Noël Blanc (Meaning: White Christmas; Pronunciation nɔɛl blɑ̃) is the French version of White Christmas. White Christmas was originally written by Irving Berlin around the time of World War II and sung by Bing Crosby. In 1986, French-Canadian singer Céline Dion made a beautiful recording of Noël Blanc in French (see below).
Song overview
The French lyrics to Noël Blanc (White Christmas) recount the longing for and anticipation of Christmas, as well as the joy of Santa Claus coming, the Christmas meal, having friends around the table and sharing childhood memories.
Listen to Noël Blanc
The following YouTube video of Tito Rossi has over 1.3 million views.
At the age of 18, Céline Dion did a lovely performance of Noël Blanc on live television. Note that Céline starts singing White Christmas as you know it at 1 minute, 20 seconds into the video.
You can also listen to Noël Blanc on Spotify.
Lyrics analysis
In the following section we’ve handpicked lines from the song Noël Blanc which we feel offer interesting insights into learning French vocabulary, verbs and grammar.
Oh quand j’entends chanter Noël
This line translates literally to “When I hear to sing Christmas”. Hence, our translation is: “Oh when I hear Christmas being sung”. Both quand and lorsque mean when in French.
J’aime revoir mes joies d’enfant
This line translates to “I like to see my childhood joys again”. The verb revoir means to see again. As a reflexive verb, se revoir mean to be reminded of. Hence, this line could also translate loosely to “I’m reminded of my childhood joys”.
Le sapin scintillant, la neige d’argent
This line translates to “The sparkling Christmas tree, the silver snow”. Sapin translates to Christmas tree in French. This page on our site covers Christmas vocabulary. Neige means snow and is used in weather expressions. Argent translates to both silver (the color), material and money.
Noël, mon beau rêve blanc
This line translates to “Christmas, my beautiful white dream”. Beau is one of many ways to say beautiful in French. Mon means “my” in French and is a possessive adjective.
Oh quand j’entends sonner au ciel
This line translates to “Oh when I hear the the sky ringing”. Entendre is a regular -re verb meaning “to hear”. The verb sonner mean to ring or to sound. The verb appears in the famous kids song Frère Jacques.
L’heure où le bon vieillard descend
This line translates to “The time when Santa comes down”. Heure means hour in French and could also translate to “the time”. Où normally means “where“. However, in this line it is a relative pronoun meaning “when”.
“Le bon vieillard” translates literally to “the good old hag”. However, we know from context that it means “Santa Claus”.
Je revois tes yeux clairs, maman
This line translates to “I see see your bright eyes again, mom”. Again, revois could be loosely translated to “reminded of”. Yeux means “eyes” and appear our body parts vocabulary page. Clair can translate to both light and clear.
Et je songe à d’autres Noëls blancs
This line translates to “And I think of other white Christmases”. The verbs songer à and penser à both mean to think about. Songer is used in the context of thinking with longing or emotion.
La nuit est pleine de chants joyeux
This line translates to “The night if full of happy carols”. Nuit means night in French, as is bonne nuit (good night). Interestingly, chant means carol while chanson translates to song.
Le bois craque dans le feu
This line translates to “The wood cracks in the fire”. The verb craquer translates to “to crack” as well as “to give into” in the context of vices or addictions.
La table est déjà garnie
This line translates to “The table is already decorated”. The adjective garnie literally means decorated. However, we could have equally translated this line to “the table is already set”.
Tout est prêt pour mes amis
This line translate to “Everything is ready for my friends”. On this page we cover the various ways of saying friend in French.
Et j’attends l’heure où ils vont venir
This line translates to “I wait for the hour when they’ll arrive”. Again, in this line où is a relative pronoun and mean “when” rather than “where”. Ils vont venir means “they’re going to come”. This is an example of the French futur proche tense. This page on our site covers French future tenses in detail.
En écoutant tous mes souvenirs
This line translates to “Listening to all of my memories”. En écoutant translates literally to “while listening”. This is an example of the French gerund.
Noël Blanc French lyrics and English translation
Oh quand j’entends chanter Noël
J’aime revoir mes joies d’enfant
Le sapin scintillant, la neige d’argent
Noël, mon beau rêve blanc
Oh when I hear Christmas being sung
I like to see my childhood joys again
The sparkling Christmas tree, the silver snow
Christmas, my beautiful white dream
Oh quand j’entends sonner au ciel
L’heure où le bon vieillard descend
Je revois tes yeux clairs, maman
Et je songe à d’autres Noëls blancs
Oh when I hear the the sky ringing
The time when Santa comes down
I see see your bright eyes again, mom
And I think of other white Christmases
La nuit est pleine de chants joyeux
Le bois craque dans le feu
La table est déjà garnie
Tout est prêt pour mes amis
Et j’attends l’heure où ils vont venir
En écoutant tous mes souvenirs
The night if full of happy carols
The wood cracks in the fire
The table is already decorated
Everything is ready for my friends
I wait for the hour when they’ll arrive
Listening to all of my memories
Oh quand j’entends chanter Noël
J’aime revoir mes joies d’enfant
Le sapin scintillant, la neige d’argent
Noël mon beau rêve blanc
Oh when I hear the the sky ringing
The time when Santa comes down
I see see your bright eyes again, mom
And I think of other white Christmases
Oh quand j’entends sonner au ciel
L’heure où le bon vieillard descend
Je revois tes yeux clairs, maman
Et je songe à d’autres Noëls blancs
Oh when I hear the the sky ringing
The time when Santa comes down
I see see your bright eyes again, mom
And I think of other white Christmases
Je revois tes yeux clairs, maman
Et je songe à d’autres Noëls blancs
I see see your bright eyes again, mom
And I think of other white Christmase
Discover more:
- List of top French Christmas songs
- Top French songs of all time
- Vive Le Vent lyrics (Jingle Bells)
- Minuit Chrétien lyrics (O Holy Night)
- How to say Merry Christmas in French
- French Christmas vocabulary
- Christmas in France: Most Common Traditions
