Mademoiselle Juliette - Transcription and Translation

[Cooney]

---Updated 09/12/07---
I've adopted the French transcription by Needles + RMJ and Shakepspeare, which RMJ posted below. The only differences are that I corrected "Aimerai" to "Aimerait" (3rd person conditional of aimer), and seperated out certain words to make it cleared what was being heard (see footnote 1).

The English translation is my own unless otherwise noted.

<TABLE><TD VALIGN="top">French
Mademoiselle Juliette a
Son Roméo dans l’Alpha
De Vérone à Rome elle court
Jolie syndrome de l’amour
Shakespeare s’amuse de sa muse
L’héroïne trouve qu'il abuse
Elle monte vite dans les tours
Le grand écrivain aime lui jouer des tours

Mademoiselle Juliette a
Pas vraiment la tête à
Choisir entre Montaigu et Capulet
Mademoiselle Juliette aim- (1)
-erait faire la fête cham- (1)
-pagne à sabrer coca à décapsuler (1)

Mademoiselle prends des ailes
Ne pas se faire mettre en pièces (2)
Dans son rôle elle ne veut qu'elle
Pas de réplique de toute pièce
Cette "Commedia dell’arte" (3)
N’est pas assez déjantée
Qu'enfin William rende l'âme (4)
Il n’y a plus que ça pour éviter le drame

Mademoiselle Juliette a
Pas vraiment la tête à
Choisir entre Montaigu et Capulet
Mademoiselle Juliette aim-
-erait faire la fête cham-
-pagne à sabrer coca à décapsuler

Mademoiselle Juliette a
Pas vraiment la tête à
Pleurer sur Montaigu et Capulet
Mademoiselle Juliette aim-
-erait faire la fête cham-
-pagne à sabrer coca à décapsuler

Ahhhhhhhhhhh...
Ahhhhhhhhhhh...
Ahhhhhhhhhhh...
Ahhhhhhhhhhh...

Mademoiselle Juliette a
Pas vraiment la tête à
Choisir entre Montaigu et Capulet
Mademoiselle Juliette aim-
-erait faire la fête cham-
-pagne à sabrer coca à décapsuler

Mademoiselle Juliette a
Plus vraiment la tête à
Pleurer sur Montaigu et Capulet
Mademoiselle Juliette aim-
-erait faire la fête cham-
-pagne à sabrer coca à décapsuler



</TD><TD VALIGN="top">English
Mademoiselle Juliet has (5)
Her Romeo in the Alpha
From Verona to Rome she runs
A pretty syndrome called love (6)
Shakespeare plays with his muse
The heroine thinks he abuses
She climbs quickly to the towers
The great writer likes playing tricks on her

Mademoiselle Juliet
Really doesn't have the head to
Choose between Montague and Capulet
Mademoiselle Juliet
Would like to celebrate
Champagne to saber, coca to open (7) (8)

Mademoiselle takes wings
Don't make her smash things apart (2)
In her role she only wants not to
Have lines in the play (9)
This commedia dell'arte (3)
Is not insane enough
When finally William passes away
There is nothing more that can be done to avoid tragedy

Mademoiselle Juliet
Really doesn't have the head to
Choose between Montague and Capulet
Mademoiselle Juliet
Would like to celebrate
Champagne to saber, coca to open

Mademoiselle Juliet
Really doesn't have the head for
Crying about Montague and Capulet
Mademoiselle Juliet
Would like to celebrate
Champagne to saber, coca to open

Aahhhh
Aahhhh
Aahhhh
Aahhhh

Mademoiselle Juliet
Really doesn't have the head to
Choose between Montague and Capulet
Mademoiselle Juliet
Would like to celebrate
Champagne to saber, coca to open

Mademoiselle Juliet
Really no longer has the head for(10)
Crying about Montague and Capulet
Mademoiselle Juliet
Would like to celebrate
Champagne to saber, coca to open</TD></TABLE>



Notes

1: These three lines are very hard to hear for we anglophones! Alizée divides the word on the ends of these lines in to two parts; the end of the starting line, and the beginning of the following line. Aimerait become Aim-erait and Champagne becomes Cham-pagne. This certainly accounts for my difficulty in figuring them out originally. I'd assumed each line was distinct.

