La folle complainte [English translation]

On ironing days,

In the house that sleeps,

The good is not wise

But we still keep it.

It was found last night,

Behind the wooden door,

With a colander

Giving oneself joy.

The beard of grandfather

Rebuilt everything

But the good angry

Nearly bit him

It rains on the slates,

It rains on the farmyard,

It rains on the raspberries,

It's raining on my love.

I hide under the table.

The cat claws a little.

This tiger is indomitable

And plays with fire.

Grandma's Slippers

Died before nightfall.

Let's sleep in my cottage.

Sleep, let's sleep quietly.

Cradling cradle of the violets,

An angel has hidden

In the closet with vials

Where I'm lying down.

Remedy for the common cold,

Remedy for the heart,

Remedy for mist,

Remedy for misfortune.

The Revenge of Storms

Made of the house

A tender landscape

For boys

Who are burning with impatience

Two days before Christmas

And, without any suspicion,

Accept everything, pell-mell:

Life, death, squares

And electric trains,

Tears in the stations,

Guignol and the trikes,

The acetylene nozzles

Assisted Children

And the smile of Helen

On a beautiful summer evening.

Give me four boards

To make me a coffin.

He fell off the branch,

The nice squirrel.

I did not like my mother.

I did not like my fate.

I did not like war.

I did not like death.

I never knew how to say

Why I was distracted.

I did not know how to smile

To such and such attraction.

I was alone on the roads

Without saying yes or no.

My soul has dissolved.

Dust was my name.

• Artist:Charles Trenet