# Napoleonic Songs **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [July 12, 2012, 11:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/napoleonic-songs/627988 "2012-07-12T11:43:01Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 19\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![SeaCanary](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e274bd/32.png) [@SeaCanary](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SeaCanary)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2012, 11:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/napoleonic-songs/627988/1 "2012-07-12T11:43:01Z")
There are a few songs in English about Napoleon; _[The Bonny Bunch O’ Roses](http://grooveshark.com/s/Bonny+Bunch+Of+Roses+The/40zf38?src=5)_, _[The Green Linnet](http://grooveshark.com/s/The+Green+Linnet/3Q3aWh?src=5)_ and _[Boney Was A Warrior](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qrjl2h4Zo5U)_ come immediately to mind. Are there any songs in something other than English? ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2012, 12:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/napoleonic-songs/627988/2 "2012-07-12T12:52:39Z")
You’ve given me an earworm, _Napoleón tenía cent soldats_ (Catalan children’s song, “Napoleon had 100 soldiers”) :mad: I know others but will have to get rid of the earwom before I can think of more… ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2012, 12:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/napoleonic-songs/627988/3 "2012-07-12T12:56:34Z")
Oh, a question: do they have to have Napoleon directly referenced, or can it be about the Napoleonic wars and/or people who became famous then? Are wars which started against Napoleon but ended becoming something else counted? (Most of the Independence Wars of South America fall under this listing) ---
**Author:** ![SeaCanary](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e274bd/32.png) [@SeaCanary](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SeaCanary)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2012, 5:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/napoleonic-songs/627988/4 "2012-07-12T17:37:42Z")
> [@Nava](#): > > Oh, a question: do they have to have Napoleon directly referenced, or can it be about the Napoleonic wars and/or people who became famous then? Are wars which started against Napoleon but ended becoming something else counted? (Most of the Independence Wars of South America fall under this listing) Good questions. The Bonny Bunch O’ Roses directly refers to Napoleon only once in 6 verses yet is considered to be about Napoleon. I would say the Independence Wars of South America are _probably_ out, but everything else is fair game. Unless, of course, you have a particularly “tasty” Independence War song of South America. 🙂 (I **KNEW** this stuff was out there somewhere.) ---
**Author:** ![Ponch8](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ponch8/32/9883_2.png) [@Ponch8](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ponch8)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2012, 6:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/napoleonic-songs/627988/5 "2012-07-12T18:14:13Z")
I know “Waterloo” by Abba has been done in at least one other language (German). ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2012, 6:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/napoleonic-songs/627988/6 "2012-07-12T18:32:54Z")
nm ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2012, 7:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/napoleonic-songs/627988/7 "2012-07-12T19:38:53Z")
> [@Ponch8](#): > > I know “Waterloo” by Abba has been done in at least one other language (German). ABBA also did covers in Swedish & French. ---
**Author:** ![thelurkinghorror](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7c8e57/32.png) [@thelurkinghorror](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thelurkinghorror)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2012, 7:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/napoleonic-songs/627988/8 "2012-07-12T19:55:23Z")
They’re Coming to Take Me Away, Ha-Haaa! :dubious: Cover in [Hessian dialect German](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RSNoCMdqA7E)! ---
**Author:** ![Politzania](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3ab097/32.png) [@Politzania](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Politzania)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2012, 8:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/napoleonic-songs/627988/9 "2012-07-12T20:02:11Z")
> [@Nava](#): > > You’ve given me an earworm, _Napoleón tenía cent soldats_ (Catalan children’s song, “Napoleon had 100 soldiers”) :mad: > > I know others but will have to get rid of the earwom before I can think of more… The French version of this song appears (briefly) in the YA novel _My Bonny Light Horseman: Being an Account of the Further Adventures of Jacky Faber, in Love and War_ - in a scene with French soldiers, natch. However, as I’m listening to the audiobook, I can’t replicate the lyrics. And yes, it’s definitely an earworm! ---
**Author:** ![SeaCanary](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e274bd/32.png) [@SeaCanary](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SeaCanary)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2012, 8:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/napoleonic-songs/627988/10 "2012-07-12T20:32:19Z")
> [@Ponch8](#): > > I know “Waterloo” by Abba has been done in at least one other language (German). I can use that. 😃 Trust the Dope. ---
