For He's a Jolly Good Fellow
- Not to be confused with Lostprophets song "For He's a Jolly Good Felon".
"For He's a Jolly Good Fellow" or "For She's a Jolly Good Fellow" (depending on gender) is a song that is sung to congratulate a person on a significant event, such as a promotion, a birthday, a wedding (or playing a major part in a wedding), a wedding anniversary, the birth of a child, or the winning of a championship sporting event. The melody originates from the French song "Marlbrough s'en va-t-en guerre" ("Marlborough Has Left for the War"). The traditional children's song The Bear Went Over the Mountain is sung to the same tune.
According to the Guinness World Records, "For He's a Jolly Good Fellow" is the second-most popular song in the English language, following "Happy Birthday to You" and followed by "Auld Lang Syne".
History
The tune is of French origin and dates at least from the 18th century.[1] Allegedly it was composed the night after the Battle of Malplaquet in 1709.[2] It became a French folk tune and was popularized by Marie Antoinette after she heard one of her maids singing it.[3] The melody became so popular in France that it was used to represent the French defeat in Beethoven's composition "Wellington's Victory" Opus 91 written in 1813.[4]
The melody also became widely popular in the United Kingdom.[5] By the mid-19th century[6] it was being sung with the words "For he's a jolly good fellow", often at all-male social gatherings.[7] By 1862, it was already familiar in America.[8]
The British and American versions of the lyrics differ. "And so say all of us" is typically British,[9] while "which nobody can deny" is regarded as the American version,[4] but "which nobody can deny" has been used by non-American writers, including Charles Dickens in Household Words,[10] Hugh Stowell Brown in Lectures to the Men of Liverpool[11] and James Joyce in Finnegans Wake.[12] In addition, the 1935 American film Ruggles of Red Gap, set in rural Washington state, ends with repeated choruses of the song, with the two variations sung alternately. This may have been chosen by the writer or director because while the crowd singing it is almost completely American, the person they are singing it about is British.
Lyrics
As with many songs that use gender-specific pronouns, the song can be altered to agree with the sex of the intended recipient, "he" being replaced with "she."[13] If the song is being sung to two or more people (e.g. twins or triplets) it is altered to use plurals (i.e. "For They are Jolly Good Fellows.")
British version
- For he's a jolly good fellow, for he's a jolly good fellow
- For he's a jolly good fellow (pause), and so say all of us
- And so say all of us, and so say all of us
- For he's a jolly good fellow, for he's a jolly good fellow
- For he's a jolly good fellow (pause), and so say all of us!
American version
- For she's a jolly good fellow, for she's a jolly good fellow
- For she's a jolly good fellow (pause), which nobody can deny
- Which nobody can deny, which nobody can deny
- For she's a jolly good fellow, for she's a jolly good fellow
- For she's a jolly good fellow (pause), which nobody can deny!
Danish version
- For han/hun er en af vor egne, for han/hun er en af vor egne
- For han/hun er en af vor egne (pause), en rigtig guttermand
- En rigtig guttermand, en rigtig guttermand
- For han/hun er en af vor egne, for han/hun er en af vor egne
- For han/hun er en af vor egne (pause), en rigtig guttermand!
French version
- Car c'est un bon camarade, Car c'est un bon camarade
- Car c'est un bon camarade (pause), Buvons à sa santé
- Buvons à sa santé, Buvons à sa santé
- Car c'est un bon camarade, Car c'est un bon camarade
- Car c'est un bon camarade (pause), Buvons à sa santé !
Italian version
- Perché è un bravo ragazzo, perché è un bravo ragazzo
- perché è un bravo ragazzo (pause), nessuno lo può negar
- Nessuno lo può negar, nessuno lo può negar
- Perché è un bravo ragazzo, perché è un bravo ragazzo
- perché è un bravo ragazzo (pause), nessuno lo può negar!
Portuguese version
- Ele é um bom companheiro, ele é um bom companheiro
- Ele é um bom companheiro (pause), ninguém pode negar
- ninguém pode negar, ninguém pode negar
- Ele é um bom companheiro, ele é um bom companheiro
- Ele é um bom companheiro (pause), ninguém pode negar!
Spanish version
- Es un muchacho excelente, es un muchacho excelente
- Es un muchacho excelente..., y siempre lo será.
- Y siempre lo será, y siempre lo será.
