Une chanson rigolote (a funny song) can be a nice way to relax after a long day au bureau (at work) or à l’école (at school). When la chanson comes with an even sillier video, all the stress of the day just disappears for at least a few minutes.

Claude François is one of the biggest names in la musique française (French Music) from les années 60s (the 60s). A decade that saw the explosion of rock and roll and a pretty huge shift in culture.

Cloclo, as he was nicknamed, was not actually born in France though. The famous French singer began his life en Égypte (in Egypt)! Son père (his father) worked at le canal de Suez (the Suez Canal) when it was still controlled by the French and English when Claude was born.

Sa famille (his family) was forced to move back to France in the mid 50s after le canal de Suez was nationalized and after a few years of instability, he broke out into super stardom in the 60s.

Sa carrière (his career) was incredibly expansive and he produced some big hits like Cette année-là, Le Lundi au soleil, Le téléphone pleure (That Year There, Mondays in the Sun, The Telephone Cries), and he’s even behind the original version of one of Frank Sinatra’s most famous songs, My Way, or rather Comme d’habitude en version originale (As Usual in its original version).

After Tim’s lesson on le vocabulaire de voiture (car vocabulary) earlier this week, I didn’t want to share one of the more well known songs and instead wanted to introduce everyone to a goofy little song he did in the early 60s about une voiture:

Ma nouvelle voiture
My New Car

Even if you’re from l’outre-Atlantique (North America, litteraly: the other side of the Atlantic), the dated humor and wacky dance moves are instantly recognizable as belonging to les années 60s.

As an added bonus for everyone learning le français, la chanson (the song) really drives home how to use the right pronoun with gendered nouns. It also works really well pour les anglophones (for English speakers) in this song since cars are one of the few nouns that can kind of work in the same way en anglais!

She’s a beaut!

Cela dit (that said), there are a lot of de jeux de mots (puns, plays on words) that get lost in translation, so take a moment to step back in time and enjoy a short song about la nouvelle voiture de Cloclo.

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

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UPwV-o8JaXA

Ma nouvelle voiture
My New Car

Ca marche bien (quoi ?)
Ca marche mieux (quoi ?)
Ca marche plus… (Quoi ?) Eh

It runs good (what?)
It runs better (what?)
It doesn’t run anymore… (What?) Well

Elle est si bien bien bien tellement bien ma nouvelle voiture
Elle marche bien bien bien tellement bien ma nouvelle voiture
Je l’ai reçu ce matin, je vais la roder de mon mieux, mieux, mieux
Pour qu’elle marche encore mieux

She is so good good good so good my new car
She runs good good good so good my new car
I got it this morning, I’m going to break it in as best, best, best as I can
So she’ll run better still

Elle marchera mieux mieux mieux tellement mieux, ma nouvelle voiture
Elle roulera mieux mieux mieux, encore mieux ma nouvelle voiture

She’ll run better better better so much better, my new car
She’ll drive better better better, even better my new car

Je nettoierai les bougies, je visserai de trois boulons, rond, rond
Pour que l’moteur tourne rond…

I’ll clean up the spark plugs, I’ll screw in three nuts around, around
So that the motor runs smoothly…

Elle marchera mieux, elle marchera mieux, oh oui, mieux.
Elle marchera mieux, elle marchera mieux, elle roulera mieux.
Elle roulera mieux, elle roulera mieux, oh tellement mieux
Elle marchera mieux, elle marchera mieux, elle marchera mieux

She’ll run better, she’ll run better, oh yes, better.
She’ll run better, she’ll run better, she’ll drive better.
She’ll drive better, she’ll drive better, oh so much better
She’ll run better, she’ll run better, she’ll run better

Elle marcherait mieux, mieux, mieux, tellement mieux, ma nouvelle voiture
Elle roulerait mieux, mieux, mieux, tellement mieux, ma nouvelle voiture
Si j’savais revisser les pièces, oui mais voilà je ne sais plus, plus, plus

She’ll run better, better, better, so much better, my new car
She’ll drive better, better, better, so much better, my new car
If I had known to tighten up the parts, yes but well I don’t know anymore, anymore, anymore

Et maint’nant elle marche plus

And now she runs runs no more

Elle marche plus, plus, plus tellement plus, ma nouvelle voiture
Elle roule plus, plus plus, vraiment plus, ma nouvelle voiture
Je me demande ce qu’elle a, et puis à la fin, j’en ai marre, marre, marre
Mais qu’est-ce qu’elle a, elle démarre ?

She runs no more, more more, no longer so much more, my new car
She drives no more, more more, really no more, my new car
I wonder what’s wrong with her, and then in the end, I’ve had enough, enough, enough
But what’s up with her? She’s starting up?

Elle marche toute seule
Elle marche toute seule
Elle marche toute seule, oh oui toute seule
Elle marche toute seule
Elle marche toute seule
Elle marche toute seule
Oh toute seule, toute seule, toute seule, toute seule

She runs on her own!
She runs on her own!
She runs on her own!
She runs on her own! Oh yes on her own!
She runs on her own!
She runs on her own!
She runs on her own!
Oh on her own, her own, her own, her own!

Seule, seule, seule, seule!

Own, own, own, own!