Te souviens-tu?

Nineteenth century sheet music.

Te souviens-tu? (English: Do You Remember?) is a French song composed in 1817 with lyrics by Émile Debraux and music by Joseph-Denis Doche. A variation was produced by Pierre-Jean de Béranger. It is also known under the title T'en souviens-tu?. Composed during the Allied Occupation of France following the country's defeat in the Napoleonic Wars, it has a former officer of the Grande Armée run into an old comrade who once saved his life begging in the streets. He sings of the glories once achieved by Napoleon's troops in their past campaigns.

In 1870 a satirical song Paris pour un beefsteak was composed using the same music but different words during the Siege of Paris.

Lyrics

1

Do you remember, said a captain

to the veteran who begged for his bread,

do you remember that once on the plain,

you turned a sword from my bosom?

Under the banners of a dear mother,

We both fought in the past;

I remember it, for I owe you my life:

But you, soldier, tell me, do you remember it?

2

Do you remember those too quick days,

when the Frenchman acquired so much fame!

Do you remember that on the pyramids

Each of us dared to engrave his name?

In spite of the winds, in spite of the earth and the waves,

We saw flying, after having conquered him,

Our standards on the cradle of the world:

Tell me, soldier, tell me, do you remember?

3

Do you remember that the valiant men of Italy

fought in vain against us?

Do you remember that the valiant men of Iberia

bowed their knees before our chiefs?

Do you remember that in the fields of Germany

Our battalions, arriving unexpectedly,

In four days made a campaign:

Tell me, soldier, tell me, do you remember?

4

Do you remember those icy

plains Which the French approached as victors,

And on their foreheads the snows

heaped To freeze their bodies without cooling their hearts?

Often then, in the midst of alarms,

Our tears flowed, but our downcast eye still

shone when we flew to arms

.

5

Do you remember that one day our living homeland

still descended to the coffin,

and that in the withered Lutetia we saw

the strangers marching with pride?

Keep this day in your heart to curse it,

Keep in your heart those voices that have been silenced,

Let no ruler ever need to say to you:

Tell me, soldier, tell me, do you remember it?

6

Do you remember?... But here my voice trembles,

For I have no more noble memory;

Soon, friend, we will weep together,

Waiting for a better future.

But if death, hovering over our cottages,

Reminds me of the rest that is due to me,

You will gently close my eyelid,

Calling me Soldier, do you remember it?

Other Versions

The melody for "Te Souviens-Tu?" would later be used for the German anti-war song "Ich bin Soldat, aber bin ich nicht gern" [[de]](I'm a Soldier, but I don't like to be one), written in 1870 by Max Kegel.

From this song, Joseph-Denis Doche's tune was taken up and still used today for two Walloon songs that are very well known in dialectal Wallonia:

• Li trousers trawé [[(Le pantalon troué) by Charles du Vivier de Streel, which takes up the same canvas from the memories of a former member of the Grande Armée, originally from Liège.

• Lolote (wa), a popular love song by Jacques Bertrand, which has become a kind of regional anthem of the Charleroi region.

The tune is also taken up, from Lolote, by the Belgian students for bawdy songs: Le fusil, L'ancien étudiant and the song of the students of the Faculty of Agricultural Sciences of Gembloux.

Bibliography

• Day-Hickman, Barbara Ann. Napoleonic Art: Nationalism and the Spirit of Rebellion in France (1815–1848). University of Delaware Press, 1999.
• Rifkin, Adrian. Communards and Other Cultural Histories: Essays by Adrian Rifkin. BRILL, 2016.