Mademoiselle From Armentières

Album: various (1915)
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  • Mademoiselle from Armentieres
    Parlez-vous
    Mademoiselle from Armentieres
    She hasn't been kissed for 40 years
    Hinky-dinky parlez-vous

    Oh Mademoiselle from Armentieres
    Parlez-vous
    She got the palm and the croix de guerre
    For washin' soldiers' underwear
    Hinky-dinky parlez-vous

    The Colonel got the Croix de Guerre
    Parlez-vous
    The Colonel got the Croix de Guerre
    The son-of-a-gun was never there
    Hinky-dinky parlez-vous

    Oh Mademoiselle from Armentieres
    Parlez-vous
    You didn't have to know her long
    To know the reason men go wrong
    Hinky-dinky parlez-vous

    Oh Mademoiselle from Armentieres
    Parlez-vous
    She's the hardest working girl in town
    But she makes her living upside down
    Hinky-dinky parlez-vous

    Oh Mademoiselle from Armentieres
    Parlez-vous
    The cooties rambled through her hair;
    She whispered sweetly "C'est la guerre"
    Hinky-dinky parlez-vous

    Oh Mademoiselle from Armentieres
    Parlez-vous
    She'll do it for wine she'll do it for rum
    And sometimes for chocolate or chewing gum
    Hinky-dinky parlez-vous

    Oh Mademoiselle from Armentieres
    Parlez-vous
    You might forget the gas and shell
    But you'll nev'r forget the Mademoiselle
    Hinky-dinky parlez-vous

    Oh Mademoiselle from Armentieres
    Parlez-vous
    Where are the girls who used to swarm
    About me in my uniform?
    Hinky-dinky parlez-vous

    Oh Mademoiselle from St. Nazaire
    Parlez-vous
    The Mademoiselle from St. Nazaire
    She never washed her underwear
    Hinky-dinky parlez-vous

    Oh Mademoiselle from Aix-Les-Bains
    Parlez-vous
    Mademoiselle from Aix-Les-Bains
    She gave the Yankees shooting pains
    Hinky-dinky parlez-vous

    Oh Mademoiselle from Montparnasse
    Parlez-vous
    As soon as she'd spy a Colonel's brass
    She'd take off her skirt and roll in the grass
    Hinky-dinky parlez-vous Lyrics from a song in Public Domain

Comments: 7

  • Neil from AustraliaParlez Vous in this context probably means more "Tell us", or "Tell us more" rather than "Do you speak". They want to know more about the Mademoiselle, having been in the trenches for ages. While not entirely politically correct, if you have a choice of facing machine guns and poison gas or having some guys sing bawdy songs about you, I know which I would choose.
  • AnonymousHad no idea it was about war times.
  • . from MiMademoiselle from Armentieres, She's just eighteen plus thirty years.
  • AnonymousMaybe Helen H and other woke feminists can join the army next time there is a war and the men can stay at home and give those who don't join up white feathers.

    It is a terrible thing to have feminie privilege. Stay alive and be at home, while toxic masculine men are keeping your world safe.
  • Ugly Jack from EarthPoor Helen H. from Communist California has gotten her knickers all in bunch over the lyrics of this song. Men are going off to live like pigs in muddy trenches and kill each other under the most horrific of conditions, but according to her, they can’t lift their spirits even briefly with “really terrible verses” of a harmless little song. I suppose they should’ve been debating the virtues of feminist ideals or even better, woke progressive lies before they went up and over into No Man’s Land to be cut down by artillery and machine gun fire? Would that satisfy your sensibilities, dear Helen H.? Please continue to use your vote to destroy this country; you will anyway, I know.
  • Helen H. from CaliforniaWe used to sing the first verse - only verse we knew - of this song when I was a kid during WWII. I do not recall even hearing the other - really terrible - verses.
  • Jeremy from United KingdomIt's clearly not about a young French woman, despite the use of the word mademoiselle - "She hasn't been kissed in 40 years". It's about an ageing but popular prostitute - "She's the hardest working girl in town, But she makes her living upside down". Also, it's "parlez vous", French for "do you speak".
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