Petit à petit, l'oiseau fait son nid/ Little by little, the bird builds its nest...
1-What's in a bird
2-Horoscope
3-Imbécile
4-Hi!
5-Chaque nuit bébé
6-Élégance
7-Poisson d'Avril
8-Lou ravi
9-Week-end doux
10-Nuits halloween
Update 2/27/11. I made a mistake: I've been advertising that the translations for "Play Blessures were next, when first up it's "Figure imposée". Sorry for any confusion! To make up for it, I translated "Lavabo" from "Play Blessures". You can find it HERE. Be back with more very, very soon! ~LT xoxoxox
Fluid images on the bay of Lausanne
Pour un pélican combien de frangipane How much frangipani for a pelican
Cher le guili guili
The dear tickle tickle
Coucous de contrebande
The contraband's sweet hello
Ça sonne comme l'Helvète Underground
That sounds like Helvet Underground*
Robinson
Crusoé n'a
plus un vendredi d'libre
Robinson Crusoe has no free Friday
Au printemps j'redoute qu'un des trois suisses me livre
Come spring, I dread one of three Swiss will turn me in
Cher le guili guili
The dear tickle tickle
Coucous de contrebande
The contraband's sweet hello
Ça sonne comme l'Helvète Underground
That sounds like Helvet Underground
Guili
guili, passé
le Rio Grande
Tickle tickle, across the Rio Grand
Ça sonne comme l'Helvète Underground
That sounds like Helvet Underground
C'est
métro Alma Marceau
It's metro Alma Marceau
Que nous nous mîmes, nous mîmes intimes
That we mimick, that mimicks us intimate
A l'instar de la violetera qu'on assassine
In the manner of violetera that one is murdering**
Pense à dire du bien de Charles Trenet
Think to speak well of Charles Trenet
L'appât d'la gaine me fait sortir le grand je t'aime
The bait of the line pulls up the big "i love you"
Chili Concarneau, pourquoi tant de haine ?
Chili Concarneau, why so much hate ?
Cher le
guili guili
The dear tickle tickle
Coucous de contrebande
The contraband's sweet hello
Ça sonne comme l'Helvète Underground
That sounds like Helvet Underground
Guili
guili, passé
le Rio Grande
Tickle tickle, across the Rio Grand
Ça sonne comme l'Helvète Underground
That sounds like Helvet Underground
*Helvète Underground: Hèlvete is Helvetian or Swiss, a sound play with Velvet Underground
**la violetera: a tune originally from the film "La Violetera" which was very popular in France. Charlie Chaplin used the melody in "City Lights". Charles Trenet "borrowed" the tune for "Que reste-il de nos amours", which Bashung sang in later years with Françoise Hardy. I am only guessing--help!--but beyond the possible plagiarism, "thinking well of Trenet" may refer to his controversial life, his supposed collaboration with the Germans or his arrest for corruption of young men (both of which he was exonerated).
Hear the song "La Violetera" at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3R-jKWlKB7k&feature=related, and then Trenet's at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xWAxaHuwg30&feature=related. Finally, there's the beautiful rendition of Bashung and Hardy, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LU44NskHzpk
