Twinkle Twinkle Little Star
Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star is the English name of a popular French melody named
Ah! Vous dirais-je, Maman. It was first published in
1761, but the true origin is unknown. Today it is one of the most popular
nursery rhymes. (see also:
twinkling)
- Ah ! vous dirais-je, Maman,
- Ce qui cause mon tourment
- Papa veut que je raisonne,
- Comme une grande personne.
- Moi je dis que les bonbons
- Valent mieux que la raison
(Ah! I would tell you, Mom
what causes my torment.
Papa wants me to reason
Like an adult.
Me, I say that candy
Is worth more than reason.)
Variants also exist:
- Ah ! vous dirais-je, Maman,
- ce qui cause mon tourment
- Papa veut que je demande
- de la soupe et de la viande...
- Moi, je dis que les bonbons
- valent mieux que les mignons.
- Ah ! vous dirais-je, Maman,
- ce qui cause mon tourment
- Papa veut que je retienne
- des verbes la longue antienne*...
- Moi je dis que les bonbons
- valent mieux que les leçons.
*antienne = texte répétitif et lassant comme une ritournelle
Melody
Twinkle Twinkle Little Star in sol-fa notation (d r m f s l t d = do re me fa so la ti do)
- d d s s l l s
- f f m m r r d
- s s f f m m r
- s s f f m m r
- d d s s l l s
- f f m m r r d
Twinkle Twinkle Little Star in ABC notation, C major:
- CCGGAAG
- FFEEDDC
- GGFFEED
- GGFFEED
- CCGGAAG
- FFEEDDC
It is also viewable in
sheet music notation, typeset using
GNU LilyPond, from the LilyPond music collection.
The melody of Baa Baa Black Sheep is very similar. Several famous compositions are based on it:
Listen to it
English lyrics
The English lyrics are normally as follows:
- Twinkle, twinkle, little star
- How I wonder what you are.
- Up above the earth so high
- Like a diamond in the sky
- Twinkle, twinkle, little star
- How I wonder what you are.
- Then a traveller in the dark
- Thanks you for your tiny spark
- He could not see which way to go
- If you did not twinkle so
- Twinkle, twinkle, little star
- How I wonder what you are.
The English words are from the poem in couplet form, "The Star", by Ann Taylor (1782-1866) and her sister Jane Taylor (1783-1824) first published in 1806. The Alphabet song is also set to the melody.
Parodies
A transliteration of the English lyrics into deliberately obfuscated English was made. Though it rhymes well, this version is difficult to sing as it does not fit the traditional melody. (anyone know who and when?)
- Scintillate, scintillate, globule vivific
- Fain would I fathom thy nature specific.
- Loftily poised on ether capacious
- Strongly resembling a gem carbonaceous.
A parody of 'Twinkle Twinkle Little Star', spoken by the Mad Hatter, appears in
Lewis Carroll's
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. It reads:
- Twinkle, twinkle, little bat!
- How I wonder what you're at!
- Up above the world you fly,
- Like a teatray in the sky.
- Twinkle, twinkle --(little bat!
- How I wonder what you're at)
The piece is brackets is not mentioned in the book, but in quoting the poem people usually add it in. The Bat was the nickname of one of the Dons at Oxford, a friend of Carroll's and the Liddell family. In fact it is one of the few parodies in the Alice books which the original is still widely known.
A Latin translation appears in Mary Dodge's When life is young (1894):
- Mica, mica, parva stella,
- Miror quaenam sis tam bella.
- Super terra in caelo,
- Alba gemma splendido.
- Mica, mica, parva stella,
- Miror quaenam sis tam bella.
