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.

Vocabulary and Explanation:

tache (des taches) (feminine noun): stain
des taches du vin = wine stains

boutons: buttons
éclater: to burst
boutons éclatés: broken buttons

repousser: the verb repousser can mean either “to push away,” “to push back” or to “reject or turn down.” I think in this context when she sings “ton corps qui me repoussait” she means “your body, which pushes me away.” In the next line she talks about how he makes love, so I’m guessing she means that he physically pushes her back, rather than rejecting her.

Tu fais l’amour en deux poussées: You make love in two thrusts. Yes, it’s what you think it is: our girl Coeur de Pirate is dealing with a one minute man! No woman could possibly be satisfied with just two thrusts, so is it any wonder that she says “adieu” to this guy??

This line is a bit cryptic:
L’amour, le manque, et la tournée
L’amour = love, le manque = lack (shortage), la tournée = the tour
I’m not 100% sure what she is talking about here. I’m guessing that le manque refers to his poor love-making skills.

Next line:
Et pendant que tu t’articules = and while you are articulating yourself
articuler = to articulate

The impression that I get is that this guy is always talking about himself, and that he repeats his stories a lot. Because the next line is:
Moi je soupire et toi tu me menaces de partir, parce que je hurle quand tu chantes tes souvenirs.
I sigh and you threaten to leave, because I yell when you sing your memories.

Sounds to me like this guy bores Coeur de Pirate with his stories and she isn’t having it. Because next she says:

Eh bien chéri prends donc la porte, car tu sais que plus rien ne m’importe.
Alright then dear, there’s the door, because you know that nothing matters to me anymore.

“Prends donc la porte” literally translates as “take/use the door.” So really what she is saying is: “There’s the door – USE IT.”

en chemin: on the way
Dit-moi adieu en chemin: Tell me goodbye on the way out

Va voir les autres, je n’en pense rien: Go see other people, I won’t think anything of it
Here she likely means “see” as in “date” or “be involved with.” Basically, “go ahead and date other girls, I don’t care!”

Je n’aurai donc plus à t’entendre
Rentrer la nuit quand j’attends l’aube
Qui arrive en poussant les heures

OK, so the first part is really simple:
I won’t have to hear you anymore
Coming home at night while I’m waiting for dawn

It took me AGES to figure out what “pousser les heures” meant. Literally the next line:
Qui arrive en poussant les heures

translates as:
Which happens by pushing the hours

I had to understand “pousser les heures.” I asked many, many francophones (Canadian and French) and no one had ever heard this saying. As far as I can tell, it is a poetic Quebecois saying that is not that popular, and is mostly used in songs or literature. As far as I can tell, in this context I think we can take it to mean that the dawn “pushes through the night.”

And then it’s back to the chorus!

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Vocabulary and Explanation:

So the challenging thing with Christophe Maé’s lyrics is that he uses a lot of slang, and he sometimes slurs words together.

revenir: to come back, to return
This verb is in both the first and second lines:
“qu’on revient pas en arrière” = “that we can’t go back to the past”
“tu ne reviendras pas non plus” = “you won’t come back anymore”

changer d’avis: to change one’s mind, to come around, or to have a change of heart

J’te jure: I swear to you
This is an example of a slangy slurring of words: he joins je and te together as one word.

être déçu: to be disappointed
Hence: tu ne serais pas déçue = you won’t be disappointed

J’ferais des efforts vestimentaires
Again, Christophe slurs together the words “je” and “ferais” (I will make). “Vestimentaires” means “sartorial.” But I prefer to think of it as an adjective that is made out of the word clothing. So imagine if we were to take the word “clothing” in English and make it into an adjective – we would come up with the equivalent of “vestimentaire.” Basically in this line he promises to try to dress better.

Dingue = crazy (of course)

Ça me rend fou: it’s driving me crazy (literally: it’s making me crazy)

gâcher: to waste, to throw away, to spoil, or to ruin

Je suis dingue de toi: I’m crazy for you, I’m mad about you

Je suis raide dingue de toi: I’m totally crazy for you, I’m totally mad for you

un pote: friend, mate, pal (a slang term)

avoir le coeur en bandoulière: to wear one’s heart on one’s sleeve
*Note: I could not confirm this in my translation dictionary, nor have I ever heard this phrase before. If someone has a better translation please let me know!
Literally, the lyric translates:
J’ai trop le coeur en bandoulière = I have too much heart on my shoulder strap.

The next line is also tricky:
Et le corps aux objets perdus
Literally this translates as: And my body to the lost objects

Now that seems non-sensical, but judging by the way that it is phrased in French, I believe that he is referring to the Freudian concept of “l’objet perdu.” Freud believed that baby boys longed for “the lost object” which was their mother’s body. I think that this line is a reference to that theory since it seems to fit in the context of the speaker detailing the excesses of his love. The fact that he pluralizes the word “objects” may allude to the particular parts of his lover’s body that he is so taken with (if I had to guess, I’d say breasts).

