Le Petit Homme [English translation]

There was every day

There was the heckling of the crossroads

And then the people who bought their newspapers

And then all those who took the subway,

There was the parade of the boulevards

The tidbits of the old chatty chatty

And looking in the dirty water of the streams

The April sky that made the big back.

There was a small man

Who was going away at short notice.

He looked very frugal,

The little man...

With his old grated jacket

But he had a mistress

That cost him a lot of money.

She sold him her beautiful youth

And caresses

Let the little man pay cash...

There was his Saturday night life.

There was the staircase, the corridor.

There was the door all the way

And then two arms around his neck

There were flowers on the piano.

There was the whiteness of the curtain

And then hours on the big blue divan

And then all that made him happy.

There was the door closed

With a word passed below,

Pretty paper bordered with roses

To say things

Let's understand at first

A little man who is abandoned

Can do nothing but go away.

In the cold street where everything resonates

And without anyone

All alone, to cry better.

There was everyday life

Who continued his fanfare forever.

There were the waltzes of the phonos

Which burst out of the bistros.

There was a boy singing.

There was a girl launging

And then the round of wonderful love

And the little man

Who wept in the middle...

• Artist:Édith Piaf