Fais Dodo, Colas Mon P'tit Frère
French Nursery Rhyme
Original Lyrics
Fais dodo, Colas, mon p’tit frère,Fais dodo, t’auras du gâteau.Papa est en bas qui fait du tabac,Maman est en haut qui fait du gâteau.Fais dodo, Colas, mon p’tit frère,Fais dodo, t’auras du gâteau.
English Translation
Go to sleep, Colas, my little brother,Go to sleep, you'll have some cake.Dad is downstairs preparing tobacco,Mum is upstairs making cake.Go to sleep, Colas, my little brother,Go to sleep, you'll have some cake.
History and Meaning
“Fais Dodo, Colas Mon P'tit Frère” is a French lullaby in which an older sibling coaxes little Colas to sleep. In this version the reward is cake, and the middle lines let us hear what the parents are doing elsewhere in the house. The French words fais dodo are a gentle, familiar way to say “go to sleep.” This page is about the lullaby; in Louisiana, fais do-do also names a Cajun dance gathering.
How do you pronounce the title?
Say fais dodo roughly as feh doh-DOH and Colas as koh-LAH, with a silent final s. P’tit is a shortened petit, meaning little; frère means brother. En bas and en haut are “downstairs” and “upstairs” here.
Which words are in this version?
The UPCP-Métive oral-tradition archive records these words from pupils in Cerizay in 1972. It also notes chocolat as an alternative to tabac in the father's line. Other sung versions can offer milk instead of cake. Keeping the Cerizay wording together lets you follow one version from start to finish.
Lyrics from nurseryrhymes.info