Hence I have translated the lyrics thusly:

J’ai trop le coeur en bandoulière = I wear my heart of my sleeve too much
Et le corps aux objets perdus = and I need your body too much

foutre en l’air: screw it up, f**k it up (WARNING: VULGAR!)
c’est foutu: it’s screwed up (beyond repair)
Don’t use either of these in polite or professional company! They are both considered very vulgar!

Alright that’s all! Please leave any questions and/or comments in the comments!

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.

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!

An explanation of the vocabulary and phrases after the lyrics and translation.

Vocabulary:

le coustard uniforme: literally “the uniform suit,” this refers to a men’s business suit.

“j’ai pas l’intégrale”: This phrase is a bit tricky. Literally it means something like “I don’t have the full set.” But in the context of “J’ai pas l’intégrale du gendre idéal” it means “I don’t have everything that an ideal son-in-law has.” Hence I have chosen to translate this phrase as: “I don’t have it in me, to be the ideal son-in-law.”

le gendre: of course means “son-in-law.”

espionner: to spy
qu’on m’espionne: that they spy on me

c’est pas pour autant qu’il faut: This is another challenging phrase. “c’est pas pour autant” translates as “it is not provided” (provided as in “on the assumption that” or “on the condition that”). And “qu’il faut” of course means “need to.” So “mais c’est pas pour autant qu’il faut qu’on s’attache” means “it is not provided that we need to become attached to eachother.” I have chosen to translate this somewhat (I hope) more elegantly as: “But it doesn’t necessarily mean, that we become attached” in the hopes that this captures the meaning.

l’oreiller (masc.): pillow

“Mais sur l’oreiller j’aime pas qu’on me questionne”: Literally this translates as “but on the pillow I don’t like that they question me.” In this context I believe that he means “pillow talk” when he says “on the pillow.” Since “but” is a conjunction, we assume that he is referring to his earlier statement that he “doesn’t have the profile of a leader” and this is what he does not want to be questioned about.

papillonner: to flit from one thing, or one person, to another without ever fixing on one. The noun “papillon” means butterfly, so you can see that “papillonner” is to act like a butterfly, flitting from flower to flower. We don’t have a similar word in English (that I know of), so I chose the phrase “to play the field” as the translation.

le quotidien: the daily, the status-quo, the daily grind.

s’enfiler: To down, to swallow quickly. I will admit that I am a bit confused by the line “Mais tu t’enfiles dans le file.” It rhymes well obviously, but I think what he means is the “you gulp down the status-quo while you stand in line.”

dépasser: to pass, to overtake, to outstrip, to surpass

resquiller: to jump the queue.

Emmanuel Moire plays Louis XIV, and he sings this song to his love Marie who has prayed by his bedside for months while he has been unconscious and bedridden. Marie is worried that they can’t be together because she is not of noble birth, and it is therefore against the law for him (the King) to marry her. Louis is not concerned with this and so he sings her this song about how she is his “essential.” I totally fell in love with this song the first time I heard it, and maybe you will too.

Vocabulary and an explanation of phrases is after the lyrics and translation.

Here is the live video of the stage musical:

Vocabulary:

verser: to pay, to shed, to pour, to tip
In the context of the song: “Je sais l’eau versée sur mon corps.” Here verser means “to pour” and the sentence translates as: “I know the water poured over my body,” and Louis is referring to the water of Marie’s love.

le cours: the course

remonter: get hold of, set up, pick up, boost, ascend, recover
Remonter has many meanings as you can see, but in this context “j’ai remonté les tourments” means “I overcame torments (obstacles)” or “I rose above torments.”

le tourment (les tourments): torment(s)

ancrer: to anchor

la cheville (les chevilles): ankles
The line: “J’ai ton désir ancré à mes chevilles” is a bit tricky. It literally translates as: “I have your desire anchored to my ankles.” However, “cheville” is a very versatile word in French. For a full explanation of its various meanings click here. There is a saying in French: “être en cheville avec” which means to be in harmony or in close association with something (or someone). So this line likely translates as “I have your desire anchored to me.”

Tout ne tient qu’a nous: Again, this has the potential to be confusing. The best translation of this line is “everything is up to us.” But literally it translates as “Everything belongs to no one but us.” (Tient is the 3rd person singular of tenir, which typically means to hold, to keep, or to have.)

Tu me fais naître parmi les hommes: Literally: You make me born among men. But it means “you make me rise among men” “Faire naître” means to give rise to, to provoke, or to bring about in some way.

avouer: to confess, to admit

conjurer: to conjure, or in this case to stave off (to avert)

emmener: to take away

In the first verse the speaker seems to speak a lot about the water. I believe he is using the water as a metaphor for Marie’s love. He feels her love wash over him, he feels its course every day, he has overcome torments to return to her love.

Any way, to the song. It is great for learning as Ariane sings clearly and slowly. The video, French lyrics, English translation, and an explanation of the vocabulary are all after the jump.

An explanation of the vocabulary is after the video, lyrics, and translation. (You have to turn the closed captioning on to get the lyrics. It is the CC button on the bottom right corner of the video screen.)

