Une Enfant du Siècle lyrics [Archive]

Sir Wood

03-25-2010, 05:40 PM

I transcribed these from www.alizee-officiel.com last night and was hoping our linguists can properly translate these (rather than using online mot-du-mot engines). (Forgive me if you find any mistake as it started getting late.)

01. Eden, Eden [J.-R. ETIENNE/ROB]

Nous sommes toutes les filles de l'Eden
Nous dévalons ses rues cendrées
Au coeur d'un éternal été

Nous sommes les demoiselles d'Eden
Les châtelaines au coeur scellé
Qui cède au quatorzième été

Les soleils mourants
De ces ciels voilés
Sont mes adieux en grand

Les soleils voilés
De ces ciels noyés
Sont mes adieux en grand

Au coeur du coeur de la nation
Toutes les jeunes filles sont des faucons
Les ombres refluent sous les buissons

Sur toutes les peaux vierges de l'Eden
S'envolent les colombes de l'Eden
Qui soufflent au génie du lieu
Leurs adieux

Les soleils mourants
De ces ciels voilés
Sont mes adieux en grand

Les soleils voilés
De ces ciels noyés
Sont mes adieux en grand

Le vent gonflait les voiles de l'Eden
Lançait les filles américaines
A l'assault de villes inhumaines

Couvre tes bras nus, ô mon Eden
Dans la vie on se quitte, on rompt
On finit seul sous les flocons
Oh, adieu

Les soleils mourants
De ces ciels voilés
Sont mes adieux en grand

Les soleils voilés
De ces ciels noyés
Sont mes adieux en grand

Les soleils mourants
De ces ciels voilés
Sont mes adieux en grand

Les soleils voilés
De ces ciels noyés
Sont mes adieux en grand

Promis, j'appellerai
Mais il le faut, je m'en vais
Dans le feuilleton des feuilles
Parmi les vaisseaux
Parmi les fusées de l'Eden

-------------------------------------------------------------
02. Grand Central [J. ECHENOZ - J.-R. ETIENNE - R. ZLOTOWSKI/TAHITI BOY - J. ECHENOZ]

Ça y est
Converse lacées
Cheveux lâchés
On est arrivé
Dedans
Ah comme c'est beau
Dans les échos
Sous la coupole
C'est meiux encore
Une fois dehors
Il fait si bleu
Il fait si bruit
Nous sommes si peu
(J'ai faim, mon dieu, j'ai faim)

Grand Central
Grand Central
Toute le monde descend

Deux flèches
Les feux revêches
Le manteau croisé
Les épaules carrées
Du vétéran
Les policiers

Leurs pommes d'Adam
C'est le printemps
Les tours d'acier
Quarante-deuxième rue
Millième avenue
L'armée du salut
Y a pas d'horizon
(C'est de la science-fiction)

Grand Central
Grand Central
Personne l'attend, mais

Elle attendait une limousine sous l'auvent de Tiffany
On aurait dit la fille du président, une vraie peste
Sous les bords de sa capeline grésillait une Lucky
Elle me demande qui je connais sur la côte Est

Entre l'azur et ses yeux blonds, le soleil a choisi
Edie, Edie, fille de paille, Edie de la Factory
Edie était du genre plutôt très belle

Grand Central
Grand Central
Toute le monde descend
Grand Central
Grand Central
Personne l'attend, mais

-------------------------------------------------------------
03. Limelight [CHATEAU MARMONT]

Dream always and all ways

I don't know where I'm going
Looking for the limelight (bright)

I can't recall where I've been

In this long long white night
Find a way and away
I don't know if I should

Burning waves of ecstasy Oui
Stairs, lights, music, sweat
Scares, fright, panic, threat

-------------------------------------------------------------
04. La Candida [A. JODOROWSKI/ROB]

Yo aqui tu allá
Por mí volverás
Me muero me muero

Lo sé eres fiel
Jamás mentirás
No olvidarás
No hay otra más
¿A quien amarás
Si no es a mí?

