Au clair de la lune Au clair de la lune "" (, lit. "By the Light of the Moon") is a French folk song of the 18th century. Its composer and lyricist are unknown. Its simple melody () is commonly taught to beginners learning an instrument. Some sources report that "plume" (pen) was originally "lume" (an old word for "light" or "lamp"). 19th-century French composer Camille Saint-Saëns quoted the first few notes of the tune in the section "The Fossils", part of his suite "The Carnival of the Animals". Claude Debussy, composer of the similarly named "Clair de lune" from his "Suite bergamasque", uses "Au
Au clair de la lune night by all the little boys of Paris, that song of "Au clair de la lune," every verse of which was a remembrance of happiness to Cresson, and a reproach of cruelty to friend Peterkin, who would not open his door to his neighbor, when he requested this slight service. In his 1952 memoir "Witness", Whittaker Chambers reminisced: In my earliest recollections of her, my mother is sitting in the lamplight, in a Windsor rocking chair, in front of the parlor stove. She is holding my brother on her lap. It is bed time and, in a thin sweet voice,