French singer – Anais Posted by Tim Hildreth on Oct 3, 2017 in Culture, Music, Vocabulary
Image By Waaz at French Wikipedia, CC BY 2.5
It’s octobre (October) and that means l’automne (fall), but it also means all the kids are (for the most part) settled back in school. School is where we learn some of life’s most important lessons comme le français (like French) and, for some, it’s where they first learn about l’amour (love).
This week’s song pour les filles (for the girls) is from French singer Anaïs. Her largely self-produced first album sold over 500,000 copies in 2005. Since then she’s released four more albums, a series of hit singles, and fun videos like the one below.
[Quick note that there is a mild rude gesture about half-way through the video … but used for humorous effect! Also, I’ve used the “hidden text” technique again so you can practice your skills without relying on my translations. If you want to see the English, just use your mouse to highlight the hidden text to the right of the French song lyrics.]
Next week, a song pour les garçons (for the boys).
| Le Premier Amour | |
| On s’est rencontré un beau soir d’été | We met one fine summer day |
| On a fait l’amour, un beau jour aussi | We made love, a fine day too |
| On n’s’est plus quitté, on n’sait plus pourquoi | We were inseparable, who knows why |
| Mais ça a duré des mois et des mois | But it last for months and months |
| Voire des années | Even years |
| J’aimais les cinés, les douches et les sorties | I liked movies, showers and going out |
| T’étais casanier* et tu prenais des bains | You preferred staying in and taking baths |
| Tu voulais toujours avoir le mot de la fin | You always wanted to have the last word |
| Et moi, je ne disais jamais rien | And me, I never said anything |
| Le premier^ amour | The first love |
| C’est n’importe quoi !** | It’s a joke. |
| On s’aime pour toujours | We’re in love for ever / for always |
| Et ça [ne] marche pas ! | And it never works! |
| C’est n’importe quoi ! | It’s a crock . . .! |
| Je n’me souviens pas de quoi on parlait | I can’t recall what we talked about |
| Tu étais maladroit et tellement coincé | You were clumsy and so uptight |
| Comme ça n’allait pas, on ne parlait que d’ça | Since it wasn’t working, we talked of nothing else |
| Et tes mots d’amour me faisaient pleurer | And your sweet nothings just made me cry |
| Des jours entiers | For days and days / all day long |
| J’écoutais en silence les blagues de tes amis | I listened without saying anything to your friends jokes |
| Et toi, de ton côté, tu supportais les miens | And you, for your part, you supported mine |
| J’étais plutôt du soir, toi plutôt du matin | I was more of a night owl, you more the early bird (I was more evening, you more of the morning) |
| Comment veux-tu qu’ça finisse^^ bien ? | How else did you expect it to end? (How ever did you expect it to end well?) |
| Le premier amour | The first love |
| C’est n’importe quoi ! | It’s a joke! |
| On s’aime pour toujours | We’ll always love each other |
| Et ça [ne] marche pas ! | And it never works! |
| Le premier amour | The first love |
| C’est n’importe quoi ! | It’s a crock . . .! |
| On s’aime pour toujours | We’re in love for always |
| Pour toi, j’ai regardé des matchs de basket | For you, I watched your basketball games |
| Pour moi, tu regardais un peu moins le basket | For me, you watched a little less basketball |
| Pour toi, j’ai cru que j’aimais ce que je n’aimais pas | For you, I believed I liked things [that which] I didn’t like |
| Pour toi, je serais allée au bout du monde | For you, I would have done to the ends of the earth |
| Sans moi, tu es parti au bout du monde | Without me, you left for the other side of the world |
| Sans toi, j’ai cru que la fin du monde était là | Without you, I thought the end of the world was here |
| Le premier amour | The first love |
| C’est n’importe quoi ! | It’s a joke! |
| On s’aime pour toujours | We’ll always love each other |
| Et ça [ne] marche pas ! | And it never works! |
| Le premier amour | The first love |
| C’est n’importe quoi ! | It’s a crock . . .! |
| On s’aime pour toujours | We’re in love for always |
^ Notice how she blends the final ‘r’ in ‘premier’ into ‘amour’ so that it sounds like ‘première’
^^ Ah! The dreaded subjunctive! We’ll have a whole post on that one coming up…
* The term ‘casanier’ refers to those who prefer to stay in, talking at home, instead of going out. Interestingly all the references I find to it on the internet show up in French personal ads!
** This is one of those notoriously difficult to translate expressions in my experience. It can mean “anything” or “whatever” but also “what a mess” or “that’s a real mess” depending on your tone. “N’importe quoi” as a response to someone else’s statement might best be translated, in polite company, by the archaic “horsefeathers”.
To end: a bonus song/video just because I think it’s charming. Can you tell how the theme relates to the first video?
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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.