2: "Mettre en piéces" is a play on words. It is an expression meaning "to smash to pieces" or "to tear up," but if you drop the s on piéces (it remains the same pronounciation) it can be heard as "put in to the play."

3: "Commedia dell'arte" is an old Italian form of comedy, and is the proper name of it in any language. Calling R&J commedia dell'arte is a very bitter and harsh thing - it's a bitingly sarcastic use of that terminology, almost painfully so. The usage refers to what must have been Romeo and Juliet's feeling that they were trapped in some horrible deific joke. The playthings of much greater powers who didn't give a damn about the emotions of their pawns.

4: "Rende l'âme" means to pass away, ie die. It's the equivalent of "to give up the ghost." This makes less sense to me than "rendre l'aime" (gives love), except for the fact that "aime" by itself apparently isn't a noun at all, so doesn't actually mean that. The line ends up as "when William passes away"

5: I prefer to keep the word "Mademoiselle" in the English, as we use it commonly enough in English that it isn't out of place.

6: In this context "de l'amour" could be read as "Of love" or "called love." I prefer "called love" myself, though your mileage may vary, depending on if you think Juliet is suffering from a syndrome, or is herself the syndrome. See Deepwater's comments below, from which I changed "Jolie" to "pretty" instead of "beautiful."

7: In the old days, Champagne was actually opened with a saber on some occasions. Though it's rare to use a sword these days, the expression "to Saber champagne" still is in usage in French.

8: I went with "coca" instead of "coke" to maintain the reference to the anesthetic drug-like potion Juliet consumes, as opposed to a modern soft-drink. One wouldn't really celebrate with it I suppose, but Coke and the Renaissance just don't mix.

9: RMJ's English translation below suggests she "doesn't want lines in the whole play," but what I've got here is that she "doesn't want any lines in the play." I'm not sure which is correct, but I'm guessing the latter might be more appropriate.

10: I adopted this from the RMJ's English translation, keeping the "plus" negative just as the "pas" that had been in this place throughout the rest of the song was.

As always, I welcome comments, criticisms, and feedback.

[Deepwaters]

Cooney, the line "Jolie syndrome de l'amour," which you translated as "The beautiful syndrome called love," I think might better be read as "A pretty syndrome of love." And actually, if we want to stray from the literal, it might be referring to Juliet as a pretty symbol of love, since "syndrome" in French carries that connotation, but using this word instead of "symbole" gives it a medical sense and the implication of something diseased.

[Simon A]

very nice!

[Cooney]

Cooney, the line "Jolie syndrome de l'amour," which you translated as "The beautiful syndrome called love," I think might better be read as "A pretty syndrome of love." And actually, if we want to stray from the literal, it might be referring to Juliet as a pretty symbol of love, since "syndrome" in French carries that connotation, but using this word instead of "symbole" gives it a medical sense and the implication of something diseased.

I kept "syndrome" as I think it's actually saying that she has caught the "syndrome" of love, not that she is one of its symptoms or symbols. The symptoms are listed previously: she flees other men, and has Romeo perpetually in mind.

You are correct that jolie more often translates as pretty or lovely, rather than beautiful. For some reason, I just like "beautiful" more. For accuracy's sake though, I'd better go change that (I probably shouldn't editorialize in my translations, eh?).

The choice between "A ... of" and "The ... called" is, I think, a preference issue that could go either way. With the article dropped on the beginning of the line, it's up for grabs. "de l'" can go either way, as it's an expression that doesn't literally translate to English. It could either be "of the" or "called," depending on the context of the English sentence. I think most Americans would use "called" for the context of this particular line, regardless of which article is chosen for the beginning.

[RMJ]

Sigh... posted the translation to wrong thread.... Here we go again:





Revised translation. Thanks to shakespeare from MFIC for another version of transcript so I was able to fill out couple blanks from Needless' transcription.

