Authors of Songs

Writing and singing songs on the Pont-Neuf was a risky business, as police spies were placed on the bridge to monitor the content of politically subversive or morally dubious songs. 

It is therefore little surprise that so many of the songs pointed out the need to maintain anonymity, such as in this song from the beginning of the eighteenth century.

L’autheur de ce vaudeville,

Ne dira jamais qui il est;

La raison est qu’il se plait,

A voir de loin la Bastille;

Il ne dira point son nom,

Ni s’il est garcon ou fille,

Il ne dira point son nom,

Ainsi finit sa Chanson. 

[The author of this vaudeville will never say who he is. The reason for this is that he is happy to stay far away from the Bastille; he will not say his name, nor if he is a boy or a girl, he will not say his name, and so ends his song.]

The song is set to the popular melody of the time, "Branle de Metz", and our musicians are using instruments that might easily have been carried out on to the streets and bridges of the time. 

Now listen here to the song performed by Katie Bray and 'Badinage'. 

You can follow Jonathan Rees's arrangement of the song L'Autheur de ce Vaudeville here.