Soy la candida
Enamorada
Yo creo en ti

Soy la Candida
Tú no me engañas
Piensas en mí

Lo sé eres fiel
Jamás mentirás
Me muero me muero
¿Feliz tu sin mí?
¡Oh dios no podrás!
Vives aquí
Aquí muy aquí
Solo para mí
Yo creo en tí

Soy la Candida
Enamorada
Piensas en mí

Soy la Candida
Tú no me engañas
Piensas en mí

Candida
Ciega

Candida

-------------------------------------------------------------
05. Les Collines (Never Leave You) [J.-R. ETIENNE/CHATEAU MARMONT]

Poursuivie, j'ai gagné les collines
J'ai pris le maquis
Semé les chiens de chasse, effacé me traces
Maquillé ma fuite

Mes valises sont vides, mon coeur léger
Léger

Never wanna leave you
Never wanna leave you
Never wanna leave you
Never wanna leave you
Never ever wanna leave you
Never ever wanna leave you
Never wanna leave you
Never wanna leave you

New York I'm sorry, I loved you so
But I have to go
Tes vitrines infinies, tes horizons dorés,
Je veux m'en passer
Auprès des Hespérides, j'irai panser
De grands félins timides, des cygnes blessés
Blessés

Never wanna leave you
Never wanna leave you
Never wanna leave you
Never wanna leave you
Never ever wanna leave you
Never ever wanna leave you
Never wanna leave you
Never wanna leave you

Mes valises sont vides, mon coeur léger
Léger

Never wanna leave you
Never wanna leave you
Never wanna leave you
Never wanna leave you
Never ever wanna leave you
Never ever wanna leave you
Never wanna leave you
Never wanna leave you

-------------------------------------------------------------
06. 14 Décembre [J.-R. ETIENNE - CHATEAU MARMONT/CHATEAU MARMONT]

14 décembre de cinq à sept
Grand vent d'ouest, la ville tremble
Cinq quaaludes, sept percocet
Je me rendors parmi les cendres

Des croix et des croisés

Si ce soir c'est la guerre, je suis parée
De toute l'armée j'ai les plus belles armes
Je ne ferai pas de prisonniers
Soir après soir
Dexedrine et dollars
Nuit après nuit
Ma vie
Sous un feu nourri de regards
Soir après soir

Quatorzième nuit de décembre
La lune ouvre on oeil lysergique
Mon taxi aux vitres sombres
Comme sans pilote file en automatique

Des croix et des croisés

Au bout d'un long corridor
La musique règne comme une idole d'or
Où s'accolent les humains dérisoirement

Soir après soir
Mille milliers de petits départs
Nuit après nuit
Ma vie
Sous un feu roulant de regards
Soir après soir

Soir après soir
Dix milliards de petits départs
Nuit après nuit
Ma vie
Sous un feu roulant de regards
Soir après soir

-------------------------------------------------------------
07. A Coeur Fendre [J.-R. ETIENNE/CHATEAU MARMONT]

J'ai forcé la porte des enfers
J'ai rompu le sceau défendu
Pour toi

Détourné le cours d'un volcan
Pour réchauffer tes bras tremblants
Pour toi

Le ciel est noir
La vie est sombre
Il gèle â pierre fendre
J'ai froid

J'ai avancé l'heure de l'aurore
J'ai brusqué le retour des fleurs
Pour toi

J'ai fait les vitres, changé l'ampoule
Etouffé les cris de la foule
Pour toi

Le siècles s'effondre
Débris, décombres
Il gèle â coeur fendre
J'ai froid

Il n'y a plus un bruit dans le jardin d'hiver
Nous nous abritons sous les ramures contraires

Sans toi, le monde
Vacille, succombe
Il gèle â coeur fendre
J'ai froid

(Sans toi)

-------------------------------------------------------------
08. Factory Girl [J. ECHENOZ - J.-R. ETIENNE - DAVID RUBATO/DAVID RUBATO]

C'est la fin de la ballade
Pour adorable ado
Seule face au Hasselblad
Fendue de bas en haut

Inanimée, docile
Façon petit soldat
Scrutée de long en large
De trois quart, de profil

Factory Girl
Sur le fil du miroir
Factory Girl
Toutes les couleurs du noir

C'est la plongée dans l'abî me
D'un jeaune oiseau de proie
Soumis aux lois du film
Argentique qui décroit

Vu d'en haut c'est sublime
Non rien ne vous déçoit
La plongée dans l'abî me
N'en a que plus d'éclat

Factory Girl
Dernier drama, dernière scéne
Factory Girl
C'est à peine de la peine

Factory Girl
On reprendra demain
Factory Girl
Jusqu'à la fin des fins des fins des fins des fins

