J'ai vu le loup ("I saw the wolf") is a French folk song, and also a nursery rhyme.
[1] Due to it having been transmitted orally, it is difficult to pinpoint its exact origin, though the earliest versions date back to the High Middle Ages.
The lyrics evoke the participation of a peasant musician in a celebration, perhaps a Sabbath, held deep in the woods by members of the upper classes, designated by animal figures (or masks).
Melodically, it is a parody of the liturgical Dies iræ; its origins date back to the 15th century in the country of Beaune and there are numerous variations in the French regions.
[1] Composer Maurice Emmanuel included a classical piano setting in his collection Trente Chansons bourguignonnes du Pays de Beaune, at the beginning of the 20th century.
Sexual metaphors suggest an orgy: dancing around the tree (phallus) and around the leafy bush (vulva).
The second verse expresses the anger of this hard-working peasant, scandalized by the debauchery of the elites, with crude words.
Here we work throughout the year just to make a bit of coin And just in one month I saw the wolf, the fox and the hare We've shoved it up the ass (squandered) I saw the hare, the fox and the wolf The song has been known in Upper Brittany for many centuries, but it wasn't until the folk revival of the 1970s, when the song was recorded as La Jument de Michao, or J'entends le loup, le renard et la belette, by the folk group Kouerien in 1973.
The rendition by Tri Yann on their 1976 album La Découverte ou l'Ignorance, made it reach a wider audience, which has spawned various adaptations.
The sexual imagery is more explicit, together with the presence and undoubtedly the exploitation of a child which shocks the narrator, who imagines his own in his place.
Refrain Behind our house is there a pond I saw the wolf, the fox pass (repeat) Three beautiful ducks go swimming.
The king's son goes hunting, I saw the wolf, the fox pass (repeat) With his great silver gun,
With his great silver gun, I saw the wolf, the fox pass (repeat) Aimed at the black, killed the white,
It's to make a camp bed, I saw the wolf, the fox pass (repeat) To sleep all the passers-by there,