Hygiaphone [English translation]

Hidden in your counter

with the plywood, with the chipboard,

linoleum,

The PTT office 1

All the holy day,

I can't wait talk to you.

Want a hundred bullets stamp2

or I want to pass a call.

Give me a lil' golden ticket 3

instead, that I go for a walk.

Please speak,

speak into the hygiaphone.4

Don't have to ring the bell,

ask on the intercom.

If you desire someone,

just to pick up your phone,

pick up phone, pick up phone!

Let's dance!

Let play your turntable.

You don't have to exclaim,

ask with the megaphone.

Soon at the end of line,5

You'll longer have anyone.

There, to look at each other

each of us on each side,

we look like a grouper 6

stuck in the aquarium.

Between us, be necessary

I break the plexiglass

and one day, Granny,

I talk to your face,

I tell you the story

of small holey ticket 7

which has never really walked

to go for a promenade.

Please speak,

speak into the hygiaphone.

Don't have to ring the bell,

ask on the intercom.

If you desire someone,

just to pick up your phone,

pick up phone, pick up phone!

Let's dance!

Let play your turntable.

You don't have to exclaim,

ask the megaphone.

Soon at the end of line,

You'll longer have anyone.

Let's dance!

Soon at at the end of line,

You'll longer have anyone!

Soon at at the end of line,

You'll longer have anyone!

Soon at at the end of line,

You'll longer have anyone!

at at the end of line,

You'll longer have anyone!

at at the end of line,

You'll longer have anyone!

Soon at at the end of line,

You'll longer have anyone!

1. Post & Telecommunications Office2. "100 balles" (bullets) is slang language of the 70, 80s (Still used today but rather in the sense of 100 Euros now) in France to designate "1 franc" (100 cents) - 1 franc was the equivalent of 0,15 Euro of today - this was the price of a stand stamp at that time in France3. Metro tickets were yellow with a brown magnetic stripe in the middle at that time in Paris4. a two-way communication device placed on the glass that separates the receptionist from the customer. Notice that "hygiaphone" is a portmanteau between the words "hygiene" (Latin hygia) and "phone"5. I used specific ellipses such as "at the end of (phone) line" rather than "at the (other) end of the (phone) line" to respect the number of feet in each verse. But in my defense, the author of the lyrics also uses some of them in this song..6. fish with big round eyes7. at the time of the song, metro tickets were punched by a "punchman" - "poinçonneur" in French - who, with his little hand machine, made a round hole in the ticket with the day and hour printed to validate the trip before entering the metro train

• Artist:Téléphone
• Album:Téléphone (1977)