent Night was picked as a joke since the singers were trying to be anything BUT silent (just as the Belgians' song also contradicts the actual circumstance)

1 French

«I love forests, because they have wild boars, and wild boars are fine, especially with mushrooms»

2 Dutch

3 English

Twelve Days Of Christmas:
On the first day of Christmas
my true love sent to me:
A partridge in a pear tree.

Hibernal Solstice is the turning point of the year when days again become longer which is the origin of the annual celebrations held around the 21st of December by nearly ever culture & religion in the world--including Christmas (which didn't exist in Asterix' time of course; Asterix might have also known it as Yule, the Romans would have called it Saturnalia).

1 French

Sous la tonnelle on frôle son jupon [..] Elle rit, c'est tout l'mal qu'ell' sait faire, Madelon, Madelon, Madelon.

Rivière: La Madelon

A WW I song. 'Madelon' is a nickname or regional name for Madeleine (Magdalena).
About a maid who is yound and beautiful, 'light as a butterfly' and kind to men (soldiers ?); they can 'take her by the waist or the chin' or 'lightly touch her skirts', 'kiss her in a corner', she only laughs.

2 Basque

eeeuh. 'toga' and 'juno' sound familiar.

3 Dutch

Based on something familiar ??

4 English

Daisy Bell
Daisy Daisy,
Give me your answer do!
I'm half crazy,
All for the love of you!

Nellie Dean
There's an old mill by the stream,
Nellie Dean!
Where we used to sit and dream,
Nellie Dean!

The bells of hell go ting-a-ling-a-ling , popular WWI song (Hades = where dead people dwell)

Annotations.

1 English

Kiss me goodnight centurion ... centurion, be a mater to me ...

1 English

Protest song. [W]

1 Dutch

2 English

no comment

1 Dutch

Daar was laatst een Galliër loos! Die wou gaan varen... Die wou gaan varen!..

2 English

What shall we do with a drunken sailor, the best known of all sea shanties.

Farewell and adieu to you fair Cretan ladies ... farewell and adieu to you ladies of ... um ... er ...

Another variant of Spanish ladies, see Asterix the gladiator.

1 French

Petit papa Noël, by Raymond Vincy (1946) and made popular by the singer Tino Rossi, see Rivière
Petit Papa Noeël
Quand tu descendras du ciel
Avec des jouets par milliers
N'oublie pas mon petit soulier

«Dear father Christmas, if you come down from the sky with thousends of presents do not forget my little shoe»

Tino Rossi was also the singer of O Catarinetta Bella - tchi tchi which gave the name of the Corsican warrior Ocatarinetabelatchitchix.

2 Dutch

Famous boogie-woogie hit (1959) by Peter Koelewijn [W] en zijn Rockets. [Y]

3 English

Not clear. Three ravens??

1 Dutch

2 English

Classic [Y], written by Burt Bacharach [W]. It was in the film Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, starring Paul Newman and Robert Redford

1 Dutch

«It's raining in my room, it's raining in my bed»

2 English

Rain in Spain, was a song in My Fair Lady

Eliza: The rain in Spain stays mainly in the plain!

1 French

2 Dutch

3 English

Oh, What A Beautiful Morning by Rogers & Hammerstein in their musical Oklahoma:
The corn is as high as an elephant's eye
And it looks like it's climbing right up to the sky

1 French

«Ah ! I laugh to see again Cybel in this mirror», It's a pun with Cyb&egrav;le / si belle, which have the same prononciation in French, Cyb&egrav;le greek godess of Harvest, like Ceres in Latin. From the opera Faust, Je ris de me voir si belle en ce miroir. For those who know Tintin, it's a favorite of Castafiore.

2 Dutch

As sung by Bianca Castafiore in the Tintin books.

3 English

Traditional
Come landlord fill the flowing bowl until it doth run over
For tonight we'll merry merry be [..]
Tomorrow we'll be sober

1 French

Nursary rhyme Il était un petit navire , «there was a little boat... that had never been to sea...»

2 Dutch

Daar was laatst een meisje loos «Once there was a clever girl» (except that 'loos' is not used in this meaning today).

Old Dutch song

3 English

The Stormy Winds Do Blo, Shanty
While the raging seas did roar,
And the stormy winds did blow,
While we jolly sailor-boys were up unto the top,
And the land-lubbers lying down below, below, below,

(on p.21 repeated ...and we jolly fakir-boys were all ...
... lying down below!

1 Dutch

Song from the 1930's.

2 English

Skye Boat Song
Speed, bonny boat, like a bird on the wing,
Onward the sailors cry,
Carry the lad who's born to be king,
Over the sea to Skye.

1 French

That's how a frenchman would write «I'm Singing in the rain... just singing in the rain...».

2 Dutch

Not following ze French accent.

3 English

(note)* song by a famous British bard

Twelfth night (V, i), by (the famous British bard) William Shakespeare
When that I was and a little tiny boy,
With hey, ho, the wind and the rain,
A foolish thing was but a toy,
For the rain it raineth every day.

1 Dutch

Tulpen uit Amsterdam [Y] classic song made famous by Herman Emmink [W.nl], 1956:
Als de lente komt
dan stuur ik jou
tulpen uit Amsterdam

«If spring arrives, I'll send you tulips from Amsterdam»

2 English

America the beautiful:
America! America!
God shed his grace on thee
And crown thy good with brotherhood
From sea to shining sea!

1 Dutch

De liefde tot zijn land is yeder aengeboren is from the classic Gysbreght van Aemstel by Vondel. The other lines I could not trace.

2 English

The wheelbarrow was something unknown in Asterix' times. It was once depicted in one of the comics. A 'mytilus' is a mussel.

Molly Malone, Irish folksong:
In Dublin's fair city,
Where girls are so pretty,
I first set my eyes on sweet Molly Malone,
As she pushed her wheelbarrow
Through streets broad and narrow,
Crying, 'Cockles and mussels, alive, alive oh'!

1 Dutch

2 English

The Beatles, with the Latin 'Peppus' replacing the original 'Pepper' (but what is the equivalent of 'sergeant'?)

We're Sergeant Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band,
we hope you will enjoy the show,
Sergeant Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band,
sit back and let the evening go,

1 English

well, not a song but a 'anacreontic ode transcending the verbal dimension'