Now the transcript should be almost perfect. The translation was improved too somewhat, especially when I found the missing French expression, after browsing language forums...


translation by RMJ (with help of Petsku1 & sb483)

Miss Juliette has
Her Roméo in the alpha
From Verona to Rome she runs
Pretty syndrome of the love
Shakespeare plays with his muse
The heroine thinks he abuses
She quickly climbs in the towers
The great writer likes to play tricks on her

Miss Juliette has
Really not the head
To choose between Montaigu and Capulet
Miss Juliette
Would like to celebrate
Champagne to sabre, coca to uncap

Miss takes the wings
Not to happen (but) put in to play
In her role she doesn't want
Lines in the whole play
This "Commedia dell’arte"
Isn't crazy enough
When finally William gives his heart
There's no way to avoid the drama

Miss Juliette has
Really not the head
To choose between Montaigu and Capulet
Miss Juliette
Would like to celebrate
Champagne to sabre, coca to uncap

Miss Juliette has
Really not the head
To cry over Montaigu and Capulet
Miss Juliette
Would like to celebrate
Champagne to sabre, coca to uncap

Ahhhhhhhhhhh...
Ahhhhhhhhhhh...
Ahhhhhhhhhhh...
Ahhhhhhhhhhh...

Miss Juliette has
Really not the head
To choose between Montaigu and Capulet
Miss Juliette
Would like to celebrate
Champagne to sabre, coca to uncap

Miss Juliette has
Really no longer the head
To cry over Montaigu and Capulet
Miss Juliette
Would like to celebrate
Champagne to sabre, coca to uncap





Transcript by Needles (with help of RMJ & Shakespeare)

Mademoiselle Juliette a
Son Roméo dans l’Alpha
De Vérone à Rome elle court
Jolie syndrome de l’amour
Shakespeare s’amuse de sa muse
L’héroïne trouve qu'il abuse
Elle monte vite dans les tours
Le grand écrivain aime lui jouer des tours

Mademoiselle Juliette a
Pas vraiment la tête à
Choisir entre Montaigu et Capulet
Mademoiselle Juliette
Aimerai faire la fête
Champagne à sabrer coca à décapsuler

Mademoiselle prends des ailes
Ne pas se faire mettre en pièces
Dans son rôle elle ne veut qu'elle
Pas de réplique de toute pièce
Cette "Commedia dell’arte"
N’est pas assez déjantée
Qu'enfin William rende l'âme
Il n’y a plus que ça pour éviter le drame

Mademoiselle Juliette a
Pas vraiment la tête à
Choisir entre Montaigu et Capulet
Mademoiselle Juliette
Aimerai faire la fête
Champagne à sabrer coca à décapsuler

Mademoiselle Juliette a
Pas vraiment la tête à
Pleurer sur Montaigu et Capulet
Mademoiselle Juliette
Aimerai faire la fête
Champagne à sabrer coca à décapsuler

Ahhhhhhhhhhh...
Ahhhhhhhhhhh...
Ahhhhhhhhhhh...
Ahhhhhhhhhhh...

Mademoiselle Juliette a
Pas vraiment la tête à
Choisir entre Montaigu et Capulet
Mademoiselle Juliette
Aimerai faire la fête
Champagne à sabrer coca à décapsuler

Mademoiselle Juliette a
Plus vraiment la tête à
Pleurer sur Montaigu et Capulet
Mademoiselle Juliette
Aimerai faire la fête
Champagne à sabrer coca à décapsuler

[Deepwaters]

I kept "syndrome" as I think it's actually saying that she has caught the "syndrome" of love, not that she is one of its symptoms or symbols.

I disagree, and this is why. The song is ironic, it's about Juliet's image as a symbol of love, contrasted with the bitter reality of how her love was thwarted and her life and Romeo's cut short by the tragedy of their situation, with overtones of criticism directed at the Bard for being so cruel to his characters. To the average person, when you say "Romeo and Juliet" an image arises of some kind of perfect, passionate young love. Yet in reality, nobody with any sense would want to be in their places.

So calling Juliet a "pretty syndrome of love" is a way of evoking that irony. I think this is what the writer (whoever it was -- Jean Fauque maybe?) had in mind, rather than merely saying that Juliet suffers from the symptoms of being in love.