-------------------------------------------------------------
09. Une Fille Difficile [J.-R. ETIENNE/J.-B. DE LAUBIER - CHATEAU MARMONT]

Souvent je vire
Àl'orage
La vie chavire
Àla marge
Une fille difficile
Du feu sous les cils
Désaccordée
Une fille indocile
Mais quand tu m'écris
Ecoute, reviens, pardon, tu sais, je t'aime, oublie
J'y crois, j'oublie

Faut-il me confisquer ?
Me capturer ?
Faut-il m'échapper ?
Faut-il m'aimer ?
Souvent rétive
Aux regrets
Et fugitive
Àregret
Une fille indocile
Du feu sous les cils
Parfois fautive
Une fille difficile
Et si je m'en vais
J'habite encore tes bras, ta voix, tes heures, ton coeur
Comme un remords

Faut-il me confisquer ?
Me conjurer ?
Faut-il m'échapper ?
Faut-il m'aimer ?

Faut-il me confisquer ?
Me capturer ?
Faut-il m'échapper ?
Faut-il m'aimer ?

-------------------------------------------------------------
10. Mes Fantômes [J.-R. ETIENNE/ROB]

Oh mes fantômes, mes zones sombres, mes heures d'ombre, mes dangers, mes migrages
Oh mes erreurs, mes faux-fuyants, mes cousus blanc, mes histoires, mes calvaires
Oh mes enfants, mes feux filants, dieux innocents, mes héros solitaires
Oh mes amours, nos jeux troublants, tes yeux brûlants, mes larmes, mes miracles

Oh mes secrets, mes uvres au noir, sans l'air d'y croire, mes regrets, mes silences
Oh mon enfant, mon diamant noir, mon solitaire, mon petit, ma prière
Oh mes instants, mes incendies, mes drames éclair, mes incidents, mes siècles

Note to all: As work on the translations are made and errors found, I often come back and update the above lyrics.

Fall

03-25-2010, 07:16 PM

Thanks again Sir Wood! The Mes Fantômes lyrics look interesting, I've never seen any like that. The La Candida lyrics are really interesting as well, they paint a pretty picture :)

Sir Wood

03-25-2010, 08:16 PM

Thanks again Sir Wood! The Mes Fantômes lyrics look interesting, I've never seen any like that. The La Candida lyrics are really interesting as well, they paint a pretty picture :)

My pleasure. Just in time for people to follow along as they listen to the album. :cool:

user472884

03-25-2010, 08:28 PM

J'appreciate this man, thanks!

Roman

03-26-2010, 02:24 AM

Ben

03-26-2010, 02:48 AM

I call Limelight. :p

Toc De Mac

03-26-2010, 06:36 AM

Who is this mysterious poster? http://forum.wordreference.com/showthread.php?t=1748633 ;)

The one thing I noticed after a very quick read is "quatorzième," which should be 14th. :)

Roman

03-26-2010, 02:19 PM

Who is this mysterious poster? http://forum.wordreference.com/showthread.php?t=1748633 ;)

The one thing I noticed after a very quick read is "quatorzième," which should be 14th. :)
Uh yeah a big oops there. I noticed that too when I came back to this. Maybe I shouldn't work on it late at night after all.
And yeah, what you think I know French? Those guys answer half of it for me.

And thanks a lot Ben, all the help I can get. :rolleyes: :p

Edit: oh boy, I think I just found a whole book explaining the meaning of "génie du lieu" : http://books.google.com/books?id=8MhC9x-C5RoC&pg=PA3&lpg=PA3&dq=%22au+g%C3%A9nie+du+lieu%22&source=bl&ots=8PFnqdfo6H&sig=xw1UN8auH1M1q4TdfpZp1BT0swo&hl=fr&ei=l_-sS9qNNozAsgPS6PWADA&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=3&ved=0CBQQ6AEwAg#v=onepage&q=%22au%20g%C3%A9nie%20du%20lieu%22&f=false
I think it's going to be a rather vague translation if I come up with anything.

Toc De Mac

03-26-2010, 03:33 PM

And yeah, what you think I know French? Those guys answer half of it for me.

Haha, I love WR, too! :)

Sir Wood

03-26-2010, 03:44 PM

Uh yeah a big oops there. I noticed that too when I came back to this. Maybe I shouldn't work on it late at night after all.
And yeah, what you think I know French? Those guys answer half of it for me.

