I love Coeur de pirate. I saw her perform last summer in Vancouver, and I was worried that she wouldn’t be as good live. Fortunately, she was AMAZING! She sounded great, was very sweet and engaging, and was all around a great entertainer. “Ensemble” (“Together” in English) is another single off her debut album. Lyrics, translation, and video after the jump!
Vocabulary and explanation of the translation and phrases will follow the video and translation. My apologies if the video doesn’t work – you can watch it on YouTube but unfortunately it has become very difficult to embed videos with copyrighted content.
| French | English |
|---|---|
| Côte contre côte nos corps vibrent partant Et dans ces courses sans dérive On tombe presque hors champ Et dans tes rires qui défoncent plus que l’égo qui te prend Tu nous réduis à l’impossible dans tes tourments Et sans gêne tu te défonces, tu ne comprends pas Pour atteindre mon coeur qui meurt un peu plus à chaque instant ~~*~~ Car ensemble rime avec désordre, De ma part je n’ai que ceux qui restent à jamais ~~*~~
Et sans gêne tu te défonces, tu ne comprends pas Pour atteindre l’amour qui meurt un peu plus à chaque instant ~~*~~ Pour ma part je n’ai que ceux qui restent à jamais |
One against the other, our bodies vibrate gamely And in these races, without drifting We’re nearly out of sight And your destructive laughter, even more than your giant ego Reduces us to the impossible, with its tormenting And shamelessly, you freak out, you don’t understand Because “together” rhymes with “chaos” Head to head, you beat me just in time And shamelessly you freak out, you don’t understand Because “together” rhymes with “chaos” |
If you like this song, be sure to check out my translation of Coeur de Pirate’s new single: Adieu (French lyrics and English translation).
Vocabulary:
The entire first verse is quite challenging so let’s go through it:
Côte contre côte: this is a play on words. “Côte à côte” means “side by side” but here she is using “contre” rather than “à”. So it directly translates as: “side against side” (contre = against). So I’ve translated it as “one against the other.”
les courses (fem.): races
dérive: drift
“à la dérive” translates as drifting.
“hors champ”: is a cinematic term that means “off-screen.” It literally means “outside the field” (as in the field of vision).
“Dans ces courses, sans dérive
On tombe presque hors champ”
This lyric is a bit complicated – let’s break it down.
What she is saying is that in their races they haven’t drifted (off the racecourse) but they have fallen out of view (off-screen). This is clearly metaphorical – what do you think she is referring to?
défoncer: This verb is used over and over again in this song. It has a few different translations, including:
to smash in
to demolish
to break (something) down
“tes rires qui défoncent”: Literally “your laughs which demolish”
réduire: to reduce
This verb can be used in French in many of the same ways that it is used in English, including: to reduce something to a pulp, or to reduce something to ashes.
“l’égo qui te prend”: l’égo = ego
The phrase “qu’est-ce qui te prend?” means “what’s wrong with you?”, so she is saying the this guy’s ego is what’s wrong with him. Literally I would translate this as: “the ego, which is what’s the matter with you.” I’ve chosen to translate it as “your giant ego” since I think it’s implicitly obvious that she considers his ego to be a problem. (Haven’t we all been there?)
Let’s look at this entire lyric since it’s pretty tough:
Et dans tes rires qui défoncent plus que l’égo qui te prend
Tu nous réduis à l’impossible dans tes tourments
I think it’s almost easier to read it as a sentence like this:
Et dans tes rires (qui défoncent plus que l’égo qui te prend) tu nous réduis à l’impossible dans tes tourments.
This translates as: “And in your laughs (which destroy more than your giant ego) you reduce us to the impossible in your torments.” That doesn’t really make sense, so let’s make it a bit more idiomatic:
“And your laughter (which is more destructive even than your ego) reduces us to the impossible with your tormenting.” I believe that in this context “tes tourments” refers to “torments” as jeers or harassment. In this case his laughter is tormenting the speaker.
If anyone has a better or clearer translation of these lines I am open to suggestions!
Don’t worry – the rest of the song is more straightforward!
gêne: shame – hence “sans gêne” = “without shame” or “shamelessly”
se défoncer: se défoncer means a few different things. In this context it means “to freak out” hence “tu te défonces” means “you freak out.” Se défoncer is also a slang term that can mean “to get high” (on drugs), but that is not how it is used in this song.
nier: to deny (tu ne le nieras pas = you will not deny it)
par contre: on the other hand, by contrast
désordre: mess, chaos
discorde: strife, discord
à jamais: forever, for life, forevermore
les mensonges (fem.): lies (untruths)
ternir: to tarnish
tes mensonges ternissent = “your lies tarnish”
tes mensonges ternissent l’homme que tu pourrais être = “your lies tarnish the man that you could be”
I think many of us have thought this about a man (or woman) in our lives, yes?
That’s all! Please feel free to ask questions in the comments. Let me know if there is a particular song that you would like to see translated!
[...] Click here to see lyrics and English translation of Coeur de pirate’s song “Ensemble.… [...]
Lovely! Thanks so much for making my day!
My pleasure! If you like this translation, please check out my translation for “Ensemble” another great song by Coeur de pirate!
Thanks for breaking the whole thing down, as somebody still learning French that helped me a lot more than just seeing the translation!