[RMJ]

Updated the lyrics once again... New much better verse goes:


Miss takes the wings
Not to happen (but) put in to play
In her role she doesn't want
Lines in the whole play
This "Commedia dell’arte"
Isn't crazy enough
When finally William gives his heart
There's no way to avoid the drama


It's already added to post couple post before this...

[Toc De Mac]

The only line I really disagree with is "Aimerai faire la fête." I just can't figure out how she could be saying that. It sounds like the last syllable she is saying is a "ch" sound, as in "penchant."

[Edcognito]

Dam good song - Can't wait for the full version! ;) (i am hoping its a little longer - I really like how it flows, the composition and the "style"). Rock on Lili!

Ed:cool:

[RMJ]

Made small corrections to translation. Fucked up things last time while copy pasting... Plus fixed little wordings.

[Cooney]

I've adopted the transcription posted by RMJ (with minor notes, see original post), and have redone my translation to reflect the new French words.

For that line Toc De Mac points out, check out footnote 1 in my post, and you'll see where we're hearing the ch sound.

[painbringer]

can someone post the song mademoiselle julliette

cant find it on youtube

[Capn]

don't request links be posted for these leaked songs ^_^ not that I'm a mod or anything but its disrespectful to Alizée as well as it could be potentially bad for brad

[Cooney]

can someone post the song mademoiselle julliette

cant find it on youtube

No no no no no!

No posting links to the file around here, totally forbidden.

You may be able to find a member who'll PM it your way, but publicly linking to a full copy of a song prior to release? Deletion waiting to happen.

[painbringer]

No no no no no!

No posting links to the file around here, totally forbidden.

You may be able to find a member who'll PM it your way, but publicly linking to a full copy of a song prior to release? Deletion waiting to happen.

ohhh my bad:D :D :D

[aditya8617]

If you are very interested in hearing the song then just type the name of song in Google videos.

Thanks for the translation Cooney and RMJ. I wonder how the music video be like after reading the translations.

[Toc De Mac]

For that line Toc De Mac points out, check out footnote 1 in my post, and you'll see where we're hearing the ch sound.

Ah, great work, Cooney! :D

How did you figure that out?

[Cooney]

Ah, great work, Cooney! :D

How did you figure that out?

Well, that was a matter of waiting for RMJ to post the words for us, as transcribed by a native French speaker.

Once I knew what words were there, all I had to do was find which line they were on. My issue was that I thought the lines were seperate :-P

[RMJ]

Well, that was a matter of waiting for RMJ to post the words for us, as transcribed by a native French speaker.
Even them had trouble noticing champagne. In fact, from first transcript it was simply bagonole or something similar. But What I heard was "son" (well, it didn't sound excatly like son but I thot it might be) at the end of the line before that, which the French guy missed somehow. But he left (and I didn't realize the connection) and I got the fixed word day later. "son"-bagnole -> champagne. And all got cleared right away since it fit perfectly the line before it (aimerai faire la fête - would like to celebrate).

[aditya8617]

Even them had trouble noticing champagne. In fact, from first transcript it was simply bagonole or something similar. But What I heard was "son" (well, it didn't sound excatly like son but I thot it might be) at the end of the line before that, which the French guy missed somehow. But he left (and I didn't realize the connection) and I got the fixed word day later. "son"-bagnole -> champagne. And all got cleared right away since it fit perfectly the line before it (aimerai faire la fête - would like to celebrate).

You are a genius *salutes RMJ*.

[Simon A]

Raaaawr is the sound i make when i finish singing along, very good job!!!

[Cooney]

Even them had trouble noticing champagne. In fact, from first transcript it was simply bagonole or something similar. But What I heard was "son" (well, it didn't sound excatly like son but I thot it might be) at the end of the line before that, which the French guy missed somehow. But he left (and I didn't realize the connection) and I got the fixed word day later. "son"-bagnole -> champagne. And all got cleared right away since it fit perfectly the line before it (aimerai faire la fête - would like to celebrate).

