Ma chanson leur a pas plu [English translation]

I had written a song,

true hit stuff, it was pure gold,

with rock solid lyrics

and a flashy1 music.

It was not really my style,

so I thought I could flog it to someone.

that should not be too difficult

it's a high-demand business, oh yes

I met Capdevielle

in the Apocalypse bar

Told him "listen, old chum,

it's called 'the cataclysm'

it's the story of an angel

who sells certainties for a living

and who stabs in the weird sky

the ghost of lonelinesses

he's a good pal of Mary

the cloakroom lady of the twilight bar

where all night watch guards

are playing tightrope walkers"

So that's my song, buddy

Don't want it ? No sweat

I'll put it back in my underpants,

but you don't know what you're missing.

He didn't like my song

let's drop it

I wrote another song

even greater stuff

with rock solid lyrics

and an awesome music.

But it would not match

my image, fit into my niche

a bit as if Dalida2

were singing Be-bop a Lula, lalala

I met Lavilliers

one evening in a suburb stadium

amid the spotless green hell

I told him my story

"The song takes place in New York

this Jimmy guy gets gunned down

by a black guy around a block

by a very peculiar cop

He was not really dead

he was only wounded

Jimmy is a real tough guy

he's a dealer, some say he's slow3"

So that's my song, buddy

Don't want it ? No problem

I'll put it back in my underpants,

now come on, tell me you like it.

He didn't like my song

let's drop it

I went back to my guitar

and my rhyming dictionary,

I worked really very late,

I made a sublime song.

I sang it to a couple of buddies,

they said "that's not for you",

sure we like your song,

but a word of advice: forget it, that's it

So I met Cabrel

sitting near a highway

I told him "my song is called

'by the path to the road'

it's about a nun in love with a rock.

In her life there's no one left

but merchants and fools.

She wants to go back to her roots

and her goats and her ewes,

flee doubt and dust

and see her Normandy again"4

So that's my song, buddy

Don't want it ? No trouble

I'll put it back in my underpants,

or at worst in my guitar.

He didn't like my song

let's drop it

So I said "enough!"

From now on I'll do only songs for myself

I wrote one right away

telling the story of a guy

in love with his moped.

But their love is doomed,

she loves a spanner

who is terribly jealous, something horrible.

In the end the guy dies

from eating a beer bottle

the moped commits suicide

by running a big end

the spanner ends up in jail

though he thought he was made of steel5

And with this not funny ending

my sad song comes to an end.

Now if you didn't like it

you know already where I'll put it.

Anyway it will not be ruined

it will sit warm and tight,

because now my underpants

are a real jukebox

for a quarter you get four songs,

including one with a long sound6.

1. "Mylord" is an outdated slang term for "a rich bourgeois" (think of Edith Piaf songs).

"genre Milord" would be something like the ancestor of bling-bling2. Female singer from Egyptian origin, whose style did indeed not match Gene Vincent's3. "dealer" / "dit lent" sound alike in French4. allusion to "Elle voulait revoir sa Normandie", a song by Gérard Blanchard5. "taule" (slang for jail) sounds like "tôle" (sheet metal). "en tôle" -> made of sheet metal6. intentional miserable pun on "culotte" (underpants) and "qu'a le son long" / "caleçon long" (long johns)

• Artist:Renaud
• Album:Morgane de toi