And thanks a lot Ben, all the help I can get. :rolleyes: :p

Edit: oh boy, I think I just found a whole book explaining the meaning of "génie du lieu" : http://books.google.com/books?id=8MhC9x-C5RoC&pg=PA3&lpg=PA3&dq=%22au+g%C3%A9nie+du+lieu%22&source=bl&ots=8PFnqdfo6H&sig=xw1UN8auH1M1q4TdfpZp1BT0swo&hl=fr&ei=l_-sS9qNNozAsgPS6PWADA&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=3&ved=0CBQQ6AEwAg#v=onepage&q=%22au%20g%C3%A9nie%20du%20lieu%22&f=false
I think it's going to be a rather vague translation if I come up with anything.

I think you are looking too much into it.

On all the virgin skins of Eden
Fly away the doves of Eden
Who whisper au génie du lieu*2
Their farewells

*2 The phrase, I believe, reflects the genie [person] who spoke the above line. How to translate that perphaps: Who whispers [the] génie/guardian of the place. :confused:

Etymology and definitions

The Majlis al Jinn cave in Oman, literally "Meeting place of the Jinn".Jinn is the plural for jini which is derived from the Arabic root JaNaA and means to hide or be hidden. Other words derived from this root are Majnoon, jonnon, and janeen; the first to call someone whose intellect is hidden meaning crazy, jonnon meaning craziness, and the third --janeen-- means a baby inside a mother's womb, hence janeen or hidden. The word genie derives from Latin genius, which meant a sort of tutelary or guardian spirit thought to be assigned to each person at their birth. English borrowed the French descendent of this word, génie; its earliest written attestation in English, in 1655, is a plural spelled genyes. The French translators of The Book of One Thousand and One Nights used génie as a translation of jinnī because it was similar to the Arabic word in sound and in meaning. This use was also adopted in English and has since become dominant.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Genie

Roman

03-26-2010, 05:27 PM

Maybe you are right Surawood, but I think it's still a heavily metaphoric passage that's sort of vague. Here it is. As always some interpretation is necessary and this could be poorly worded in places if not wrong.

"Eden, Eden" lyrics by Jean-René Etienne in English by Roman (lasted edited 2010-12-12)

Nous sommes toutes les filles de l'Eden
Nous dévalons ses rues cendrées
Au coeur d'un éternal été

Nous sommes les demoiselles d'Eden
Les châtelaines au coeur scellé
Qui cède au quatorzième été

Les soleils mourants
De ces ciels voilés
Sont mes adieux en grand

Les soleils voilés
De ces ciels noyés
Sont mes adieux en grand

Au coeur du coeur de la nation
Toutes les jeunes filles sont des faucons
Les ombres refluent sous les buissons

Sur toutes les peaux vierges de l'Eden
S'envolent les colombes de l'Eden
Qui soufflent au génie du lieu
Leurs adieux

Les soleils mourants
De ces ciels voilés
Sont mes adieux en grand

Les soleils voilés
De ces ciels noyés
Sont mes adieux en grand

Le vent gonflait les voiles de l'Eden
Lançait les filles américaines
A l'assault de villes inhumaines

Couvre tes bras nus, ô mon Eden
Dans la vie on se quitte, on rompt
On finit seul sous les flocons
adieu

Les soleils mourants
De ces ciels voilés
Sont mes adieux en grand

Les soleils voilés
De ces ciels noyés
Sont mes adieux en grand

Les soleils mourants
De ces ciels voilés
Sont mes adieux en grand

Les soleils voilés
De ces ciels noyés
Sont mes adieux en grand

Promis, j'appellerai
Mais il le faut, je m'en vais
Dans le feuilleton des feuilles
Parmi les vaisseaux
Parmi les fusées de l'Eden

(en anglais, traduction par Roman Revell)

We are all girls of Eden
We tear down the ashen streets *7
In the heart of an eternal summer

We are the young women of Eden
The manor house ladies of the sealed heart *1
Who give in to the fourteenth summer

The fading suns
Of these veiled skies
Are my grand farewells

The veiled suns
Of these drowned skies
Are my grand farewells

At the center of the heart of the nation
All the young girls are hawks
The shadows slide back under the bushes

On all the virgin skins of Eden *6
Fly away the doves of Eden
Who whisper to the spirit of the place *2
Their farewells

The fading suns
Of these veiled skies
Are my grand farewells

The veiled suns
Of these drowned skies
Are my grand farewells

The wind filled the sails of Eden
Launched the American girls
Into an assault against inhumane cities

