Dutch Twinkle Twinkle Little Star
The Dutch lyrics give this popular song a shocking meaning
May 18, 2006
The melody of Twinkle Twinkle Little Star serves nursery rhymes in many languages. But they're not all sweet and innocent. A little research suggests that Dutch-speaking parents should perhaps not be singing their version, Altijd is Kortjakje ziek, to their children.
The melody of Twinkle Twinkle Little Star comes from the French children's song Ah! Vous dirais-je, Maman, composed in 1761. Some of the original lyrics are:
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
Etc.
(Ah let me tell you, Mama / What causes my torment / Papa wants me to reason / Like a grownup / I just say that candy / Is better than reason)
Mozart most famously based a composition (Themes and Variations, K265) on the melody, as well as Camille Saint-Saëns and other composers. Later it was combined with "The Star," a poem written in 1806 by the English poet Jane Taylor, and so we have Twinkle Twinkle Little Star. It is also the melody for the German Christmas carol Morgen kommt der Weihnachtsmann ("Tommorow comes the Christmas Man" - not Santa Claus), and the Hungarian Christmas carol Hull a pelyhes fehér hó.
But such popular nursery rhymes can go through strange transformations. These are the Dutch lyrics to the tune (Altijd is Kortjakje ziek):
Altijd is Kortjakje ziek
Midden in de week maar zondag niet
Zondag gaat zij naar de kerk
Met haar boek vol zilverwerk
Altijd is Kortjakje ziek
Midden in de week maar zondag niet
(Kortjakje is always ill / In the middle of the week, but not on Sunday / On Sunday she goes to church / With her book full of silver work / Kortjakje is always ill / In the middle of the week, but not on Sunday)
Who is this Kortjakje who behaves in such a suspect manner? Is she an old lady whose piousness overcomes her bad health on Sundays? Most likely not, since Kortjakje means, literally, "short skirt". Is she a schoolgirl, then, who doesn't like school? This is what I and all the other children singing blithely along always imagined.
But it seems that we were wrong. There is some to believe that the lyrics, made up by some joker in The Netherlands in the 19th century, discuss a loose woman who spends a lot of time in bed and repents on Sundays!
reason
Related articles:
Nursery rhymes lost in translation
When nursery rhymes promote old values
Should we revise nursery rhymes?
