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Music and lyrics Posted by on Jan 10, 2017 in Culture, Grammar, Music, Vocabulary

If you’ve been following my blog posts this past year, you know that I love a good song. And what’s a good song, other than a story set to music? And who doesn’t love a good story? The 1980’s was the heyday of good story-songs and they are a great tool for learning language and culture.

 

Juste une mise au point by Jackie Quartz, a French singer who spent part of her youth in my beloved Bretagne before moving to Paris to start a career as a singer-songwriter, is one of my favorites. In the coming weeks, I’ll share two more of them with you and I hope you’ll enjoy them as much as I do … and learn some new vocabulary and grammar in the process! Don’t forget to review the notes at the end of the post.

[Parlé:] Bon c’est l’heure où les souvenirs se ramènent [Spoken:] So, it’s that time when the memories come rushing back (lit. the memories bring themselves back)
Juste quand le sommeil se met en grève Just when sleep is elusive (lit. when sleep goes on strike)
Le blues* en profite pour s’installer The blues take advantage to come in
Quelques verres de vin blanc pour exciter le manque A few glasses of white wine to feed the absence
Et on se repasse le film sur un air de romance And cue the film and the romantic soundtrack
On revoit les débuts et on connaît la fin We see the beginning and already know the end
Oh ! ça c’est mon côté pessimiste. Oh! That’s my pessimistic side
Je préfère penser que c’est une histoire sans fin I prefer to think that it’s a never-ending story
Si ça vous dérange pas trop ? Oh pour une fois ! If you don’t mind? Oh for once!
Bon je laisse tomber le couplet** sur l’amour immortel Fine, I’ll drop the « eternal love » poem
Ça ne concerne pas grand monde It doesn’t apply to many people (anyway)
Puis de toute façon And anyway
La mort d’un amour donne la vie à un autre The death of one love gives life to another
[Il+] y a déjà moins de soucis à se faire See there’s already less to worry about
Tiens ! Le bar-tabac*** de la rue de Clichy# Look there! The corner bar on Clichy St.
Où tu t’envoies ton petit crème And you drinking your coffee
J’le**** connais par cœur I know it by heart
J’peux**** même le dessiner les yeux fermés I can even draw with my eyes closed
   
[Chanté:] Juste une mise au point [Singing :] Just a little « setting the record straight » / review of the main points
Sur les plus belles images de ma vie Of the most beautiful images of my life
Sur les clichés trop pâles d’une love-story On the faded pictures of a love story
Sur les tam-tams d’une femme sans alibi And the heartbeat of woman without an alibi
Qui rêve toutes ses nuits Who spends her nights dreaming
Juste une mise au point Just a little « review »
Pour un petit clin d’œil de survie A little wink between survivors
Pour tous les fous, les malades de l’amour For all the crazies, the lovesick
Pour toutes les victimes du romantisme, comme moi For all the victims of romanticism, like me
Juste un p’tit clin d’œil, une mise au point Nothing but a wink, a review
   
[Parlé:] Nos vacances au soleil, sous les UVB [Spoken :] Our vacation in the sun, under the ultraviolet lights
Dans un institut de beauté Of a tanning salon
Notre superbe voilier qui a jamais vu la mer Our superb sailboat that never saw the sea
Nos lits improvisés sur un morceau de moquette Our improvised beds on a corner of the carpet
Les discussions de fin de soirée chez les copains The late night conversations at our friends’ place
Oh oui ! parlons-en des copains Oh yeah ! Let’s talk about our friends
Pour foutre la merde***** ils sont champions ! For messing things up, they’re real champs !
Gros plan sur tes yeux quand ils me disent je t’aime Close up on your eyes when they telegraph “I love you”
Nos scènes de jalousies qui fatiguent tout le monde Our jealous scenes that everyone finds annoying (tiring)
La rue des Bernardins##, le square Gambetta### Bernardins Street, Gambetta Square
Nos crises de fou rire juste au mauvais moment Our laughing fits always at the wrong time
Et nos jeux de mots ringards^ qui ne font rire que nous And our dorky puns that no laughs at but us
Puis, mon premier rendez-vous dans un night-club désert Then, my first date in a deserted night club
Avec la bonne copine qui veut pas tenir la chandelle^^ With my good (girl) friend who doesn’t like being the third wheel
Et qui se tire en râlant^^^ And leaves grumbling
   
[Refrain jusqu’à la fin . . . ] [Refrain repeating . . . ]

* ‘le blues’ is singular (as opposed to plural) despite the ‘sat the end because in this case ‘blues’ is a collective noun refering to ‘the blues‘ from the American musical form. ‘Les bleus’ (plural, and spelled a la francais) is the familiar name of the French national soccer (football) league.
** ‘couplet’ is the same word in French and English. A couplet is two lines of verse generally using the same rhyme and meter scheme.
*** ‘un bar-tabac’ or a ‘café-tabac’ is an establishment that sells cigarets along side drinks and light food. Every neighborhood in France has it’s local bar or café-tabac even today when smoking – while still common – is much less common than at one time.
+ ‘Il y a‘ means ‘there is‘ or ‘there are‘ as noted in the next note, the French are not sticklers for including every letter . . . or even every word! . . . when speaking and singing
**** ‘Je le connais . . . ‘ and ‘Je peux . . . ” as previously discussed, spoken and sung French often elides letters. Being able to understand a French speaker (or singer) when they run all their words together is a true art!
***** ‘merde’ is a surprisingly common word in French . . . at least as far as Americans are concerned. The French are generally more comfortable with ‘les gros mots’ (‘the big words’ / ‘swears’) than Americans and some other speakers. A typical French speaker will sprinkle their speech with this . . . and many, many other . . . colorful words.
^ ‘ringard’ is a great adjective! I’ve translated it here as ‘dorky’ but it can mean ‘old’, ‘dumb’, ‘hick’, and more. It’s a great all-purpose word that means “not cool” in so many ways.
^^ ‘une chandelle’ is a ‘candelabra‘ . . . this experssion refers to a single person who is along with a group of couples . . . as a soloist 😉
^^^ ‘se tirer’ means more than just ‘to leave’. ‘Quelqu’un qui se tire . . . ‘ is leaving in a huff, not simply leaving, but storming off.

Locations:
# rue de Clichy is a street in the 9th Arrondissement not far from the Gare St. Lazare.
## rue des Bernardins is a street on the left bank of Paris near le quartier Latin.
### place Gambetta is in the 20th . . . not far from the Père Lachaise Cemetary

 

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About the Author: Tim Hildreth

Since my first trip to France at 16, I have been a passionate francophile. I love the language, food, music, art, people, and more that make France and la Francophonie in general such an amazing part of our global community. Having lived in France and studied the language and culture for over 35 years, it is my great pleasure to be able to share a little bit of my deep love with you through this blog.