**Author:** ![SeaCanary](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e274bd/32.png) [@SeaCanary](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SeaCanary)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2012, 8:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/napoleonic-songs/627988/11 "2012-07-12T20:33:27Z")
> [@thelurkinghorror](#): > > They’re Coming to Take Me Away, Ha-Haaa! :dubious: > > Cover in [Hessian dialect German](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RSNoCMdqA7E)! Does it so much as allude to Boney? :dubious: ---
**Author:** ![SeaCanary](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e274bd/32.png) [@SeaCanary](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SeaCanary)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2012, 8:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/napoleonic-songs/627988/12 "2012-07-12T20:36:45Z")
> [@Nava](#): > > You’ve given me an earworm, _Napoleón tenía cent soldats_ (Catalan children’s song, “Napoleon had 100 soldiers”) :mad: > > I know others but will have to get rid of the earwom before I can think of more… > [@Politzania](#): > > The French version of this song appears (briefly) in the YA novel _My Bonny Light Horseman: Being an Account of the Further Adventures of Jacky Faber, in Love and War_ - in a scene with French soldiers, natch. However, as I’m listening to the audiobook, I can’t replicate the lyrics. And yes, it’s definitely an earworm! By some wondrous and miraculous chance, are there versions of this on YouTube? Or GrooveShark? ---
**Author:** ![thelurkinghorror](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7c8e57/32.png) [@thelurkinghorror](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thelurkinghorror)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2012, 9:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/napoleonic-songs/627988/13 "2012-07-12T21:07:15Z")
> [@SeaCanary](#): > > Does it so much as allude to Boney? :dubious: Yes, it was written by him. OP didn’t specify which Napoleon, so I assumed it can only refer to the [fourteenth in his line](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Napoleon_XIV). ---
**Author:** ![SeaCanary](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e274bd/32.png) [@SeaCanary](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SeaCanary)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2012, 9:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/napoleonic-songs/627988/14 "2012-07-12T21:13:20Z")
Fair enough. Not to ruin the fun, but I was referring to… Oh, never mind. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Archergal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c89c15/32.png) [@Archergal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Archergal)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2012, 11:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/napoleonic-songs/627988/15 "2012-07-12T23:49:18Z")
[The Bonny Light Horseman](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2OGfeu1JYbg) talks about Napoleon, though I guess it’s more of a lover’s lament. ---
**Author:** ![BMalion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e274bd/32.png) [@BMalion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BMalion)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2012, 1:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/napoleonic-songs/627988/16 "2012-07-13T01:45:58Z")
_Napolean’s Dream_ by Holdstock & MacCleod ---
**Author:** ![Sam\_A.Robrin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sam_a.robrin/32/14497_2.png) [@Sam\_A.Robrin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sam_A.Robrin)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2012, 1:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/napoleonic-songs/627988/17 "2012-07-13T01:48:59Z")
Does “Ah Ah, Yawa Em Ekat ot Gnimoc Er’yeht” on the B-side of Napolean XIV’s one hit qualify? ---
**Author:** ![MickNickMaggies](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/59ef9b/32.png) [@MickNickMaggies](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MickNickMaggies)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2012, 1:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/napoleonic-songs/627988/18 "2012-07-13T01:56:15Z")
> [@SeaCanary](#): > > By some wondrous and miraculous chance, are there versions of this on YouTube? Or GrooveShark? [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bg7GhOxTMcs](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bg7GhOxTMcs) is the Spanish one, I assume. The French version is actually called 'Napoleon Avait Cinq Cent Soldats (but I cannot find a clip for you) ---
**Author:** ![MickNickMaggies](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/59ef9b/32.png) [@MickNickMaggies](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MickNickMaggies)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2012, 2:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/napoleonic-songs/627988/19 "2012-07-13T02:09:29Z")
Also linking to this page, with the lyrics for ‘Le Cinq Mai’ which references the man himself as ‘The Eagle’ and mentions exile in Ste Helena. [http://napoleon1er.perso.neuf.fr/CinqMai.html](http://napoleon1er.perso.neuf.fr/CinqMai.html) Once again, no clip for this I’m afraid. Edit to add- it is, of course, a song about his death.