Bonjours, mes amis!

There is a wealth of material located at the link below that I am trying to learn (hint, the Lomax collection is now publicly available if you do not already own the 2 volume set of the Lomaxes' recordings in Louisiana):

http://www.lomax1934.com/viens-donc-tassis-sur-la-croix-de-ma-tombe.html

Question: I am hoping that some of you could help me with transcribing the specific song above (by the Segura Bros), because the lyrics in the album's transcription have a few problems (particularly in the first few verses). It's a great song and it deserves an accurate transcription/translation.

Here is the Lomax version of the transcription, followed by my transcription of the first two lines and some thoughts on what immediately follows:

VIENS DONC T’ASSIS SUR LA CROIX DE MA TOMBE
Mon père me fait dire moi, [My priest tells me that
Je pourrais plus confesser du tout. I can no longer confess at all.
Regarde donc-là. Moi, je seras là Look. I am going to be
Après être mis dans le cercueil. Placed into the coffin.
Vendredi passé, Last Friday,
Quand donc ils m’ont appelé, When they called me,
Moi, j’ai vu le chapelet dans mes yeux. I saw a rosary before my eyes.
Ils m’ont dit moi, They told me
Faut je vas donc monter that I have to mount
Dessus la potence de toujours. The gallows of eternity.
Quand j’ai monté dessus la potence, When I mounted the gallows, Moi, j’ai vu la seule petite brune, All I saw before my eyes
C’était devant mes yeux. Was one little brunette.
Va donc rouvert donc mes Go then and open my grave
Fosses et la porte du cimetière, bébé And the cemetery door
Pour m’en aller dans les flammes So that I can go burn
De l’enfer brûler. In the flames of hell.
Mmm, je gone être planté Mmm, I’m going to be placed
Sur la montagne pour toi. On the mountain for you.
Et trois jours après ma mort, And three days after my death,
Viens donc t’assir sur la croix de ma tombe, Come and sit on the cross of my tomb,
O la misère. Oh, misery.]


OK, so here is what I have for the beginning after spending time with the audio slowed down:

Mon Père, j'ai péché,
moi, je pourrais plus confesser.

"Father, I have sinned, I can no longer make confession."

[Note for context: "Pardonnez-moi, mon père, j'ai péché, is the equivalent of "Forgive me, Father, I have sinned" in English. But this is a request for extreme unction from one who has committed a mortal sin (presumably murder because a subsequent verse refers to the gallows). Thus, he can no longer be absolved from sin through confession, so his request is for extreme unction (per Catholic teaching, he potentially could be forgiven through unction for mortal sin that confession cannot absolve. I found the same phrase in a French Catholic catechetical website that discussed the use of unction even if the penitent "ne pourrait plus confesser" a mortal sin].

Second line: I am having trouble with this. I am hearing:

Il adorne ça, moi là, quand (je) seras lâ, s’être mis dans l(e) cerceuil.

"They adorn it (i.e., the coffin), me there, when I'll be there, put into the coffin."

The Dictionary of Louisiana French has an example or two of "adorner" being used with cerceuil to refer to guilding a coffin prior to burial. So I think the verb is probably adorner rather than apporter.

A lot of the rest of the is easier to understand (a bit closer to the Lomax description), but the audio is not great so I had to slow it down quite a bit. Can anyone else take a crack at the second line?

After a good night's sleep and slowing down the audio, I am hearing this for line 2:

Il est dur, ça, moi là. Quand je seras là, seras mis dans le cercueil. "That's hard, with me there.
When I'll be there, be placed in the coffin."

OK, I think I have it mostly worked out. It's the last line of the third verse (the one about the rosary) that I am having trouble deciphering/transcribing.

Here is what I have so far, starting with the Lomax transcription but making edits and revisions based on what I am hearing when I slow down the audio:

Mon père, j’ai péché.
Moi, je pourrais plus confesser du tout.
Father, I have sinned.
I can no longer make confession.

[Note for cultural context: the narrator has committed a mortal sin, so he cannot obtain absolution merely through confession; this implies he is now asking for extreme unction instead, just before he is hanged on the gallows.]


Il est dur, ça, moi là,
quand (je) seras là, seras mis dans l(e) cerceuil.
It’s hard, me being there,
when I will be there, placed in the coffin.

Vendredi passé,
quand donc ils m’appelaient,
moi, j'ai appelé le chapelain, dans mes blues. *
Last Friday,
when they were calling on me,
I called for the chaplain, in my blues. *

* [I am having some trouble with this line. The Lomax liner notes have "Moi, j'ai vu le chapelet." But listen closely and I don't think it sounds anything like "vu". What I am hearing is "Moi, j'ai appelé le chapelain". Taken in light of the first verse with its reference to a priest, I think this is the narrator's request to see the prison chaplain when they come to his jail cell to take him to the gallows. As for the last part of the line, the last word has muffled audio for the initial consonant so it is a bit ambiguous. The liner notes have, "dans mes yeux"; but I think it might be, "dans mes blues".]

Ils m’ont dit
moi, je faut je vas donc monter,
dessus la potence de toujours.
They told me,
I had to go, though, to go up
on the gallows for forever.


Quand j’ai monté dessus la potence,
Moi, j’ai vu la seule petite brune.
C’était devant mes yeux.
When I went up on the gallows,
I saw that one little brunette.
She was in front of my eyes.

Va donc rouverre donc mes fosses,
et la porte du cimetière, bébé,
pour m’en aller,
dans les flammes de l’enfer brûler.
Go ahead, then, and open my grave,
and the cemetery door, babe,
so I can go away,
into the flames of Hell to burn.

Mmm, j’y gone être planté,
sur la montagne pour toi.
Mmm, I’m gonna be placed there,
on the mountain for you.

Et trois jours après ma mort,
viens donc t’assir sur la croix de ma tombe.
O la misère…
And three days after my death,
well, come sit on the cross of my tomb.
Oh, misery.