Saturday, June 26, 2010

Happe



From Bashung's last Olympia concert, 2008

Words: Alain Bashung and Jean Fauque
Music: Alain Bashung


Tu vois ce convoi
You see this funeral procession
Qui s’ébranle
That's shaken
Non tu vois pas
No you don't see
Tu n’es pas dans l’angle
You're not in the angle
Pas dans le triangle
Not in the triangle
Comme quand tu faisais du zèle
Like when you acted with zeal
Comme quand j’te volais dans les plumes
Like when I flew at you
Entre les dunes
Between the dunes
Par la porte entrebâillée
Through the half-opened door
Je te vois rêver
I see you dreaming
A des ébats qui me blessent
Of the frolicking that wounds me
A des ébats qui ne cessent
Of the frolicking that never stops
Peu à peu tout me happe
Little by little everything snags me
Je me dérobe je me détache
I'm disrobed I'm detached
Sans laisser d’auréole
Without leaving a stain (halo)
Les cymbales les symboles
The cymbals the symbols
Collent
Stick
On se rappelle
We're recalled
On se racole
We're touted
Peu à peu tout me happe
Little by little everything snags me

Les vents de l’orgueil 
The winds of pride
Peu apaisés
Little appeased
Peu apaisés
Little appeased
Une poussière dans l’œil
A bit of dust in the eye
Et le monde entier soudain se trouble
And the entire world is suddenly blurry
Comme quand tu faisais du zèle 
Like when you acted with zeal
Comme quand j’te volais dans les plumes
Like when I flew at you
Entre les dunes
Between the dunes
Par la porte entrebaîllée
Through the half-opened door
Je te vois pleurer
I see you crying
Des romans-fleuves asséchés
From the dried-up historical novels (direct translation: novels-rivers)
Où jadis on nageait
We once swam in

Peu à peu tout me happe
Little by little everything snags me
Je me dérobe je me détache

I'm disrobed I'm detached
Sans laisser d’auréole

Without leaving a stain
Les cymbales les symboles

The cymbals the symbols
Collent

Stick
On se rappelle

We're recalled
On se racole
We're touted
Peu à peu tout me happe

Little by little everything snags me

Tu vois ce convoi
You see this funeral procession
Qui s’ébranle
That's shaken
Non tu vois pas
No you don't see

4 comments:

Arnaud C. said...

What a good song!!!

i'm french and i like bashung so much. i discovered this blog this month, it's great. It's hard to get the meaning of bashung's songs sometimes, even in french, but you do a very good job, so thank you laura!

For people who can understand French and like alain bashung, there is currently a good program broadcasted on the radio this summer in Europe (and available online). it's about his life and career and divided into 10 parts.
More info here:

http://www.radiosfrancophones.org/coproductions-evenementielles-detail.php?copro=87

Cheers
arnaud

Laura Tattoo said...

a great song! thanks for your words, arnaud; words mean a lot. i'm following this wonderful series, broadcasting it far and wide on facebook, even translating the program notes. the first program was heartbreaking! but one thing we learn: bashung was very human. we never doubted it but we've got more evidence now... :>>))

what an enormous fait accomplit (bashung, that is...) our love and his music go on... bisous et merci encore. ~laura xoxoxoxoox

Kbbt said...

Tu vois ce convoi
[Literally "You see that convoy", but there's also a pun on "Tu vois ce qu'on voit", as in "Do you see that thing, other there?"]
Qui s’ébranle
[It's "shaking", maybe like a train convoy would shake on the railroad. But there's a sexual innuendo about masturbation in "ébranle", as in a totally broken couple where nothing ever happens and noone notices what the other one is doing anymore. A solitary couple.]
Non tu vois pas
["No, you can't see it." = "Do you see how broken we are? No, we're so broken you can't even see it"]

Tu n’es pas dans l’angle
["You're not in the angle". Not sure about this one. Maybe like someone who's crossing the railroad and who didn't see the train (convoy) coming in the angle/rear-view mirror?]
Pas dans le triangle
[Not in the triangle. Not sure about this one either. A triangle is sometimes used as a secret "symbol" ("symbols" are evoked later on) for the initiated. So maybe he's saying that the other one is not part of the gang anymore? The broken couple again?]
Comme quand tu faisais du zèle
["As when you used to be zealous", yes, she was "zealous" in her way she was showing him her love, but it's also a pun for the next sentence]
Comme quand j’te volais dans les plumes
[The previous sentence was about "zèle"/"z'ailes" (wings) and now he's speaking of feathers. "Voler dans les plumes" evokes something playful or maybe sensual, here.]
Entre les dunes
["Between the dunes." You often see seagulls in the dunes (hence wings and feathers)]

Par la porte entrebâillée
["Through the half-opened door,"]
Je te vois rêver
["I see you dreaming"]
À des ébats qui me blessent
["About some adventures that hurt me" or something like this. She's dreaming about someone else.]
À des ébats qui ne cessent
["For Ever and ever", it didn't only happen once]

Kbbt said...

(part 2)

Peu à peu tout me happe
["Little by little everything snags me". I'm sure there's a pun with "Happe" because it's an unusual word, but I don't get it for the moment. A "happe" is also a small piece of metal that holds two objects together.]
Je me dérobe je me détache
["I flee, I abdicate", but there's also a pun with "robe" (female dress) and "tâche" (stain)]
Sans laisser d’auréole
["Without being a saint" / "without leaving a stain". He's a coward and he just vanishes from his couple, shameful. Then there's the clothes/stain pun. "Tout me happe, je me dérobe, sans laisser d'auréole" caught a different meaning when he was figthing against cancer, as in "I'm getting weak, the disease wins over me, and please don't think that I was a saint"]
Les cymbales les symboles
["The cymbals the symbols". See the "triangle" thing above, maybe. Then there's the sounding similarity between the two words.]
Collent
["Les symboles collent", means "it's true to reality, look at all the small details, it's happening and we can't deny it". But you can also translate it to "stick" and maybe that's related to the "stain" thing above, as well.]
On se rappelle
["We remember" said in a popular, incorrect way / "we phone ourselves"]
On se racole
["Racole" is mostly used to talk about a prostitue "soliciting" her customers. But here it can just me "we still see each other again, once in a while". Etymologically, "racoler" means "to pull someone from their collar", so you get the clothes metaphor again. It can also be a pun on "On sera colle" ("we'll be like glue") as in "we're going to have trouble separating for real"]

Les vents de l’orgueil
[The winds of pride]
Peu apaisés
[The wind is not calming down yet. Both of them can't get rid of their own pride, and so they can't communicate.]
Une poussière dans l’œil
["A bit of dust in the eye". You often get that in the dunes.]
Et le monde entier soudain se trouble
["And the entire world is suddenly blurry". A small deception completely breaks everything.]

Par la porte entrebaîllée
["Through the half-opened door," again]
Je te vois pleurer
["I see you crying". She's not dreaming about someone else anymore, she's crying about losing her current and real relationship.]
Des romans-fleuves asséchés
["From our dried-up rivers of love". A "roman-fleuve" is a giant novel, like Zola's, which are mostly about human relationships]
Où jadis on nageait
["We once swam in". The river is dried up, there's nothing more to write in their long story. But they both remember it.]