Cover your bare arms, oh my Eden
In life, we part, we break away
We end up alone under the specks *3
Oh, farewell

The fading suns
Of these veiled skies
Are my grand farewells

The veiled suns
Of these drowned skies
Are my grand farewells

The fading suns
Of these veiled skies
Are my grand farewells

The veiled suns
Of these drowned skies
Are my grand farewells

I promise, I will call
But it must be, I’m leaving
In the feuilleton of the sheets *4
Amongst the vessels
Amongst the rockets of Eden *5

*1 coeur scellé – here’s a graphic that should explain: http://fr.dawanda.com/product/7942518-Coeur-scelle
Explanation from PèreNoël at WordReference: In this context, yes, those chaste (morally pure) ladies declare that they don't surrender to boys' propositions... until they [are] 18... their hearts are sealed.
*2 “au génie du lieu” = "spirit of place" or "genius loci": http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spirit_of_place. I get the sense from this passage that it is using metaphor to say the girls vacate their “Eden” taking with them the magic of what makes their origin special. This could relate to Edie going to New York or in my opinion it works even better thinking about the young virgin Alizée leaving her home of Ajaccio to go to the big city of Paris. Who was Jean-René Etienne more inspired by?
*3 flocons means speck or flake. Flocons d’avoine means oat flakes or oat meal. Of snow it would mean snow flakes. "Toc de Mac" came up with a bible verse that might be related: "for dust you are and to dust you will return."
*4 “feuilleton: The part of a European newspaper devoted to light fiction, reviews, and articles of general entertainment.” (http://www.thefreedictionary.com/feuilletons) It also just means sheets in other contexts or even leaves. I think the idea of feuilleton, vaisseux, fusées are all units or vessels of a sort here and that’s why feuilleton is put first. So, it’s like a compilation of sheets in a serial fashion, maybe?
*5 Sounds like a lot of language thrown at us for expressing something of the feeling of finality, the rigor of running away.
*6 As opposed to flying away on feathers of wings I suppose. It's a song about the youth
*7 Tear down as in rush around. This evokes a bunch of girls playing in the streets.

Sir Wood

03-26-2010, 05:52 PM

Roman

03-26-2010, 06:31 PM

Roman awesome! Regarding the last passage.

I promise, I will call
But it must be, I’m leaving
In the serial of the sheets *4
Amongst the vessels
Amongst the rockets of Eden *5

In keeping it simple, I'm leaning that: Dans le feuilleton des feuilles

Should be: In the sheets of the feuilleton

http://www.thefreedictionary.com/feuilletons

The thing itself rather than the literal translation. Non?
Well, that was my thought, but then why wouldn't it say "dans les feuilles du feuilleton"? Besides, one definitely can't make a perfect translation. So much is so often bound up in the experience of using certain words. I do wish to make a good sounding translation, but above all the actual intended meaning should be represented. I don't want an English version, but rather a translation. But yeah, I suppose I'll change that so it's not so goofy and explain more below. Thanks for the additional definition there.
lyrics:
http://alizeeamerica.com/forums/showpost.php?p=156025&postcount=11

Sir Wood

03-26-2010, 06:37 PM

Well, that was my thought, but then why wouldn't it say "dans les feuilles du feuilleton"? Besides, one definitely can't make a perfect translation. So much is so often bound up in the experience of using certain words. I do wish to make a good sounding translation, but above all the actual intended meaning should be represented. I don't want an English version, but rather a translation. But yeah, I suppose I'll change that so it's not so goofy and explain more below. Thanks for the additional definition there.

You can keep it as "In the feuilleton of the sheets" with "sheets" being those of a newspaper since we agree that feuilleton, by it's definition, is "the part of a European newspaper devoted to light fiction, reviews, and articles of general entertainment." ;)

(And I corrected the original lyrics too. Thanks for the heads up.)

