Le croque-mort à coulisse [English translation]

He was a mortician, but played the trombone

And those days when no one deigned give up the ghost

Alone with his coffins and his old gramophone

He took choruses with Tommy Dorsey

"There's no worthless trade", so the saying goes

And if you're going to make a living out of death

Choose anything but the army, become an embalmer!

It's easier than doctor and safer than hitman

So he was an undertaker, and would beat time

While unbuttoning three or four flats

His hidden fiancée, his one and only mistress

Was his instrument, perfumed with formaldehyde

Otherwise, he was always suited for the occasion

Sad-eyed when swindling grieving widows

Low-key when cashing insurance cheques

Consummate artist when arranging flowers on hearses

When Death came and told him: "We have to let you go"

They found him with his trombone pressed against his body

That's when he got his nickname: "Slide"

And his epitaph reads in golden letters:

"He was a mortician, but played the trombone

And those days when no one deigned give up the ghost

Alone with his coffins and his old gramophone

He took choruses with Tommy Dorsey"

• Artist:Sylvain Lelièvre