AH !  VOUS DIRAI-JE, MAMAN
(Eighteenth-Century French Folk Song)

Many years before the lyrics to "Twinkle Twinkle, Little Star" were written, 
children across France sang the words to "Ah! Vous dirai-je" to a similar tune. 
Seventeen-year-old Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart used the melody in his piano variation. 


Ce qui cause mon tourment?
Papa veut que je raisonne,
Comme une grande personne;
Moi, je dis que les bonbons
Valent mieux que la raison.

Ah! Let me tell you, Mother,
What's the cause of my torment?
Papa wants me to reason
Like a grown-up.
Me, I say that candy has
Greater value than reason.


*****


TWINKLE, TWINKLE, LITTLE STAR
(Traditional / Jane Taylor,   1806)


Version 1


Twinkle, twinkle, little star,
How I wonder what you are.
Up above the world so high,
Like a diamond in the sky.
Twinkle, twinkle, little star,
How I wonder what you are!

When the blazing sun is gone,
When he nothing shines upon,
Then you show your little light,
Twinkle, twinkle, all the night.
Twinkle, twinkle, little star,
How I wonder what you are!

Then the traveler in the dark
Thanks you for your tiny spark;
He could not see which way to go,
If you did not twinkle so.
Twinkle, twinkle, little star,
How I wonder what you are! 


*****


Version 2


Twinkle, twinkle, little star,
How I wonder what you are!
Up above the world so high,
Like a diamond in the sky.
Twinkle, twinkle, little star,
How I wonder what you are!

When the blazing sun is gone,
When he nothing shines upon,
Then you show your little light,
Twinkle, twinkle, all the night.
Twinkle, twinkle, little star,
How I wonder what you are!

Then the trav'ler in the dark
Thanks you for your tiny spark;
How could he see where to go,
If you did not twinkle so?
Twinkle, twinkle, little star,
How I wonder what you are!

In the dark blue sky you keep, and
Through my curtains often peep,
For you never shut your eyes,
Till the morning sun does rise.
Twinkle, twinkle, little star,
How I wonder what you are!

As your bright and tiny spark
Lights the trav'ler in the dark,
Though I know not what you are,
Twinkle on, please, little star.
Twinkle, twinkle, little star,
How I wonder what you are!