RMJ.rocks="TRUE"

Good catch RMJ :-)

[CFHollister]

Mademoiselle Juliette a
Pas vraiment la tête à
Choisir entre Montaigu et Capulet
Mademoiselle Juliette aim- (1)
-erait faire la fête cham- (1)
-pagne à sabrer coca à décapsuler (1)

[snipage]

Mademoiselle Juliet
Really doesn't have the head to
Choose between Montague and Capulet
Mademoiselle Juliet
Would like to celebrate
Champagne to saber, coca to open

Ok, you lost me a bit with the translation here leaving in saber (minus the first r), and "coca to open" :confused:

[Cooney]

Ok, you lost me a bit with the translation here leaving in saber (minus the first r), and "coca to open" :confused:

A saber is a sword, specifically the military officer type sword. It's being used as a verb. "To saber champagne" is to open champagne with a saber - a showy and dramatic presentation style thing. In French, "sabrer" is the verb "to saber."

[mal]

hey did yall hear? theres another song out of her new cd. Its mademoiselle. its ok b plus.

[CFHollister]

A saber is a sword, specifically the military officer type sword. It's being used as a verb. "To saber champagne" is to open champagne with a saber - a showy and dramatic presentation style thing. In French, "sabrer" is the verb "to saber."

Ahh... thanks.

[mal]

hmmmm dramatic phrase there. to sword the champagne. could mean a lot....

[JCC]

Hmmm...is it just me, or does it feel like the Calm Before the Storm right now!..B4 her big appearance. It's been pretty quiet on alot of forums, especially on AF...and A-USA. Nothing much going on New wise......

This is driving me NUTZ!! :eek::blink:

[AnthonnY]

mmm ...

Bye
AnthonnY
Lima - Perú

[Roman]

Ok, so there was the whole waiting for it to be released thing, but it's rather hard to avoid listening to these songs and everyone's talking about them; so...

...or is herself the syndrome...
Reminds me of ALS.

8: I went with "coca" instead of "coke" to maintain the reference to the anesthetic drug-like potion Juliet consumes, as opposed to a modern soft-drink.
Really? What reference? It just sounds like people like coke/coca to me - because people can relate to that. Hmm...

10: I adopted this from the RMJ's English translation, keeping the "plus" negative just as the "pas" that had been in this place throughout the rest of the song was.
This I have always found strange. Is it because in casual spoken French they are dropping the 'ne' negative marker; so, instead of 'n'a plus' it is 'a plus' and you just have to know that?
I disagree, and this is why. The song is ironic, it's about Juliet's image as a symbol of love, contrasted with the bitter reality of how her love was thwarted and her life and Romeo's cut short by the tragedy of their situation, with overtones of criticism directed at the Bard for being so cruel to his characters. To the average person, when you say "Romeo and Juliet" an image arises of some kind of perfect, passionate young love. Yet in reality, nobody with any sense would want to be in their places.

So calling Juliet a "pretty syndrome of love" is a way of evoking that irony. I think this is what the writer (whoever it was -- Jean Fauque maybe?) had in mind, rather than merely saying that Juliet suffers from the symptoms of being in love.
Well, I agree that the implication is not "that Juliet suffers from the symptoms of being in love", but that either she is the symbol of love or perhaps the whole story is. Either way, I can see how both syndrome and symbol would work, which, if you have that connotation in French, then it's really just not translatable and you must notate it anyway.

"To the average person, when you say "Romeo and Juliet" an image arises of some kind of perfect, passionate young love." Well yes. It is just like Lolita actually. The main draw of that book is the expression of love driving toward perfection of the emotion, yet certainly it ends as a tragedy. No one would want to be in the postion of Lolita or Humbert, Romeo or Juliette. Then again, such a love these people will give their lives for.

So, is Alizee taking a pop-culture history class or something? Just kidding. I know, she didn't even write these songs, but that's two songs along the same lines - past popular culture, heroines, tragedy, some rappy parts in both songs.

