American Horror Story

The french song playing in the common room on "American Horror Story" is "Dominique" by The Singing Nun (also known as "Soeur Sourire" (Sister Smile) aka Jeanine Deckers). The song was a hit in 1963, becoming number one and selling 1.5 million copies. The Singing Nun was a sister of the Dominican Order who became increasingly critical of Catholic doctrines and became a public advocate for contraception. She was rumored to be a lesbian and her and her companion of ten years (Annie Pecher) both committed suicide by an overdose of barbiturates and alcohol in March 29, 1985.


from this article in The Washington Post:

"Deckers led a pretty interesting life. As this UK Express story explains, she eventually left the church to live with her female partner, with whom she eventually engaged in a suicide pact. The piece also notes that Deckers was the daughter of a baker (interesting) and contains this quote from writer Joe Queenan about the meaning of the song “Dominique”: “The song would have us believe that St. Dominic was a humble, lovable monk who fought valiantly against the forces of darkness. In fact he founded the religious order that brought mankind the monstrous Spanish Inquisition.”



The refrain:

Dominique -inique -inique s'en allait tout simplement,

Routier, pauvre et chantant.

En tous chemins, en tous lieux,

Il ne parle que du Bon Dieu,

Il ne parle que du Bon Dieu.

In English:

Dominique, Dominique went about simply,

a poor singing traveller.

On every road, in every place,

he talks only of the Good Lord,

he talks only of the Good Lord.