Fall

03-26-2010, 10:06 PM

I promise to post my translation of La Candida as soon as I can, if it has not been posted by then :)

Chuck

03-27-2010, 02:00 AM

Grand Central, submitted for your approval:

This is there
Converse laced up
Hair let down
We've arrived
Inside
Ah how nice
In the echoes
Under the dome
It is better again
Once outside
It is so blue
It is so loud
We are so small
(I am hungry, my God, I am hungry)

Grand Central
Grand Central
Everyone goes down

Two arrows
The ill-tempered fires
The crossed topcoat
Of the veteran
The policemen

Their Adam's apples
It is the spring
The towers of steel
Forty-Second Street
Thousandth Avenue
The army of greeting
There is no skyline
(It is science fiction)

Grand Central
Grand Central
Nobody waits for her, but

She waited for a limousine under the canopy of Tiffany
One might have taken her for the daughter of the president, a real pest
Under the edges of her wide-brimmed hat smokes a Lucky
She asks me who I know on the east coast

Between azure and her blonde eyes, the sun chose
Edie, Edie, girl of straw, Edie of the Factory
Edie was rather a very beautiful sort

Grand Central
Grand Central
Everyone goes down
Grand Central
Grand Central
Nobody waits for her, but
_____________________________(that's it - dissect away!)

notes - Hey, Roman & Toc - I love WordRef three! They're the last word.

Okay, where I said "ill-tempered fires" (Les feux revêches), that could also refer to irritable stoplights or signal lights. That makes more sense, right? (not.)

And to Ben, who called "Limelight" ...Well? Where is it? What's taking you so long? :p

Again, big ups to Ben, our fearless leader, to Scruffy, our intrepid envoy, and even to DocTV, who may have had a hand in getting AAm some extra respect overseas. This Grand Central is dedicated to you three.

Okay, now I gotta go - "Factory Girl", starring Sienna Miller, is all cued up on the player. G'night ev'ryone!

Edcognito

03-27-2010, 02:12 AM

You guys are fantastic!

MERCI BEACOUP! (I hope I got that right this time... :o)

Ed:cool:

Roman

03-27-2010, 02:27 AM

You guys are fantastic!
MERCI BEACOUP! (I hope I got that right this time... :o)
Ed:cool:
Oh Ed. I love you man. This place is better with you around. I just used one of your posts from 2007 (you can guess which) to help explain about the whole Alizée thing.
But... I'm afraid not. It's: beaucoup. You forgot the u.

Thanks for Grand Central. I'll no doubt be checking that out sometime tomorrow. And I must certainly defer on La Candida since I can't even hope to tackle Spanish.

Amigo!

03-27-2010, 02:38 AM

La Candida (The Naive One)

Im here you're there
For me you'll return
I'll die i'll die

I know you're faithful
Never lie
You'll never forget.
There is no other.
Who would you love
if not me?

Im the naive one
In love
I believe in you

I'm the naive one
You do not deceive me.
You think of me.

I know you're faithful
Never Lie
I'll die i'll die
Happy, without me?
Oh god you couldn't
You live here
Here very much here
Only for me.
I believe in you

I'm the naive one
In love
You think of me

I'm the naive one
You do not deceive me.
You think of me.

Naive

Blind

The translation of "la candida" was a bit tricky to narrow down in english but I could only figure it out until the very last word in the song. This song is powerful and makes so much sense to me now.

Ruroshen

03-27-2010, 02:43 AM

Right on, guys. Thank you all SO much for your hard work, so soon after the release. This is awesome.

Toc De Mac

03-27-2010, 04:44 PM

I'm just reposting the translation that I did of the French parts of Les Collines. If anyone has any more thoughts, please let me know. :)

The Hills

Hunted, I've reached the hills,
I've gone underground,
Thrown off the hound-dogs, covered my tracks,
Disguised my flight,
My bags are empty, my heart light,
Light

...

New York, I'm sorry, I loved you so,
But I have to go,
Your neverending store windows, your golden skylines,
I'll do without them,
Beside the Hesperides, I will go dress
The timid big-cats, the wounded swans,
Wounded

Alex

03-27-2010, 05:48 PM

Gracias Amigo! Good translation, but I think there are just a few errors or misinterpretations of the translation:)....

La Candida (The Naive One)

Im here you're there
For me you'll return
I'll die i'll die

I think its:
I'm dying I'm dying or I die I die
because "me muero" is in the present tense

I know you're faithful
Never lie
You'll never forget.
There is no other.
Who would you love
if not me?

Think it's:
You'll never lie

Im the naive one
In love
I believe in you

Think it's:
I believed you
because she is talking in past tense "te crei"

I'm the naive one
You do not deceive me.
You think of me.