[garçoncanadien]

10: I adopted this from the RMJ's English translation, keeping the "plus" negative just as the "pas" that had been in this place throughout the rest of the song was.
This I have always found strange. Is it because in casual spoken French they are dropping the 'ne' negative marker; so, instead of 'n'a plus' it is 'a plus' and you just have to know that?

context helps you distinguish ;) you don't just know that, or else nobody would learn our beautiful language :p

[Deepwaters]

context helps you distinguish ;) you don't just know that, or else nobody would learn our beautiful language :p

Actually, fewer confusing things like that might make it easier for us to learn your beautiful language. :p

Then again, I'm a native speaker of probably the most confusing and rule-averse language in the world, so I guess I can't complain. :o

[Roman]

Actually, fewer confusing things like that might make it easier for us to learn your beautiful language. :p

Then again, I'm a native speaker of probably the most confusing and rule-averse language in the world, so I guess I can't complain. :o
Yes, that's largely what has made me generally interested in language is that English is such a pain in the ass, though, I understand that language in general is like that.
Yes, the whole understanding by context thing makes any language a lot more difficult, at least until you get the hang of it. It does seem to be a natural thing that humans are good at. It's part of what makes it so difficult to program computers to understand human language. Everything sort of has a meaning, but it's often not entirely clear what that meaning is. It's like we're all playing instruments and just trying to fit our sound into the mix and make it sound good.

[RMJ]

In it's final form


translation by RMJ (with help of Petsku1 & sb483)

Miss Juliette
Has her Roméo in the Alfa
From Verona to Rome she runs
Pretty syndrome of the love

Shakespeare plays with his muse
The heroine thinks he abuses
She quickly climbs in the towers
The great writer likes to play tricks on her

Miss Juliette
Has really not the head
To choose between Montaigu and Capulet

Miss Juliette
Would like to celebrate
Champagne to sabre, coke to uncap

Miss takes the wings
Not to happen (but) put in to play
In her role she doesn't want
Lines in the whole play

This commedia dell’arte
Isn't crazy enough
When finally William gives his heart
There's no way to avoid the drama

Miss Juliette
Has really not the head
To choose between Montaigu and Capulet

Miss Juliette
Would like to celebrate
Champagne to sabre, coke to uncap

Miss Juliette
Has really not the head
To cry over Montaigu and Capulet

Miss Juliette
Would like to celebrate
Champagne to sabre, coke to uncap

Ahhhhhhhhhhh...
Ahhhhhhhhhhh...
Ahhhhhhhhhhh...
Ahhhhhhhhhhh...

Miss Juliette
Has really not the head
To choose between Montaigu and Capulet

Miss Juliette
Would like to celebrate
Champagne to sabre, coke to uncap

Miss Juliette
Has really no longer the head
To cry over Montaigu and Capulet

Miss Juliette
Would like to celebrate
Champagne to sabre, coke to uncap

Miss





Transcript by Needles (with help of RMJ & Shakespeare)

Mademoiselle Juliette a
Son Roméo dans l’Alfa
De Vérone à Rome elle court
Jolie syndrome de l’amour

Shakespeare s’amuse de sa muse
L’héroïne trouve qu'il abuse
Elle monte vite dans les tours
Le grand écrivain aime lui jouer des tours

Mademoiselle Juliette
A pas vraiment la tête
À choisir entre Montaigu Capulet

Mademoiselle Juliette
Aimerait faire la fête
Champagne à sabrer coke à décapsuler

Mademoiselle prends des ailes
Ne pas se faire mettre en pièce
Dans son rôle elle ne veut qu'elle
Pas de réplique de toute pièces

Cette commedia dell’arte
N’est pas assez déjantée
Qu'enfin William rende l'âme
Il n’y a plus que ça pour éviter le drame

Mademoiselle Juliette
A pas vraiment la tête
À choisir entre Montaigu Capulet

Mademoiselle Juliette
Aimerai faire la fête
Champagne à sabrer coke à décapsuler

Mademoiselle Juliette a
Pas vraiment la tête à
Pleurer sur Montaigu Capulet

Mademoiselle Juliette
Aimerai faire la fête
Champagne à sabrer coke à décapsuler

Ahhhhhhhhhhh...
Ahhhhhhhhhhh...
Ahhhhhhhhhhh...
Ahhhhhhhhhhh...