- Es un muchacho excelente, es un muchacho excelente
- Es un muchacho excelente..., y siempre lo será.
- Y siempre lo será, y siempre lo será...
Latin Spanish version
- Porque es un buen compañero, porque es un buen compañero
- Porque es un buen compañero (pausa), y nadie lo puede negar
- Y nadie lo puede negar, y nadie lo puede negar
- Porque es un buen compañero, porque es un buen compañero
- Porque es un buen compañero (pausa), y nadie lo puede negar!
Pause length
Many people find it difficult to leave the correct pause in the third iteration of "For he's a jolly good fellow". This is particularly evident when several people are singing it at once, such as a crowd chant in a football stadium, or at a birthday party. When sung in 4/4 time, the correct pause between "-low" at the end of the third line and "so" near the beginning of the fourth line is four beats, making one complete verse 12 bars long.
Variations
- The British and American versions can be combined, normally with "and so say all of us" in the middle of the verse, and "which nobody can deny" at the end.
- In Spain, it is sometimes sung at birthdays instead of Happy Birthday To You.
- "Nobody" is sometimes replaced by "no one".
- In some parts of the United Kingdom, when singing the song to the driver of a bus or coach, usually on a specially commissioned trip rather than a standard scheduled journey, it is customary to add "on the bus" to the line "and so say all of us," resulting in "and so say all of us on the bus."
References
Notes
- ↑ The Oxford Dictionary of Music, 2nd. ed.(revised). Ed. Michael Kennedy:‘18th‐cent. Fr. nursery song. ... It is usually stated that ‘Malbrouck’ refers to the 1st Duke of Marlborough, but the name is found in medieval literature.’
- ↑ Catalogue of rare books of and relating to music. London: Ellis. p. 32.
- ↑ West, Nancy Shohet (9 June 2011). "Mining nuggets of music history". Boston Globe. Retrieved 22 June 2011.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 Cryer, Max (2010). Love Me Tender: The Stories Behind the World's Favourite Songs (Large Print). Exisle Publishing. pp. 26 ff. ISBN 1-4587-7956-4.
- ↑ The Times (London, England), 28 March 1826, p. 2:'The Power of Music'. A visiting foreigner, trying to recall the address of his lodgings in Marlborough Street, hums the tune to a London cabman: he immediately recognises it as 'Malbrook'.
- ↑ The song may have featured in an "extravaganza" given at the Princess theatre in London at Easter 1846, during which fairies hold a moonlight meeting: "...the meeting closes with a song of thanks to Robin Goodfellow (Miss Marshall), who had occupied the chair,...and who is assured that "he’s a jolly good fellow." "Princess's." Times [London, England] 14 Apr. 1846: 5. The Times Digital Archive. Web. 1 Oct. 2012.
- ↑ The Times reprinted an article from Punch describing a drunken speech given at a (fictional) public meeting. The speech ends: "Zshenl’men, here’s all your vehgood healts! I beggapard’n – here’s my honangal’n fren’s shjolly goo’ health! "For he’s a jolly good fellow, &c (Chorus by the whole of the company, amid which the right hon. orator tumbled down.)" "The After Dinner Speech At The Improvement Club." Times [London, England] 23 Mar. 1854: 10. The Times Digital Archive. Web. 1 Oct. 2012.
- ↑ Review of a piano recital: “As a finale he performed for the first time, a burlesque on the French air, "Marlbrook," better known to the American student of harmony as "He's a jolly good fellow." New York Times, 4 October 1862
- ↑ An 1859 version quoted in The Times however has some ‘red-faced’ English officers at an Indian entertainment dancing before their host: ‘...declaring that he was "a right good fellow; he’s a jolly good fellow, which nobody dare deny hip, hip, hip, hoorah!" &c.’ The Times(London, England), 24 March 1859, p. 9
- ↑ Dickens, Charles (1857). Household Words 15. p. 142.
- ↑ Brown, Hugh Stowell (1860). Lectures to the Men of Liverpool. p. 73.
- ↑ Joyce, James. Finnegans Wake. p. 25.
- ↑ Originally the song was associated with after-dinner drinking by all-male groups and not used for females. In 1856 British officers in the Crimea mistakenly sang it after a toast had been made, in Russian, to the Empress of Russia:'...peals of laughter followed when they all learned the subject of the toast, which was afterwards drunk again with due honour and respect.' Blackwood's Magazine, Volume 80, October 1856
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