Le Boudin is the marching song of the French Foreign Legion. It is named after the blue tent cloth in the form of a sausage ( "boudin") on the knapsack of the French Foreign Legion was bound.
The song was composed around 1860 by the then Kapellmeister of the Legion, François-Nicolas Wilhelm. The text was largely written after the Franco-Prussian War of 1870/71 .
The Belgian Foreign Legionnaires are mocked in the refrain. During the Franco-Prussian War of 1870/71, the Belgian King Leopold II , who wanted to remain neutral in the conflict, demanded that the French should not use Belgian citizens on their side. The French government complied with this request. The legionaries going to war mocked their Belgian comrades as "slackers" ( tire-au-cul ). This found its way into the text of the marching song.
Song "Le Boudin"
French text
translation
Refrain
Tiens, voilà du boudin, voilà du boudin, voilà du boudin
Pour les Alsaciens, les Suisses et les Lorrains,
|: Pour les Belges, y en a plus, Pour les Belges, y en a plus,
Ce sont des tireurs-au -cul.: |
1. e sonnerie Nous sommes des dégourdis, Nous sommes des lascars Des types pas ordinaires. Nous avons souvent notre cafard, Nous sommes des legionnaires.
1. e couplet
Au Tonkin, la Légion immortelle
À Tuyen-Quang illustra notre drapeau,
Héros de Camerone et frères modèles
Dormez en paix dans vos tombeaux.
| Refrain |
2. e sonnerie Nos anciens ont su mourir. Pour the gloire de la Legion. Nous saurons bien tous perir Suivant la tradition.
2. e couplet
Au cours de nos campagnes lointaines,
Affrontant la fièvre et le feu,
Oublions avec nos peines,
La mort qui nous oublie si peu.
Nous, la Legion.
| Refrain |
Refrain
Take, there is the sausage, there is the sausage, there is the sausage,
For the Alsatians, the Swiss and the Lorraineurs,
|: There are none for the Belgians, There are none for the Belgians,
They are slackers.: |
1. Trumpet fanfare We are awake We are smart No ordinary guys. We are often grim We are legionaries.
1st stanza
In Tonkin , the immortal Legion held the flag high
at Tuyên Quang ,
You heroes of Camerone and exemplary comrades
Rest in peace in your graves.
| Refrain |
2. Trumpet fanfare Our old people knew how to die. For the glory of the Legion. We too know how to go under True to tradition.
2nd stanza
In the course of our distant battles,
defying fever and fire,
In our sorrow
we forget , Death that hardly forgets us.
Us, the Legion.
| Refrain |