Mademoiselle Juliette
A pas vraiment la tête à
Choisir entre Montaigu Capulet

Mademoiselle Juliette
Aimerai faire la fête
Champagne à sabrer coke à décapsuler

Mademoiselle Juliette
A plus vraiment la tête
À pleurer sur Montaigu Capulet

Mademoiselle Juliette
Aimerai faire la fête
Champagne à sabrer coke à décapsuler

Mademoiselle

[ajaccio corsica]

hi
She climbs quickly to the towers

it's not exactly this, actually it's linked to the "romeo dans l'alpha" stuff, it's a technical term for cars
it's more "she get hi revs" meaning she get angry or nervous very fast
cheers

[Roman]

hi
She climbs quickly to the towers

it's not exactly this, actually it's linked to the "romeo dans l'alpha" stuff, it's a technical term for cars
it's more "she get hi revs" meaning she get angry or nervous very fast
cheers

Merci beaucoup! It really sucks not understanding French. We miss so much of the point of the song. There's lots of this stuff going back to the first songs of Alizée where the translation either sounds wrong or just needs explanation. Any help like this is appreciated.
Here's an example of that phrase: http://172.hautetfort.com/sessions_stages/

How about: Mademoiselle prends des ailes
Ne pas se faire mettre en pièces

I still don't understand the translation of this at all.

[Cooney]

How about: Mademoiselle prends des ailes
Ne pas se faire mettre en pièces

I still don't understand the translation of this at all.

Actually, that's a slightly innaccurate set of lyrics. Officially, it's:

Mademoiselle prend des ailes
Ne pas se faire mettre en pièce

Note the lack of the letter S on prend and pièce. They make big differences.


"Mademoiselle prend des ailes" means "Mademoiselle takes wing," as in she is fleeing from something. It is tempting to make it "Mademoiselle takes to the wings" in a theatrical sense, but the French don't use "wings" (ailes) to refer to the sides of a stage like we do. Architecturally speaking, it could be a wing of a building, but it doesn't mean backstage. If "prend" were "prends" on this line, it would change it in to a command, "Mademoiselle, take wing!" which it isn't.

"Ne pas se faire mettre en pièce" is a no-doubt intentional play on a phrase that sounds the same, but means something different. As written officially, it comes out as essentially "Don't make him put it in to the play." If you add the s on the end of pièce, which will still sound the same, it becomes "don't make her smash to pieces."

For those who thought she had given up on double meanings, think again! Every song I've taken the time to really look at or listen to so far has had at least a couple.

[ajaccio corsica]

hi
Mademoiselle prend des ailes
mademoiselle get wings but it's linked to "mademoiselle prend ses aises" french familiar for a person who acts as he/she was at her/his home everywhere, or meaning she feels more comfortable, or she just escapes from a situation she doesn't want
Ne pas se faire mettre en pièce
not being broken in parts, pièce isn't used as "part" but as "play"
so it's something like doesn't want herself to be used as a character in a shakespeare's play
cheers

[Cooney]

hi
Mademoiselle prend des ailes
mademoiselle get wings but it's linked to "mademoiselle prend ses aises" french familiar for a person who acts as he/she was at her/his home everywhere, or meaning she feels more comfortable, or she just escapes from a situation she doesn't want
Ne pas se faire mettre en pièce
not being broken in parts, pièce isn't used as "part" but as "play"
so it's something like doesn't want herself to be used as a character in a shakespeare's play
cheers

Awesome, thanks for the info! The meaning behind idiomatic phrases like that first one are the sorts of things we anglophones will miss every time. On the second, very good, I understand now. I was misdirecting the "se" and having trouble figuring out the meaning. Now it makes sense.

[wildfire]

hey gang...

I found this really succinct definition of MJ that I think wraps it up pretty well...

From a comment on youtube video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dgKl6b7JZjA

mikkim11 (9 months ago) +3
I'll try to explain and tranlate the song..I jope it helps:

Miss juliete is in love with romeo. She goes from veron to rome looking for romeo. Shakepeare is not fair and play's with juliete's destiny and she goes mad.

Chorus: Miss juliete doesn't want to waste her time thinking about choosing the family montagu or capulete (romeo and juliete's families)She prefers to party all night with champagne and coke (coca cola) with all her girl friends.