Fais Dodo, Pinoche

Key: C~64 BPMGuitar & Piano chords

A French-Canadian lullaby from Québec, reassuring a little one named Pinoche that everyone is only briefly away — and that a gift is coming when they return. Here you will find a singable English adaptation, the meaning, and chords.

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Verse 1

C F C

Fais dodo, Pinoche,

F C G7

maman est à la noce.

(Go to sleep, Pinoche — mama’s away at a wedding.)

C F C

Sleep now, sleep, my little one,

F C G7

mama’s at the wedding, won’t be long.

Verse 2

C F C

Elle t’apportera

F C G7

une belle grosse catin.

(She’ll bring you home a big, beautiful doll.)

C F C

She’ll bring a doll so big and grand,

F C G7

held with love in a mother’s hand.

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Chords — guitar & piano

C

Guitar

Piano

F

Guitar

Piano

G7

Guitar

Piano

Good to know

What this song means

Fais Dodo, Pinoche belongs to the wide family of French “fais dodo” lullabies — “dodo” being sweet baby-talk for “go to sleep” — but this particular version has its own life in French-Canadian tradition, especially in Québec. Instead of simply asking for sleep, it reassures a child named Pinoche exactly where everyone has gone: mother’s at a wedding, and she’ll come home with a doll as a gift. It’s comfort wrapped in a promise. In Canada’s north, Inuit families carry their own cherished lullaby tradition too — the aqausiit, tender songs composed one at a time, each for a single beloved child.

Traditional French-Canadian (Québécois) lullaby. The English lines here are a singable adaptation for this arrangement, offered as a respectful tribute — not a literal translation.

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