Tuesday, June 1, 2010

Madame Rêve




Dedicated to my sweet, kick-ass British friend Lynn Kibart, who IS 
Madame Rêve, and to Donna Lang for her suggestion on "au ciel"...

Words: Pierre Grillet
Music: Alain Bashung


Madame rêve d'atomiseurs 
Madame dream of atomisers
Et de cylindres si longs
And cylinders so long
Qu'ils sont les seuls
They are the only ones
Qui la remplissent de bonheur
That fill her with happiness

Madame rêve d'artifices
Madame dream of artifice
De formes oblongues
Of oblong forms
Et de totems qui la punissent
And totems that punish her

Rêve d'archipels
Dream of archipelagos
De vagues perpétuelles
Of perpetual waves
Sismiques et sensuelles
Seismic and sensual

D'un amour qui la flingue
Of a love that guns her down
D'une fusée qui l'épingle
Of a rocket that pins her up
Au ciel
In Heaven
Au ciel
In Heaven

On est loin des amours de loin
One is far from lovers faraway
On est loin des amours de loin
One is far from lovers faraway
On est loin
One is far

Madame rêve ad libitum
Madame dream freely
Comme si c'était tout comme
As if it were all as it is
Dans les prières
In your prayers
Qui emprisonnent et vous libèrent
That imprison and liberate you

Madame rêve d'apesanteur
Madame dream of weightlessness
Des heures des heures
Of hours of the hours
De voltige à plusieurs
Of aerial stunts again and again

Rêve de fougères
Dream of ferns
De foudres et de guerres
Of lightning and wars
À faire et à refaire
To make and remake

D'un amour qui la flingue
Of a love that guns her down
D'une fusée qui l'épingle
Of a rocket that pins her up
Au ciel
In Heaven
Au ciel
In Heaven

On est loin des amours de loin
One is far from lovers faraway
On est loin des amours de loin
One is far from lovers faraway
On est loin
One is far

Madame rêve
Madame dream
Au ciel
In Heaven
Madame rêve
Madame dream
Au ciel
In Heaven
Madame rêve
Madame dream


Fanny Ardant and Alain Bashung in "Rien que des mensonges" (Nothing but lies)




6 comments:

RockGlobally said...

I have also heard the French phrase "Au ciel" translated "In Heaven", which would probably make sense here since the imagery in this song is filled with sensual innuendos.

- Donna

Laura Tattoo said...

dearest donna,

what an excellent find! and how much i appreciated your note: beyond measure... your comment made me take a look at the whole song again, and there were several little things that were slightly "off"... i hate it when i miss a french idiom, but that is what this whole thing is about, living and learning and sharing one's inner music. i pray for more readers like you, donna!

"faraway was divided wrongly; "artifices" became "artifice"; "des heures des heures" became "hours of the hours", and "a plusieurs" became "multiple" instead of "several, which sounds sooo great: "of hours of the hours/ of multiple voltages..." the alliteration is wonderful.

you have made my evening before "blue monday" (march 14th, the 2nd anniversary of his passing) so much easier to bear; i can't thank you enough. if you are on facebook, please, look up "alain bashung in english" and join us. i would be honored to have your help.

lovingly ~laura xoxoxooxox

corto maltese said...

Nice work and great site, however "voltige" is not voltage, but aerial figures; madame dreams of group aerial tricks, not very poetic in english but that's as close as I can get it.
Thanks again for the blog

Laura Tattoo said...

corto, missed your comment! thank you so much for the correction. ~lt xoxoxo

Unknown said...

Donc je pense que pour l verbe flinguer , tu ne peux pas utiliser gun qui est un nom mais shoot down (comme dans la chanson bang bang de Nancy Sinatra!), le that n'est pas non plus je pense nécessaire en anglais devant le "guns", foudre c'est seulement lightning et non lightning bolt , pour emprisonner et libérer , il me semble plus judicieux d'employer "jail" et surtout "free" (qui est libérer dans le sens physique et moral ... je vais éplucher çà de plus prés car je suis passionnée de traduction et de musique , et j'ai un grand respect pour ce que tu fais n'ayant jamais moi même trouvé le courage de publier de traductions ... la grosse difficulté de l'exercice ne pas vouloir traduire la forme et la structure , pour respecter le sens des mots , et leurs trouver une musicalité en anglais sans les dénaturer !!

Laura Tattoo said...

Dbrian, merci pour ton excellent commentaire. je suis américaine, donc je fais de mon mieux. "guns down" is a common english verb cliché for "shoot down"... jail and free sont aussi des bons choix. j'ai changé lightning bolt pour lightning selon ta suggestion. merci beaucoup. écris-moi si tu veux et nous pouvons échanger d'autres traductions! moineau@charter.net. ~laura xoxoxoxo