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La Fiha dòu chapacan  
(The dog-snarer’s daughter)
Nissart lyrics by Ludovic Badat, music by Montagard and Georges Roux. Traditional from County of Nice.
The dog-snarer’s daughter is quoted for instance in La Cansoun dai babarota (The Song of the cockroaches), under the name of la filha de l’estrema (the daughter of [the one who] locks up).
| 1st verse |
Cour’ anav’ a l’escola,
La fiha dòu chapacan
Pihava de badòla,
Simec, bindèu tant e tant
Qu’un jour, marca patela,
Cour’ arrib’ a la maioun,
En rangueant, a rabatoun,
S’escound’ en un cantoun ;
E toui d’incant
Li fan aquèu bèu ramadan : | | When she was going to school,
The dog-snarer’s daughter
Was getting bumps (1),
Slaps, kicks so much
That a day, “mark-slap”,
When she arrives at home,
Limping, precipitately,
She hides herself in a corner;
And everybody, in fascination,
Make her this great row: |
1st chorus |
« Catarina, Catarina,
Tu, la fiha dòu chapacan,
Catarina, Catarina,
Leve-ti vite dòu mitan.
Catarina, Catarina,
Tu, la flou de Rauba-Capèu,
Catarina, Catarina,
Perqué juegà a tira-pèu ? » | | “Katherine, Katherine,
You, the dog-snarer’s daughter,
Katherine, Katherine,
Raise yourself quickly from the middle [of the road].
Katherine, Katherine,
You, the flower of “Steals-Hat”,
Katherine, Katherine,
Why playing ‘pull-skin’?” |
2nd verse |
Un jour es arribada
Lou ventre coum’ un tambau.
Si pih’ una testada,
N’a per vuech jour d’espitau.
La rasoun es trovada :
« Es un jouve pelandroun
Que m’a dounat un abutoun
M’un sambluc, en Païoun. »
E toui d’incant
Li fan aquèu bèu ramadan : | | One day, she arrived
Her belly as a drum (2).
She gets a hiding (3),
Which gives her eight days in hospital.
The reason is found:
“It’s a young dunce (4)
Who gave me a thump
With a peashooter (5), near Paillon.”
And everybody, in fascination,
Make her this great row: |
2nd chorus |
« Catarina, Catarina,
Tu, la fiha dòu chapacan,
Catarina, Catarina,
Leve-ti vite dòu mitan.
Catarina, Catarina,
Noun siès qu’un leva-coutihoun,
Catarina, Catarina,
Va-t’en, va-t’en luèn de maioun. » | | “Katherine, Katherine,
You, the dog-snarer’s daughter,
Katherine, Katherine,
Raise yourself quickly from the middle [of the road].
Katherine, Katherine,
You are just a raise-underskirt,
Katherine, Katherine,
Go away, go far away from home.” |
3rd verse |
Ma ancuei Catarina
A lou bouon viei que li còu,
Counouisse li coumbina
Per si rabaià de sou,
A lou mantèu d’ermina
E pi de plum’ au capèu,
M’aco lou studio au soulèu,
L’auto e lou batèu.
E toui d’incant
Li fan aquèu bèu ramadan : | | But today Katherine
Gets the good old man she needs,
She knows tricks
To grab (6) pennies,
She has got ermine coat,
And besides feathers on her hat,
With this, the studio flat in the sun,
The car and the boat.
And everybody, in fascination,
Make her this great row: |
3rd chorus |
« Catarina, Catarina,
Brava fiha dòu chapacan !
Catarina, Catarina,
Menan una vida de can.
Catarina, Catarina,
N’auras pas un couor de chaudèu,
Catarina, Catarina,
Deman, anerèn viéure au tiéu ! » | | “Katherine, Katherine,
Kind daughter of the dog-snarer!
Katherine, Katherine,
We get a hard life.
Katherine, Katherine,
You won’t have a scalded heart,
Katherine, Katherine,
Tomorrow, we will go and live in your home!” |
1. Badòla: designates more accurately a tumour or a contusion on the head.
2. Braced as a drum, i.e. pregnant.
3. Testada: “knock given with or on the head”, Georges Castellana, Dictionnaire niçois-français.
4. Pelandroun: lazy, idle, good-for-nothing...
5. Sambluc: blowpipe, peashooter, old gun... also designates the elder tree (with branches of which one’s made peashooters).
6. Rabaià: to pick up, to gather up, to glean...
| Bibliography | | • | Delrieu (Georges), Anthologie de la chanson niçoise (Anthology of the Song from Nice), Nice, publisher Delrieu & Co, 1960, p. 50-51. | | • | Tosan (Albert), Princivalle (Gaël) and d’Hulster (Frédéric), Anthologie de la chanson du comté de Nice (Anthology of the Song from County of Nice), Nice, Serre publisher, series “Encyclopædia niciensis – Patrimoine régional”, volume III, 2001, p. 126-127. |
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