Nathalie [English translation]

Red Square was white

The snow made a carpet

And I followed, through this cold Sunday

Nathalie

She spoke in serious phrases

Of the October Revolution

Meanwhile, I was thinking

That after Lenin’s tomb

We would go to the Pushkin cafe

To drink chocolate

Red Square was empty

I caught her by her arm, I smiled at her

She had blonde hair, my guide

Nathalie

In their apartment at the university

A gang of students

Were impatiently expectant

We joked and laughed a lot

They wanted to know everything

Nathalie translated

Moscow, the plains of the Kremlin

And the Champs Elysees

We got them all mixed up

And we sang

And then they were opening-

And we were laughing in anticipation of it-

Some French Champagne

And we danced

And when the flat was empty

All the friends were departed

I was left with just my guide

Nathalie

No more questions, sober phrases

Nor October Revolution

I am no longer there with her

Finished, Lenin’s tomb

The chocolate in ‘Pushkin’

It is- it was- long before

As my life seems empty to me

Still I know that one day in Paris

It is I who will serve as her guide

Nathalie

Nathalie

• Artist:Gilbert Bécaud