Les Yankees [English translation]

The winter night slept in its craddle(1)

Goats were drinking at the rio

We went aimlessly,

and lived even more intensely

despite the cold(2) and the barbarians.

We knew thay one day they would come,

throwing their axes and their taxes

transfixing our bodies,

we who remain the last human beings on Earth.

Good old Achiles said:

"this evenin' all is a bit too quiet.

Let me stand watch, friends.

Go and sleep in peace!".

It is neither the sound of thunder

nor the river's rustle

but the gallop

of thousands of horses running

in the eye of the watcher.

And all these people under the web

slumbering deep down:

"Wake up !

The Yanks are comin', Yanks are comin'

Easy come, Wisigoths(3),

here come the Gringos!

The went through the clearing

and installed their iron toys.

One of them, loaded with guns,

comes forward and grabs

the megaphone in his paw.

"We come on behalf of the Big Control,

his laser vibrates in the pole,

whe have conquered all and everything

up to galactic ice.

Mr president orderd me

to pacify the whole world.

We come in peace.

But that's enough talk now

let's sign the capitulation

for well before the night

we'll be back to Virginia!"

The Yanks are comin', Yanks are comin'

Easy come, Wisigoths(3),

here come the Gringos!

"So I'm going to count to three

and all your chicks for our GIs

wheat, dog and uranium,

opium and the old man's memories

from now on all is ours

And so that everyone gets it,

I'll count twice

and for the gool old CNN's news.

Dis-moi, mon ami

who is the boss here?

Let him rise!

And the Sun rose.

Hey Gringo! Escucha me, Gringo!

We crossed continents,

endless oceans

on dreamwoven rafts

and here we stand alive, sons of

blinding Sun

life in the reflection off a gladius

America, America,

you crazy dragon is bored

bring it to me for the killing blow.

Caligula, his legionaries,

your president, his millionnaires

are hanging from the tip of our lips.

Gringo! You'll get nothing from us

As long as my titanic,

my li'l kid's memory remembers,

I've been awaiting you for a while.

Gringo! Off with you! Get lost

Come on Gringo! May God wound you(4)

The winter night slept in its craddle

Goats were drinking at the rio

We went aimlessly,

and lived even more intensely

despite the cold(2) and the barbarians.

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(1) pun on "verseau" (zodiac's aquarius) / "berceau" (craddle). Evokes a winter night

(2) "frette" is Canadian French for "cold weather"

(3) Wisigoths sounds like "(V)easy go" in French

(4) "blesse" (from verb "blesser") means "wound" but sounds like "bless".

• Artist:Richard Desjardins