Musique voisine du Rock VS. Musique de Roch Voisine! Posted by Hichem on Oct 27, 2010 in Culture, Music, Vocabulary
Sometimes, nothing seems to be easier than feeling nostalgique about your jeune enfance (young childhood.) But then you should try to think again, putting things in a clearer and more objective perspective, until you remember when you were a boy who’s not even ten years old yet, and all you could hear playing all day long in la télévision or la radio were songs that you and your buddies dismissed as des chansons de mauviettes (“wussy” or “wimpy” songs), with nothing else but that, 24/7… Quel cauchemar ! (What a nightmare!)
And of course, you only had quelques K7 (read cassettes) that you’re allowed to buy from your “own” hard-earned argent de poche (pocket money), because at that time there were no such revolutionary tools as Youtube or iTunes!
Naturally, Roch Voisine’s hit-songs didn’t have a hard time fitting into our répertoire of chansons de mauviettes, a.k.a. “de pleurnichons” (of “cry-babies”) -together of course with so many other French songs of that time that can’t possibly be exhaustively listed here in just one blog post- but nearly vingt ans après (twenty years later), looking back at them makes it an interesting “voyage dans le passé“, or if you prefer, a “blast from the past“!
Plus sérieusement (on a more serious note), if you look close you will find in today’s featured song a few references to much older songs that have already been presented here in The French Blog (see the links available in the lyrics), with some allusions being more obvious than others.
Et encore plus sérieusement (and on an even more serious note), I think it’s safe to say today that lorsque nous étions plus jeunes (when we were younger), we listened more to la musique voisine du Rock (music neighboring Rock) than la musique de Roch Voisine…
For those who don’t know what the family name of the French-Canadian singer means, it is “a (female) neighbor.”
Et pourtant (and yet), having said that, we let you now mellow out with Roch Voisine’s song called “Pourtant” (“Yet.)
N.B. Roch Voisine sings very often the same song in English and French. However, the lyrics in English presented in this post are provided by me.
ROCH VOISINE — “POURTANT” (“YET”)
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Je vis ma vie comme un incompris Parmi ces gens autour de moi Mon cœur, tout bas se meurt de froid Sans un cri, tout passe dans ma vie La nuit s’approche, je pense a rien L’amour, la haine, la joie, l’ennui Se perdent en moi comme des chagrins Pourtant ma vie M’a tout donné, m’a donné tout ce que j’ai désiré Pourtant ma vie M’a tout donné, pourquoi ma vie m’a tout repris Tout repris Ma vie comme les feuilles mortes Tombées sans bruit à ma porte
Balayées par le vent
N’importe où, droit devant
J’étais pourtant près du soleil Haut dans le ciel de ton lit Mais la tempête à mon réveil M’a fait le cœur en jour de pluie Pourtant ma vie M’a tout donné, m’a donné tout ce que j’ai désiré Pourtant ma vie M’a tout donné, pourquoi ma vie m’a tout repris Tout repris, tout repris Pourtant ma vie M’a tout donné, m’a donné tout ce que j’ai désiré Pourtant ma vie M’a tout donné, pourquoi ma vie m’a tout repris Tout repris, tout repris |
I live my life like a misunderstood [man]Among these people around me
Who sing, who laugh, who cry, who scream My heart, underneath is dying out of cold Without a scream, everything goes in my life The night’s comes closer, I think of nothing Love, hate, happiness, boredom Are lost within me like griefs Yet, my life Gave me all, gave all that I wished for Yet my life Gave me all, why my life took it all back Took it all back My life like dead leaves Fallen silently by my door Swept off by the wind Anywhere, straight ahead Yet I was near the Sun Up in the sky of your bed But the storm as I woke up Did my heart in a rainy day Yet my life Gave me all, gave me all that I wished for Yet my life Gave me all, why my life took it all back Took it all back Yet my life Gave me all, Gave me all that I wished for Yet my life Gave me all, why my life took it all back Took it all back, took it all back |
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Comments:
Mélanie Bournival:
You comment its not from you but from a french tv show in Quebec called “Tout le monde en parle” et pourquoi parles-tu bilingue dans ton texte?
On ne comprends pas trop le sens du texte….
Roch Voisine a vendu plus d’onze millions d’albums et c’est 25 albums en carrière.
Il a mérité sa place il y a bien longtemps déjà.
Hichem:
@Mélanie Bournival Hello Mélanie,
Thank you for your comment!
All the comments made in the article above are not from “a French tv show in Quebec.” I would definitely know, since I wasn’t hosted as a guest there. They all stem from a personal childhood memory that goes back to at least twenty years ago… It’s very easy to verify: Just google any expression or selected portion of the text and see if anything else comes up (Crois-moi, it won’t!)
If you have a link or a video to suggest otherwise, please share it!
Your question, “pourquoi parles-tu bilingue”, is a bit funny, since your own message is, well, “bilingue” 🙂
It also shows that it must be the first time that you see “Ze French Blog”!
The idea of our Blog is actually both simple and fun: All the posted articles are in English, but as you’ve noticed, they also include several French words and expressions, in order to show to anyone who is learning French how they can be used in a given context.
You obviously speak perfectly French, so you wouldn’t need it, or may even find this method a bit confusing like you said, but there are so many others who are very glad to learn and improve their French this way.
I’m guessing you’d be happy for them, no?
Now, back to Roch Voisine. You said (switching to French): “Roch Voisine a vendu plus d’onze millions d’albums et c’est 25 albums en carrière. Il a mérité sa place il y a bien longtemps déjà.”
La réponse: Il n’a jamais été question dans l’article que vous citez de “la place qu’il mérite”.
Du reste, la qualité d’un chanteur se mesure-t-elle à “la quantité d’albums vendus”?
Rassurez-vous, il ne s’agit là que d’une question purement rhétorique !
SECIL:
About “nostalgique about your jeune enfance (young childhood)”
When I was nostalgique:) about some past events, a friend of mine told me: do not be sad it is over be happy it has happened!