Wednesday, July 20, 2011

Guru, tu es mon führer de vivre




Mike Myers as "The Love Guru"  

Words: Boris Bergman
Music: Alain Bashung

J'étais tout nu dans la cité
I was completely nude in the city
Pas de crédit même pas la carte du Diner's
No credit not even a Diner's card
Personne pour me baby-sitter
No one to babysit me
Restait plus que le courrier du coeur
Nothing left but the heart messenger
Je leur ai envoyé un chèque en bois
I have sent them a check made of wood (a bad check)
M'ont renvoyé un casque à pointe
Sent me back a spiked helmet

Guru, tu es mon führer de vivre
Guru, you are my führer of living*
Guru, tu es mon führer de vivre
Guru, you are my führer of living

Méditation, concentration, tout en commun
Meditation, concentration, everything in common
Voilà la thérapie de groupe
That's the group therapy
Un jour voilà le Guru qui me dit
One day, here it is, the Guru said to me
Laisse-toi aller on va te suivre à la loupe
Let yourself go they're going to follow you like a wolf
J'en ai dit deux mots à sa femme
I said two words to his wife
Qui est belle comme Gisèle Vishnou
Who is beautiful as Giselle Vishnu

Guru, tu es mon führer de vivre
Guru, you are my führer of living
Guru, tu es mon führer de vivre
Guru, you are my führer of living

Je m'éclate au riz complet
I light up at whole rice
Je me fais cuire mes carottes
I make my carrots cook
Après la douche on se paie l'autocritique
After a shower you pay the autocritic
De "Jojo les cotons" au magnétoscope
With "Cotton eye Joe" in the VCR
Je danse plus, je pense pas
I dance no more, I think no more
C'est toi qui danses pour moi
It's you who dances for me

Prends-moi dans tes bras
Take me in your arms
Ce matin, ma nounou c'est toi
This morning, you're my nanny

Guru, tu es mon führer de vivre
Guru, you are my führer of living
Guru, tu es mon führer de vivre
Guru, you are my führer of living
Guru, tu es mon führer de vivre
Guru, you are my führer of living


*de vivre: One of those expressions that's hard to translate and still make it sound like good English, as in "joie de vivre" (joy of living, joy of life), l'art de vivre (the art of living). As a commentator wrote, fureur de vivre is a rage to live, and "La fureur de vivre" was the French title for the movie "Rebel Without a Cause." (Think Bashung's "Rebel"). Changing this to "fürher de vivre" means "you tell me how to live".

the translator's "love guru" :>>)) :>>))

2 comments:

Unknown said...

I there!
Amazing idea this website! What a challenge, Bashung's lyrics are sometimes quite mysterious even for french speaking people. I 've been listening to Bashung 3hours a day for the last three months!!
I can give you my interpretation about the meaning of some expressions.

"chèque en bois" means "bouncing cheque" a cheque done without any money left on bank account.

"fureur de vivre" can be litteraly translate with "rage of living"
"La fureur de vivre" is also the french titlle of the film "Rebel without a cause"


"Guru, tu es mon furher de vivre" it's a play on words. Instead of "tu es ma fureur de vivre" wich should be the right sentence (fureur is a feminine word in french) he use "mon furher" as a reference to Adolf Hitler that was a kind of Guru of the third Reich. In the song the Guru must be the narator's girlfriend. She is a kind of love dictator or Guru to him. But this interpretation does not make sens in the whole song. Bashungs songs are full of strange play on words and pieces of sentence taped together. And this is always amazing!

I noticed a mistake on that sentence:
After a shower we get stuck with "Cotton eye joe"'s autocritic on the VCR.

Anyway, great job. Thank you for spreading out the holy words!

Laura Tattoo said...

thank you so much for your awesome comment! i will add "bounced check" to the translation and make a note regarding "fureur de vivre"... i had no idea this was the french title of "Rebel Without a Cause," but it makes sense with Bashung's "Rebel"... o mon dieu, que je te remercie. :>>)) ~laura xoox