Worship Words: Frère Jacques
My weird hill to die on is that, with rare exceptions, I don’t believe little kid songs should be in another language.... and how that relates to worship within the Church.
My weird hill to die on is that, with rare exceptions, I don’t believe little kid songs should be in another language.
The notion that these “songs in a foreign language somehow teach toddlers how to speak said foreign language” was recently brought back up while I was sitting with my toddler in a “circle time music class.”
We started off the session with some classics, like the Hello Song and Mary Wore a Red Dress.
So far… so good.
Then we had “instrument time” where, for four looooong minutes, toddlers get to experiment (which is the most compassionate interpretation) with drums, tambourines, etc.
Things were going great (or as great as listening to toddlers mercilessly bang on instruments for four minutes could go) until we transitioned to singing the 1780 banger: “Frère Jacques.”
I’m sure you know it:
Frère Jacques
Frère Jacques
Dormez-vous?
Dormez-vous?
Sonnez les matines
Sonnez les matines
Ding ding dong
Ding ding dong
I’m not a monster - I can admit that it’s a beautiful song that has stood the test of time. Also, fun fact, it sounds super cool sung in a round. #choirnerd
However, the pronunciation of these unknown French words by me and a bunch of other Midwestern parents was absolutely abysmal. After we butchered those French words a few times over, we ended by singing the English version.
In case you don’t remember it, maybe the lyrics below will… ring a bell? (ha!)
“Are you sleeping? Are you sleeping? Brother John. Brother John. Morning bells are ringing, morning bells are ringing. Ding ding dong. Ding ding dong.”
The English version bringing up the rear should solve the problem, right? “Ahhh, now that these 2 and 3-year-olds know the English version, surely they are going to take version B, overlay it with version A, see which French words line up with the English words and… voilà! They will understand what SONNEZ LES MATINES means!”
The problem? Besides having way too much confidence in how a toddler spends their free time, it’s that the English version isn’t even an accurate translation.
The real French song is about how a friar (monk), Brother JACK, is supposed to be the one ringing the bells. However, he overslept, so the bells are in fact not ringing at the monastery.
Do you see the insanity playing out!?
How can we argue that singing Frère Jacques in French is helping kids “learn French” if we are pronouncing the words they need to be learning wrong AND the English version we teach alongside those words isn’t even accurate?! Short answer: we can’t.
And even if there’s some “value in exposing kids to new languages,” there is a proper way to do that which requires a ton of acting, context clues, and proper pronunciation… Since we had none of that, Frère Jacques was complete gibberish to all parties involved. And that’s why I am officially starting a petition for a nationwide ban -
Just kidding.
“Miki,” you might be thinking, “first and foremost, you need to get out more (fair). Secondly… So the kids are singing in gibberish… is that really that big of a deal?”
Good question! Thanks for asking. There is technically nothing morally wrong with singing in gibberish… but - BUT! - That same amount of time spent (poorly) singing Frère Jacques in French (gibberish in this argument) could have been used to sing words in English.
Singing words in English would actually help these toddlers not only paint a mental picture of what they’re singing about, but it would also teach them useful things about the language they are still learning; like how sentences are supposed to be structured in English, what words come before and after each other in English, what a cow vs a pig says in English… you get the point: if “learning a little bit of French” was the goal, then that time could have been spent better.
All that to say, I hope you know me / my writing style enough by now to know that, no, I don’t really care that much about this.
Do I believe what I said? Yes. Am I going to get into a fight with sweet Ms. Becky, who leads “circle time music class,” about it? Absolutely not.
Where this principle really matters, where this turns into a battle actually worth fighting, is when it comes to us Christian adults not really knowing and/or meaning the words we sing during worship.
Believe it or not, I think most churchgoers are doing some version of Frère Jacques when they sing in church every Sunday.
For many people, common worship words like “holy, blood, lamb,” etc. feel hollow; meaningless.
For many people, worship during church is a boring thing they just have to get through.
If those two things are true, could we not argue that those 10-15 minutes during service dedicated to worship, for many people, could be used better when it comes to helping them connect with and learn about God?
Yes, the music in churches can be beautiful. Yes, there is value in appreciating the tradition of having music in church… but if that’s where the train stops, we are missing the whole point of worship.
Like my rant above about Frère Jacques, I believe that having worship music in church is a waste of time… if it’s not real, “I’m connecting with God,” worship time.
But when we are truly focused on our words going from our mouths to God’s ears, when the words we sing drip with deep meaning, when we tie the lyrics we sing to what’s going on / what we’re experiencing / what we are praying for in our own lives… wow. WOW! There’s almost nothing more worthy of our time than worshiping our wonderful creator.
But how do we get there? How do we actually get to a place where we not only enjoy worshipping (publicly or privately) but also really connect with God during that time?
I’m glad you asked.
For starters, I believe we need to take a look at some of the most commonly used words in worship songs and see if we can’t see them with fresh eyes and fresh hearts.
So! I’m officially launching my “Worship Words” series, where I will break down a common word used in worship songs one at a time. Whether you sing or read or use these words in prayer, I hope they become richer and more meaningful for you and help you connect with God better.
Since the series is just starting, this is a great time to invite a friend to subscribe.
MY ASK OF YOU:
For my subscribers (bless you for being here), if you have a song that really helps you connect with the Lord, please respond to this email with that song title - thank you!
I really appreciate you taking your precious time to read this, and I can’t wait to go on this journey with you! Alright, now I’m off to try and get that song (that I actually like - ha!) out of my head… Frère Jacques, Frère Jacques, dormez-vous ? Dormez-vous…?
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