I know you're faithful
Never Lie
I'll die i'll die
Happy, without me?
Oh god you couldn't
You live here
Here very much here *
Only for me.
I believe in you

Think it's:
You'll never lie
I'm dying I'm dying or I die I die

* Here I think it's the way one interprets it, and this is how I understand it:
Here right here

I'm the naive one
In love
You think of me

I think it's this:
I beleived you
because it says "yo te crei" ="Ibelieved you"

I'm the naive one
You do not deceive me.
You think of me.

Naive

Blind

The translation of "la candida" was a bit tricky to narrow down in english but I could only figure it out until the very last word in the song. This song is powerful and makes so much sense to me now.

Those were the few mistakes I believe I found in your translation, other than that I thank you for the translation overall, you did great! Thanks, and above all thanks for finding the closest translation in English for La Candida :)

And also THANKS to all of you guys that have also translated the other songs! :)

Fall

03-27-2010, 07:42 PM

Oh well, no point in posting it now then. Thanks for getting on here though.

Sir Wood

03-27-2010, 10:21 PM

Good job folks, keep it up!

Chuck based on this french phrase: http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/%C3%A7a_y_est
"Ça y est" should be "That's it" (on the first line)

And "Under the edges of her wide-brimmed hat smokes a Lucky" I'm thinking it should read as "Under the edges of her wide-brimmed hat smoking a Lucky" ;)

Anyone want to help Ben with translating Lime Light? There seems to be a french word in there that he must not know. :p

Roman

03-28-2010, 12:46 AM

Thanks to everyone who worked on this and thanks a bunch to Amigo and Alex for La Candida.

I have a few suggestions also.
Grand Central, submitted for your approval:

This is there
Converse laced up
Hair let down
We've arrived
....
C'est meiux encore = It's better still (as in, even better)
Toute le monde descend = Everyone heads down? (I think this is saying more like everyone goes there and swamps the place. So more literally, everyone descends [upon Grand Central Station])
Les feux revêches = The grumpy signal lights. Yes, I think it makes the most sense in the case of a train station to think of the train signal lights or maybe traffic lights up on the street.
grésillait - I would translate this as crackled (note past tense as it's in the "imparfait" in the song) to give the intended visceral affect to the language describing the smoking of the "Lucky" cigarette.
[translation edited 2010-04-12]
That’s it
Converse laced up
Hair let down
We've arrived
Inside
Ah how nice
In the echoes
Under the dome
It's better yet
Once outside
It is so blue
It is so loud
We are so slight
(I am hungry, my God, I am hungry)

Grand Central
Grand Central
Everyone gets off *3

Two arrows
The grumpy signal lights *1
The crossed topcoat
The squared shoulders
Of the veteran
The policemen

Their Adam's apples
It’s spring
The towers of steel
Forty-Second Street
Thousandth Avenue
The Salvation Army
There is no skyline
(It is science fiction)

Grand Central
Grand Central
Nobody waits for her

She was waiting for a limousine under the canopy of Tiffany
One might have taken her for the daughter of the president, a real nuisance
Under the edges of her wide-brimmed hat crackled a Lucky *2
She asks me who I know on the east coast

Between azure and her blonde eyes, the sun chose
Edie, Edie, girl of straw, Edie of the Factory
Edie was of a rather beautiful sort

Grand Central
Grand Central
Nobody waits for her

*1 This is sort of a guess. It makes the most sense in the case of a train station to think of the train signal lights or maybe traffic lights up on the street.
*2 Lucky is a brand of cigarette
*3 Gets off the train here at Grand Central Station
----

By the way, speaking of Limelight... It is nice to finally have the correct lyrics there. I guess Alizée's accent just throws me a bit sometimes. :p Oh well. But, now also I can see the parts:
always and all ways
a way and away
now that I see that's what they are, it does make more sense.

FanDeAliFee

03-28-2010, 01:38 AM

...Anyone want to help Ben with translating Lime Light? There seems to be a french word in there that he must not know. :p

Actually, it's not the French word spelled the same way, but rather a reference to an English-language <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oui_(magazine)">serial</a> which began life as <i>Playboy</i>'s naughty pseudo-French cousin when I was as young as many of you here. Since Ben is still very callow, even more innocently jejune than Alizée herself, I had to bring him up to speed by providing him with suitable hardcopy for extended study.

Good job folks, keep it up!

Don't worry, Ben is. I'm sure he's working very hard. (Oh, I've always wondered: Is "Sir Wood" some sort of picturesque sobriquet?)

