Elle chante [English translation]

Her song's a trifle veiled, gentle like the wind,

This melody, without words, and timeless yet,

She sings, her eyes are shut, her neck is gently bent,

Like diving in a land, so far away from you.

I sing and think about my land so dear

I close my eyes, to make the distance nearer

With sadness in my voice, I bring you kindness yet

To all who suffer still, to all who wish for love.

Her tenderness is endless and unknown

This sensual being is mixed with chaste motifs

Her lovely hands, when touching me

My shoulder and my arms

All things will change their shape

We'll forget death and go away.

She sings of redder earth, so dry and barren fields,

Of human outcasts, without land in the towns,

Of young girls dressed in black, and all the kids there on the streets,

Of years without rains, and those we'll never see again.

This tenderness is just a kind of fight

Against the harshness of this life's many chores

The sadness will turn fiesta, this recollection soothes our pain

Our hearts and souls remember, and it ends all wickedness.

Her tenderness is endless and unknown

This sensual being is mixed with chaste motifs

Her lovely hands, when touching me

My shoulder and my arms

All things will change their shape

We'll forget death and go away.

I sing and think about my land so dear

I close my eyes, to make the distance nearer

At first her voice was smooth, but it's now harsh and feeling strained,

She is the life and death, she is fragility and strength.

She is the life and death, she is fragility and strength.

• Artist:Bernard Lavilliers
• Album:Carnet de bord (2004)