Polichinelle [English translation]

Pull the strings

Pull the strings

Your puppet

will reach out to you.

Twist the rod

and your puppet

will bend her head

and flash you a smile.

As long as your nimble fingers

command my gestures

you don't care about

anything else.

Pull the strings

and straight away

your puppet

will do your bidding

Pull the strings

Pull the strings

Your puppet will do

a thousand tricks,

tell you "I love you",

hide her suffering

hide her hatred

under loving words.

I'll shine in society

so that behind the curtain

you get the triumph

you deserve by right.

Your puppet will be

so overzealous

that you'll get applauses

each time we show up.

Do you even know

if I have a heart?

Do you even know

if I have a soul?

These things are not part of your

illusionist plan.

Pull the strings

Pull the strings

of the puppet,

now beware

for I might well

cut myself free

from the invisible threads

that bind me to you.

As I break the spell

I recover a soul.

I am a woman again.

I am myself again.

You'd better enjoy it,

weariness comes fast

and one of these days

something1 will break

something will break

something will break

1. "ça" can refer to the threads or to the relationship ("break up"), so I tried to keep the same ambiguity in English

• Artist:Édith Piaf