Vocabulary:

le coin (les coins): corner

claire (masc. clair): clear, bright

la floue: fuzziness

illimité (fem. illimitée): unlimited

voler: to fly

attraper: to trap, to catch
(me faire attraper: to get (myself) caught)

tout de suite: right now, immediately

la vide: the emptiness

un souvenir (noun): a memory
(In this song, the noun form is used.)

souvenir (verb): to remember

remplir: to fill

l’âme (masc.): soul

assécher: to dry out

“que je craque”: Literally – “I crack,” but means “I go crazy” in much the same sense as “to crack” is used in English when applied to a person.

la souplesse: flexibility

l’anarchie (fem.): anarchy

la sagesse: wisdom

le sourire: smile

les fesses (fem.): buttocks, bum (a fairly polite term). This is used in the plural to say “a bum” because une fesse would be one buttock cheek.
(For those who are interested check out this definition of les fesses.)

tracer: to trace, to draw

An explanation of the phrases and vocabulary will follow the lyrics and translation.

Vocabulary:

du pareil au même: the same thing

rever aux loups: to consider one’s mistakes (literally: to dream of wolves)
e.g. “Je rêve aux loups” – I consider my mistakes

saigner: to bleed

fourcher la langue: to have a slip of the tongue (literally: fork tongue)
e.g. “Je fourche ma langue” – “I have a slip of the tongue.”

diluvien (fem: diluvienne): diluvial
I didn’t know what diluvial meant, so here is the English definition: of or relating to a flood or floods, particularly Biblical floods. Basically it means “like a flood of Biblical proportions.” This adjective is typically used to describe the rain (les pluies diluvienne) but in the song it is used to describe the flood of affection (or love) that Alizée is receiving (les amours diluviennes).

collégienne (masc: collégien): schoolgirl, (masc: schoolboy)

bleus de méthylène: literally “methylene blue.” This is a bit confusing; usually the term “bleu de méthylène” is used only to describe the chemical compound (thank you Wikipedia), but in this song the lyric is “bleus de méthylène” in the plural. “Bleus” is a slang term for blue jeans, and “les bleus méthylène” are a type of very tight blue jeans. I’ve even seen them being described as more like leggings. So Alizée is talking about her tight blue jeans, not her love of chemistry.

motus: silent
A common expression is “motus et bouche cousue” which literally translates as “silent and mouth sewn” but essentially means “my lips are sealed.”

le coton: cotton

la laine: wool

** UPDATE **
“Mi-laine mi-coton” is apparently a nickname for Mylène Farmer, who wrote the song and who discovered and promoted Alizée. Mylène Farmer is a very successful singer herself, like the Madonna of the French world (in terms of popularity). I will probably translate one of her songs eventually. So “pas mi-coton mi-laine” probably means “I am not exactly like Mylène.”

coléreuse (masc. coléreux): quick-tempered

je donne ma langue au chat: I give up (typically on guessing). Literally translates as: “I give my tongue to the cat.” It is the sort of phrase that you use after a guessing game like this:

“Guess who I saw today?”
“Who? Bob?”
“No.”
“Fred?”
“No.”
“Alors je donne ma langue au chat.” (OK, I give up, tell me.)

In the context of the song “quand je donne ma langue aux chats” means “when I am ready to give up.”

The vocabulary and an explanation of the phrases come after the lyrics and translation.

Click here to see lyrics and English translation of Coeur de pirate’s song “Ensemble.”

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:

mêler: to mix up, to mix

un casse-tête: Problème difficile à résoudre. English: a headache, or a difficult problem.

lacher: to release, to relinquish, to drop off, to let go

prise: hold, grip, grasp

dédoubler: partager en deux. English: to split in half

dédoublement: the act of splitting in half

décidé: determined, decided, purposeful

Click here for the video with French subtitles. (Unfortunately I cannot embed this video.)

This version has a few errors, but I’ve included the proper French lyrics and the translation below.

The vocabulary and explanation of phrases come after the lyrics and translation.

Vocabulary:

les envies (fem.) puériles: childish desires

l’envie (fem.): desire

puérile: childish

retenir: to hold, to detain, to restrain – but in the context within the song: “qui nous retiennent vers le bas” it means “to hold down.”

après: in the context of the song “si il y a un après” it means afterwards or afterlife.

mea culpa: an acknowledgement of one’s own faults.  This is a Latin saying that is also used in English. Literally “mea culpa” translates (from Latin) as “by my fault.”

se racheter: to redeem themselves

racheter: to redeem

And here are the French lyrics, alongside the video with lyrics.

Vocabulary:

faner: to wilt (usually refers to flowers)

jetter des sorts: to cast a spell

gâcher: to throw away

les louanges (fem.): praises

la vendange: harvest (specifically of grapes, often used when discussing wine)

le marabout (masc. or fem. – typically masc.): an Islamic wiseman or teacher (can be from Northern Africa, hence “marabouts d’Afrique”)

une étincelle: a spark

Visit:
Lyrics Translate – Pour que tu m’aimes encore

for the full French lyrics and English translation.

And, finally, here is the song:

There is an error on the video’s lyrics – in the chorus it is not “d’autres dansent tes airs” it is “d’autres dansent tes heures” as it says in the translation. “Danse tes heures” is the name of a ballet.