File:Vielles_Chansons_et_Rondes_pour_les_Petits_Enfants_22.jpg · Wikimedia Commons · See Wikimedia Commons
Key facts
- Language
- French
- English title
- Brother John
- Songwriter
- Traditional
via Wikipedia infobox
Wikidata facts
- Country of origin
- France
Show 5 more facts
- Commons category
- Frère Jacques
- language of work or name
- French
- publication date
- 1800-00-00
- copyright status
- public domain
- form of creative work
- round
via Wikidata · CC0
~9 min read
Encyclopedic overview
"Frère Jacques" (/ˌfrɛərə ˈʒɑːkə/ FRAIR-ə ZHAH-kə, French: [fʁɛʁ(ə) ʒak(ə)]), also known in English as "Brother John", is a nursery rhyme of French origin. The rhyme is traditionally sung in a round.
The song is about a friar who has overslept and is urged to wake up and sound the bell for the matins, the midnight or very early morning prayers for which a friar would be expected to be awake.
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “Frère Jacques” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.