« … Car tout est vanité.
Tout va dans un même lieu; tout a été fait de la poussière, et tout retourne à la poussière »
« … For all is vanity.
All go unto one place; all are of the dust, and all turn to dust again » (The Book of Ecclesiastes 3:19-20)
In honored memory of the late Laurent Meynier, author of “Réflexions photographiques” (“photographic reflections“, picture above), who left us a year ago, almost jour pour jour (day for day.)
After “Sous ton aile” (“Under your Wing”), Eiffel makes a comeback to The French Blog with ”Tes vanités” (“Your Vanities“)—Needless to say, the maker of the video doesn’t seem to be particularly inclined to vote for “Sarko” in the upcoming French Presidential Elections
(If your Youtube access is restricted in the US, you may check this live version on Veoh)
Tes vanités n’ont ni de chair ni de peau
Your vanities have neither flesh nor skin
Juste des fast-food en lisière des ghettos
Only fast foods on the outskirts of ghettos
Minorités dopées aux crâneries torrentielles
Minorities doped by torrential fanfares
Avant le shoot final dans la poubelle
Before the final shoot into the garbage
Tes vanités, tes girouettes, tes drapeaux
Your vanities, your weathercocks, your flags
Le Diable est à nos tables
The Devil sits at our tables
Tête-de-mords-toi-la queue parvenir à tes fins
[This is what is called in French a "calembour", meaning a "pun", or a "play on words", merging the expression "tête de mort" (a "skull", a "death's-head") with the sentence "mords-toi la queue" ("bite your own tail.") The whole thing yields something like "Death's-head, bite your own tail to reach your goals"]
Et tenter d’en profiter avant de péter les câbles
And trying to thrive before going nuts
Repose, cool, petit humain,
Take a rest, cool, little human
Seule la mort sait faire la paix
Death alone knows how to conclude peace
Ta vie n’est qu’une guerre
Your life is nothing but a war
Des vanités
Of the vanities
Et elles nous tirent leurs chapeaux dans le dos
As they tip their hats to us in the back
Fallait pas commencer par tout terminer
One ought not start by finishing everything off
Assouvir ton orgueil, ta fierté, et faire
To satisfy your pride, your dignity, and to 
Feu de tout bois au bûcher des vanités
Fire on all cylinders at the bonfire of the vanities
Le coeur de l’histoire est lourd en ego
The heart of history is weighty in ego
Le grelot commun du commun des mortels
[Another pun: "lot commun" ("common burden") becomes here "grelot commun" ("common bell", like the bells used by shepherds to keep an eye on their sheep); as to "commun des mortels", it means the "ordinary people", the "mere mortals", the "plebs", etc.]
Des records, des mirages d’or
Records, golden mirages
La misère ordinaire aux frontières du réel
The ordinary misery bordering the edges of reality
Repose, cool, petit humain,
Take a rest, cool, little human
Seule la mort sait faire la paix
Death alone knows how to conclude peace
Ta vie n’est qu’une guerre
Your life is nothing but a war
Des vanités
Of the vanities
Qu’elle repose en paix
May it rest in peace
Pour de l’amour-propre, combien de mains sales ?
For the sake of self-esteem, how many dirty hands?
[Paradoxical choice of words intended: "sale" means "dirty", whereas "propre" literally means "clean."]
Et s’tailler des costards aux frontières des scandales
And to self-tailor suits verging on the scandalous
Nos vanités creusent à toutes fossettes
Our vanities dig in every dimple
Dans le miroir aux alouettes 
In the decoys
Mes vanités n’ont ni de chair ni de peau
My vanities have neither flesh nor skin
Juste des Flash-balls pour les enfants de fachos
Nothing but flash-balls for the kids of fascists
Couvre-toi, couvre-moi, couvre le feu
Cover yourself, cover me, cover the fire
C’est l’hiver en amour, mais putain mais bon Dieu
It’s wintertime for love, but damn it, Good Lord
Mes vanités n’ont ni de chair ni de peau
My vanities have neither flesh nor skin
Mes vanités c’est la terre en sanglots
My vanities are earth broken in tears
Au boulevard des allongés
At the boneyard
[Just like the expression "le jardin des allongés", literally the "Garden of the Lying Down", "le boulevard des allongés" is a common French slang expression to refer to the cemetery.]
Que ravitaillent les corbeaux
Supplied by the crows [A bit "graphic" indeed, but it is of course meant in a metaphorical sense]
Cool, petit humain
Cool, little human
Seule la mort sait faire la paix
Death alone knows how to conclude peace
Ta vie n’est qu’une guerre
Your life is nothing but a war
Des vanités
Of the vanities
Repose, cool, j’t'aimais pas bien
Take a rest, cool, I didn’t really like you
Mais la mort sait faire la paix
But death knows how to conclude peace
Et ma vie n’est qu’une guerre
And my life is nothing but a war
Des vanités
Of the vanities
Repose, cool, petit humain
Take a rest, cool, little human
Seule la mort sait faire la paix
Death alone knows how to conclude peace 
Ma vie n’est qu’une guerre
My life is nothing but a war
Des vanités
Of the vanities
Cool,
Cool,
J’t'aimais pas bien,
I didn’t really like you
J’m'aimais pas bien
I didn’t really like myself
Ma vie n’est qu’une guerre
My life is nothing but a war
Des vanités
Of the vanities
