WE'LL USE THE ABRIDGED VERSION FOR BUG NIGHT based on the lyrics sung by Raoul Roy (see video)!

'C'est l'aviron'  - These words, taken from the refrain of the voyageur song 'M'en revenant de la joli' Rochelle,' have come to be recognized as the song's surrogate title. Certain phrases in the song have been traced back to 15th-century France, where it originated. It is found in several textual and melodic variants. In Chansons folkloriques francaises au Canada (Quebec City 1956) Marguerite and Raoul d'Harcourt give three versions based on incomplete minor scales. One of these uses a refrain different from that of 'C'est l'aviron'. Still another version with different words is given by Ernest Gagnon in Chansons populaires du Canada (Quebec City 1865), and in a Montreal newspaper, Le Canard, of 13 Nov 1897. François Brassard compares 'C'est l'aviron' to a refrain known in Canada, 'Mon joli champ d'avoine,' and to the French refrain of 'Allons voir nos vignes'. Edith Fowke in Folk Songs of Quebec (Waterloo 1957) and The Penguin Book of Canadian Folk Songs (Harmondsworth, Middlesex, Eng 1973) presents a version collected by E.-Z. Massicotte in 1927. Charles Marchand and his Bytown Troubadours popularized this song and recorded it on 78 for Victor. Several singers have made LPs of the song, notably Alan Mills and Raoul Roy. (from the Canadian Encyclopedia)

Words loosely translated in english:

English Translation:

Returning from Rochelle

I encountered three pretty young ladies.

I chose the prettiest, who got on my saddle behind me.

We rode one hundred leagues without talking

until she asked for a drink.

I took her to a spring,

where she refused to drink.

I took her to her father's home,

Where she drank glass after glass

And toasted to the health

Of her mother and father,

Her sisters and brothers

And the one she loved.

*****NEW WORD/PDF SONGSHEETS  June 17 2017 - SR*****

~~~ChordPro Version UPDATED June 18, 2017 SR~~~