Y'a un yéti

Words: Boris Bergman
Music: Alain Bashung

30-second sample: http://www.ultratop.be/fr/showitem.asp?interpret=Alain+Bashung&titel=Y%27a+un+Yeti&cat=s

A brilliant song about xenophobia and racism... please see my notes below.

Marcel dépêche-toi

Marcel hurry up
Branche-moi la sirène

Plug me in the sirene
Je vois un type qui gaule

A see a guy who's harvesting

Une cassette d'Eric Charden

A cassette by Eric Charden
Heureusement qu'on est là

Happily somebody's there
Pour faire respecter la loi

To make (him) respect the law*

Il a des plumes partout

There are feathers everywhere
Et le teint basané

And the tanned complexion
Je te parie ma paye

I bet you my pay
Que c'est un étranger

That he's a foreigner
Heureusement qu'on est là

Happily someone is there
Pour faire respecter la loi

To make (him) respect the law

Y'a un yéti dans le Monoprix

There's a yeti in the Monoprix**
Y'a un yéti

There's a yeti

Tiens ça me fait penser

Listen this makes me think
Faut que j'aille à la police

That I'll have to go to the police
Faire renouveler ma vieille carte de milice

Renew my old militia card***
Ensuite on se retrouve chez moi

Soon after someone's found at my house
J'ai reçu un kilo de foie gras

I received a kilo of chopped liver

Tu crois qu'on va l'avoir la guerre avec les frisés

You think we're going to have a war with the curly-headed
La dernière fois j'ai pas pu résister

The last time I couldn't resist
Mais c'est pas tout ça mon gars

But it's not all it's cracked up to be sonny
Comment tu trouves mon calva

What do you think of my calvados****

Y'a un yéti dans le Monoprix

There's a yeti in the Monopris
Y'a un yéti

There's a yeti

Marcel vise le vidéo

Marcel aimes the video
Nos gars lui mettent sur la gueule

Our boys get up in his face
Faudrait y aller

Have to go there
Vont pas y arriver seuls

Aren't going to arrive alone
Remarque pour un étranger

Remark that for a foreigner
Je dois dire qu'il sait encaisser

I must say he knows how to take it

Si c'est pas malheureux notre monde qui part en brioche

If it's not sad our world that crumbles into brioche*****
Marcel regarde-moi je vais pleurer c'est moche

Marcel look at me I'm going to cry it's ugly
Heureusement qu'on est là

Happily someone is there
Pour faire respecter la loi

To make (him) respect the law

Y'a un yéti dans le Monoprix

There's a yeti in the Monoprix
Y'a un yéti dans le Monoprix

There's a yeti in the Monoprix

*The object-pronoun is actually left out of the last line of every verse. Perhaps this is just idiomatic, but perhaps the listener is being asked who it is who needs to be made to respect the law ...

**Yes, yeti is an English word! It's the "abdominable snowman", "bigfoot"... and it's running around the supermarket! Monoprix is one of the major chains of grocery/clothing/variety stores in France, a "one-stop-shopping" market.

***milice: referring to a local vigilante group or perhaps even "Milice" with a capital "m", the French wartime paramilitary group that collaborated with the Nazis against the Resistance.

****Cavados is an apple brandy from Basse-Normandy.

*****part en brioche": fall apart into moral decay, move towards failure