Saturday, March 20, 2010

Je Me Dore



my first attempt at a video...



the beautiful "oiseau-lyre" of australia that can mimic all the natural sounds around it

Words: Alain Bashung & Jean Fauque
Music: Alain Bashung & Ludovic Bource


Ecran total sur les pores de ma peau
Total sunblock on the pores of my skin
Ecran total sur nos remords

Total sunblock on our remorse
Que dire sinon s'enduire

What to say if not to coat oneself
De tous les crimes

With all one's crimes

J'ai vu le ciel tourner au violet
I have seen the sky turn violet
Et les filles se faire aimer

And the girls make love
La mort dans l'âme

The death in the soul
C'est la chaleur humaine

Is human warmth 
Désormais je me dore
From now on I gild myself
À tes rires

With your laughter
Je me dore à tes nerfs

I gild myself with your nerves
À la tyrannie du jour

With the tyranny of the day

Désormais je me dore
From now on I gild myself
À tes rires

With your laughter
Je me dore à tes airs

I gild myself with your airs
À tous les luminaires

With all of your luminaries
À l'endroit à l'envers

With the right side with the reverse
À la chaleur humaine

With humain warmth

Mes amours je les ai sur le bout de la langue
My loves I have them on the tip of my tongue
Elles me reviennent à chaque frontière

They come back to me at each border
Langues mortes

Dead tongues
Langues de vipère

Viper tongues
Langues familières

Familiar tongues
La fermer, se taire

To close up, to be silent
L'ouvrir

To open up
Ca va sans dire

Everything's okay without talking about it

Désormais je me dore
From now on, I gild myself
À tes rires

With your laughter
Je me dore à tes nerfs

I gild myself with your nerves
Désormais je me dore

From now I gild myself
À l'endroit à l'envers

With the right side with the reverse
À la chaleur humaine

With human warmth

Un missile a élu domicile
A missile receives mail
À l'hôtel de l'oiseau-lyre

At the hotel of the Lyrebird
Que dire de ces ouï-dire

What to say about these rumors
C'est la chaleur humaine

It's human warmth

Désormais je me dore
From now on I gild myself
À tes rires

With your laughter
Je me dore à tes nerfs

I gild myself with your nerves
À la poussière des météores

With the dust of the meteors
À la chaleur humaine

With human warmth

Désormais je me dore
From now on I gild myself
À la crypte des monastères
With the crypt of the monasteries
Je me dore à l'ordinaire
I gild myself with the ordinary
À tombeau ouvert
With open tomb
À la chaleur humaine
With human warmth

2 comments:

Unknown said...

Your translations are brilliant. Are you still active around here? I'd be really curious to know why you chose words rather than others. (as be/fr bashung fan).
Loin de moi l'idée de remettre la traduction en cause. J'adorerai comprendre comment choix ont été opérés.

Laura Tattoo said...

hi and thank you very much. i apologize for my delay in responding.

i tried to make choices that conveyed the actual content and style of the french while still sounding as natural as possible in english; it's a delicate balance. that said, i can go over and over the translations, finding places to tweak each time and then going back months later and changing it all again. it's like a poem to me, never done. and well, i am a poet. it has been said to me that only a poet could have translated bashung/fauque/etc... it took a lot of research and collaboration which i tried to note in specific songs. the project took three years.

hope that answers your question. :>>)) oxoxo