Ils nous connaissent pas [English translation]

They don't know us - No1 no no no nooooo (x2)

Today they talk to us about a national identity, Europe, etc...

While kids don't know any more where they are going.2

No no no no nooooo

In school you can see guys named Saïd and Nicolas

And yet in history class a number of them don't recognize themselves.3

They talk to us about Mozart, Beethoven and blah blah blah

Meanwhile we've got hip hop MP3s playing on our headphones,

With a ball cap on backwards, the way we talk is, too,

We look at you sideways, our manners are, too,

Our Levis around our ass, our hat around our neck.

The only way we talk is SMS,4 we don't know Gramma any more.

Alcoholic at age 13, even shit5 does nothing any more.

In and out of prison, our parents don't do anything any more.

Divorced parents, same for all my buds.6

So I drink to forget, like all my buds.

No no no no nooooo

They don't know us - No no no no nooooo

Today they talk to us about a national identity, Europe, etc...

While kids don't know any more where they are going.

No no no no noooooo

Daddy drinks every night, too many bills to pay.

Mommy cries in the living room, little brother has relapsed.

My big brother, joint on his lips, tells me to quit smoking,

And my sister with the degree works in the frozen food section.

My guidance counsellor has seen me when I'm high.

She has visions of me as a stonemason or a security guard.

Me, I know what I want to do.

Why work at an honest job?

In our neighborhood there's millionaires from selling bars of soap.

I want the latest pair of Nikes, run around in a BMW.

I want all the girls to notice me, but it takes moola for all that,

So I steal to dress myself, with all my buds,

Or I drink to forget, like all my buds.

No no no no nooooo

They don't know us - No no no no nooooo

Today they talk to us about a national identity, Europe, etc...

While kids don't know any more where they are going.

No no no no nooooo

I don't know where I'm going, I don't know where I've been.

I speak to the moon7 while taking a drag on a joint.

But tell me who really knows me.

I've lost the concept of right and wrong

Because of the judgements people lay on me.

Still, you will find gold in me.

They don't know us - No no no no nooooo (x2)

Today they talk to us about a national identity, Europe, etc...

While kids don't know any more where they are going.

1. Odd. The French word is "non." Interesting.2. I could have translated this as "The youth of today know not where they gooooo." That would have captured the repeated letter in "vaaaaa." But such a translation would be entirely too stilted & florid, out of step with the overall mood of this song.3. Implied here is the idea that they don't recognize themselves in the subject matter being taught.4. Texting would fit, too.5. This is a reference to pot or other drugs.6. A literal translation would put "colleagues" here. But that is utterly too formal here. More in keeping with the mood, I think "pals" or "buddies" fits better. I've gone with the shortening of "buddies."7. I have an intuition that "parler à la lune" is some kind of idiom or slang. If so, I am completely unfamiliar with it. I did some Google searches and the most likely thing I found was a reference to an album of children's songs by precisely that name that came out in 2004. It seems like a pretty long stretch to connect that with this song. If anybody knows anything more enlightening about this, do enlighten us all.

• Artist:Soprano
• Album:Cosmopolitanie