bridge of avignon | schwingeninswitzerland

Every child in France knows of Avignon. It isn’t because it is a decent-sized town. It isn’t because it has a bunch of history or housed the papacy. It isn’t because the bridge stops in the middle of the Rhone River (it was washed away by floods and not rebuilt). It is because of a nursery rhyme.

Just like “Ring Around the Rosie” or “London Bridge is Falling Down” it has a dance that goes with it.

The refrain goes:

Sur le pont d’Avignon  (On the bridge of Avignon)

l’on y danse, l’on y danse (we all dance there, we all dance there)

Sur le pont d’Avignon (On the bridge of Avignon)

l’on y danse tout en rond. (we all dance there in a circle)

1st Verse – Les beaux messieurs font comme ci  et pui encore comme ca…. (The handsome young gentlemen do like this (bow)  and then like that)

2nd Verse – Les belles dam’s font comme ci . . .  (The beautiful young ladies do like this …(curtsying))

3rd Verse – Et les soldats font comme ci . . .  (The brave soldiers do like this (salute) )

4th Verse – Les cordonniers font comme ci . . .  (The musicians do like this (play violin))

There are many more verses, but you get the idea. Everyone is doing something with an accompanying gesture. Someone who is a better scribe than I put them all down with instructions if you want to give it a go.

By the way, song was actually “Sous le Pont d’Avignon” (Under the Bridge of Avignon). In medieval times, it was a happening place with cafés with dancing and other pleasure activities under the bridge’s arches of the bridge. “Sur” means on and sounds a bit similar…