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
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
À la crypte des monastères
With the crypt of the monasteries
Je me dore à l'ordinaire
Je me dore à l'ordinaire
I gild myself with the ordinary
À tombeau ouvert
À tombeau ouvert
With open tomb
À la chaleur humaine
À la chaleur humaine
With human warmth
2 comments:
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.
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
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