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La Canicule Everywhere But La Bretagne – Heatwave In France Posted by on Jun 28, 2019 in Culture, Vocabulary

Il fait chaud (it’s hot) in Paris. Sweating through my morning commute and dealing with the lack of air conditioning throughout the city has made this a rather difficult time.

Image from Pixabay. Licensed under CC0.

La canicule (the intense heat, heatwave) is incredibly famous in France. Every year once warm weather moves a few degrees too high, everyone starts to get uncomfortable. Being from la Floride, it reminds me of how entire cities shut down at the first sign of cold weather, or even worse, la neige (snow).

That’s not much of an exaggeration. When la canicule starts, it feels like la ville de Paris (the city of Paris) starts to shut down. Le trajet (the commute) becomes longer as trains get cancelled and delayed and people use la chaleur (the heat) as an excuse for running late or missing events.

Heureusement (luckily), a French comedian has come out with a fun song to at least provide a few laughs while temperatures soar. I’m talking about Monsieur Sepy and his new song celebrating the hot weather.

Cette semaine (this week), le youtubuer français released a new song for la canicule:

La chanson de la caniculeThe Heatwave Song

Le Youtubeur français (the French Youtuber) is an incredibly funny and great example of French humor with his constant use of le second degré (sarcasm).

All his videos take the form of musical parodies, playing on well-known French songs or music styles and putting an ironic twist on them with les paroles (the lyrics).

Being from la Bretagne (Brittany), the song is a series of jokes about how the Northwest region of France escaped the high temperatures. La chanson (the song) uses a traditional style from la Bretagne as the cherry on top, givings the impression tous les Bretons (all the Bretons, people from Brittany) are celebrating their good fortune.

La chanson is realy simple and easy to sing along to so while you’re thinking about the rest of France and the ridiculously hot weather, take a moment to listen to the silly song and practice some summertime French.

Voici la chanson avec les paroles et une traduction anglaise (here’s the song with the lyrics and an English translation):

https://www.facebook.com/MonsieurSeby/videos/520646365139310/?v=520646365139310

La chanson de la canicule (parole d’un Breton)
The Heatwave Song (The Word of a Breton)

C’est la canicule, presque dans toute la France
C’est la canicule, presque dans toute la France

It’s a heatwave, nearly in all of France
It’s a heatwave, nearly in all of France

Mais pas chez nous t’as vu, Bretons à l’abri
Mais pas chez nous t’as vu, Bretagne ça rassure

But not here see, Bretons are safe
But not here see, Brittany feels better

C’est la canicule, on dépasse 40
C’est la canicule, on dépasse 40

It’s a heatwave, it’s over 40 degrees*
It’s a heatwave, it’s over 40 degrees

*40 degrees Celsius (104 degrees Fahrenheit)

Mais pas chez nous t’as vu, Bretons à l’abri
Mais pas chez nous t’as vu, Bretagne ça rassure

But not here see, Bretons are safe
But not here see, Brittany feels better

C’est la canicule, il fait trop chaud, sa mère
C’est la canicule, il fait trop chaud, sa mère

It’s a heatwave, it’s too hot, your mom
It’s a heatwave, it’s too hot, your mom

Mais pas chez nous t’as vu, Bretons à l’abri
Mais pas chez nous t’as vu, Bretagne ça rassure

But not here see, Bretons are safe
But not here see, Brittany feels better

C’est la canicule, doucement sur l’apéro
C’est la canicule, doucement sur l’apéro

It’s a heatwave, take it slowly with the drinks
It’s a heatwave, take it slowly with the drinks

Mais pas chez nous t’as vu, Bretons à l’abri
Mais pas chez nous t’as vu, Bretagne ça rassure

But not here see, Bretons are safe
But not here see, Brittany feels better

C’est la canicule, même la douche est trop chaude
C’est la canicule, même la douche est trop chaude

It’s a heatwave, even the shower is too hot
It’s a heatwave, even the shower is too hot

Mais pas chez nous t’as vu, Bretons à l’abri
Mais pas chez nous t’as vu, Bretagne ça rassure

But not here see, Bretons are safe
But not here see, Brittany feels better

C’est la canicule, y’a même pas un vent frais
C’est la canicule, y’a même pas un vent frais

It’s a heatwave, there’s not even a cool breeze
It’s a heatwave, there’s not even a cool breeze

Mais pas chez nous t’as vu, Bretons à l’abri
Mais pas chez nous t’as vu, Bretagne ça rassure

But not here see, Bretons are safe
But not here see, Brittany feels better

C’est la canicule, on va manquer de bière
C’est la canicule, on va manquer de bière

It’s a heatwave, we’re going to run out of beer
It’s a heatwave, we’re going to run out of beer

Mais pas chez nous t’as vu, Bretons à l’abri
Mais pas chez nous t’as vu, Bretagne ça rassure

But not here see, Bretons are safe
But not here see, Brittany feels better

C’est la canicule, les glaces tombent comme des mouches
C’est la canicule, les glaces tombent comme des mouches

It’s a heatwave, ice cream is dropping like flies
It’s a heatwave, ice cream is dropping like flies

Mais pas chez nous t’as vu, Bretons à l’abri
Mais pas chez nous t’as vu, Bretagne ça rassure

But not here see, Bretons are safe
But not here see, Brittany feels better

C’est la canicule, j’vais cramer au soleil
C’est la canicule, j’vais cramer au soleil

It’s a heatwave, I’m gonna get sunbrunt
It’s a heatwave, I’m gonna get sunbrunt

Mais pas chez nous t’as vu, Bretons à l’abri
Mais pas chez nous t’as vu, Bretagne ça rassure

But not here see, Bretons are safe
But not here see, Brittany feels better

C’est la canicule, j’suis enfermé chez moi
C’est la canicule, j’suis enfermé chez moi

It’s a heatwave, I’m trapped in my home
It’s a heatwave, I’m trapped in my home

Mais pas chez nous t’as vu, Bretons à l’abri
Mais pas chez nous t’as vu, Bretagne ça rassure

But not here see, Bretons are safe
But not here see, Brittany feels better

C’est la canicule, je déprime, j’en ai marre
C’est la canicule, je déprime, j’en ai marre

It’s a heatwave, I’m fed up, I’ve had enough
It’s a heatwave, I’m fed up, I’ve had enough

Mais pas chez nous t’as vu, Bretons à l’abri
Mais pas chez nous t’as vu, Bretagne ça rassure

But not here see, Bretons are safe
But not here see, Brittany feels better

C’est la canicule, il me manque la mer
C’est la canicule, il me manque la mer

It’s a heatwave, I miss the sea
It’s a heatwave, I miss the sea

Mais pas chez nous t’as vu, Bretons à l’abri
Mais pas chez nous t’as vu, Bretagne ça rassure

But not here see, Bretons are safe
But not here see, Brittany feels better

C’est la canicule, j’envie tous les Bretons
C’est la canicule, j’envie tous les Bretons

It’s a heatwave, I’m jealous of all the Bretons
It’s a heatwave, I’m jealous of all the Bretons

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About the Author: John Bauer

John Bauer is an enthusiast for all things language and travel. He currently lives in France where he's doing his Master's. John came to France four years ago knowing nothing about the language or the country, but through all the mistakes over the years, he's started figuring things out.