Les étoiles filantes [English translation]

The Shooting Stars

If I stop for a moment

To tell you about my life

Just like that, quietly

At a bar on St-Denis

I'll tell you about the memories

Well-engraved in my mind

Of that time when growing old

Was still just an illusion

When I used to annoy the girls

Not far from the swings

And when my bag of marbles

Became a real treasure

And those snowy winters

Spent building igloos

And coming inside with frozen feet

Just in time to watch Passe-Partout

But at the end of the road, tell me what will remain

Of our preschool and our schoolyard?

When the paper planes no longer fly through the wind

We tell ourselves the good times have finally gone by

…Just like shooting stars

If I stop for a moment

To tell you about life

I find that quite often

We don't choose, but endure

And that our childhood dreams

Either fade or are suppressed

In this harsh reality

That loads us into the mould

The thirties, the paunch

The brats, the mortgage

The joys and the sorrows

The successes and the failures

Working, doing your best

Having a hard time, pulling through

And hoping to be happy for a while before dying

But at the end of the road, tell me what will remain

Of our short stay in this hectic world?

After having existed to save time

We'll tell ourselves that in the end we were

…Only shooting stars

If I stop for a while

To tell you about life

Just like that, quietly

Not far from the Saint-Louis Square

It's with you that I feel content

And no longer want to worry

Because, y'know, looking too far ahead

Is no better than looking back

Despite the old grievances

And the loves that went by

The friends we lost in the fog

And the ideals that shattered

Life holds on and starts anew

Just like the spring always returns

With a burst of fresh air

That soothes the aching hearts

So if tonight you feel like staying

With me, the night is mild we can walk

And even if in the end we only last a short time

For a moment I would like you to be

My shooting star

But at the end of the road, tell me what will remainr

But at the end of the road, tell me what will remain

Only shooting stars

• Artist:Les Cowboys fringants
• Album:La Grand-Messe (2004)