Happily, the rest of <i>Limelight</i> is written in Canadian, which, thanks to lots of tutoring from Ruroshen, I've at last mastered passably well. (This new choice of language may explain Alizée's recent YouTube success in the Great White North after years of disappointing indifference in Québec.)

So until Ben, shall we say, "comes to a conclusion," I offer my reading of the song to the impatient at <a href="http://alizeeamerica.com/forums/showpost.php?p=151721&postcount=181"><i>Standing by Tinkerbell</i></a>, as supplemented by a postscript at <a href="http://alizeeamerica.com/forums/showpost.php?p=153158&postcount=223"><i>Improved version?</i></a>

Amigo!

03-28-2010, 01:53 AM

Gracias Amigo! Good translation, but I think there are just a few errors or misinterpretations of the translation:)....

Think it's:
I believed you
because she is talking in past tense "te crei"

The lyrics on the website are wrong in a couple of places. That's what you went off of not what she actually sings.

She says...

Soy la candida
enamorada
Yo creo en ti

Not "Yo te crei"

I think it's this:
I beleived you
because it says "yo te crei" ="Ibelieved you"

No, she says "Piensas en mi" twice towards the end of the song

1Soy la candida
enamorada
Piensas en mi

2Soy la candida
Tu no me engañas
Piensas en mi

Details details... you have watch out for those mistakes and typos on her website, who knows how many more there could actually be in the french songs that no one has noticed

The other stuff I was more or less on the fence, it was trying to figure out like you mentioned what tense she was singing in, but anyways.

Sir Wood

03-28-2010, 02:39 AM

Actually, it's not the French word spelled the same way, but rather a reference to an English-language <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oui_(magazine)">serial</a> which began life as <i>Playboy</i>'s naughty pseudo-French cousin when I was as young as many of you here. Since Ben is still very callow, even more innocently jejune than Alizée herself, I had to bring him up to speed by providing him with suitable hardcopy for extended study.
According to your wikipedia link to "Oui" magazine, it was not published under that name "Oui" until October of 1972 and prior to that it was only known in France as "Lui" ("Him") since it's 1963 inception. Edie's life spanned from April 20, 1943 to November 16, 1971, so that would not stay true to the story being told on the album (perhaps poetic liscensing). As with all music, it's up to the person to interpret the meaning of the song in his/her own way since we do not know the author's true lyrical intent. (Sort of what Roman and I have been going over off-line with Eden, Eden.) ;)

(Oh, I've always wondered: Is "Sir Wood" some sort of picturesque sobriquet?)
It's simply a phonetic pronunciation. :D

Note to all: As work on the translations are made and errors found, I often go back and update the orginal lyrics in the first post.

Alex

03-28-2010, 02:47 AM

The lyrics on the website are wrong in a couple of places. That's what you went off of not what she actually sings.

She says...

Soy la candida
enamorada
Yo creo en ti

Not "Yo te crei"

No, she says "Piensas en mi" twice towards the end of the song

1Soy la candida
enamorada
Piensas en mi

2Soy la candida
Tu no me engañas
Piensas en mi

Details details... you have watch out for those mistakes and typos on her website, who knows how many more there could actually be in the french songs that no one has noticed

The other stuff I was more or less on the fence, it was trying to figure out like you mentioned what tense she was singing in, but anyways.

Ah now I understand lol; well thank you for the official site error notice :D The thing is that I still haven't heard the album so that's why I did not know of this, thanks again Amigo for your translation and heads up on the lyrics and actual singing :). Thanks man. (my mistake xD)

Toc De Mac

03-28-2010, 09:45 AM

Hi Roman :), here are some things that I would suggest:

a) In English, I would say, “It’s better yet” for “C’est mieux encore.”

b) I think “Nous sommes si peu” means rather “We are so few.”

c) “Tout le monde descend”: I can’t be sure of its meaning, but if we assume that it probably has the meaning posted (which I agree that it does), then I would put it in present progressive: “Everybody is heading down.”

d) “Deux flèches” could mean different things; I don’t know how even French people understand it without context here. Two spires? Two (turn) signals? Two (street) signs?

e) “C’est le printemps” – just “It’s spring”

f) “L’Armée du Salut” – “The Salvation Army”

g) "Elle attendait une limousine..." -- "She was waiting for a limousine"

h) “Une vraie peste” – “A real nuisance”? I think "nuisance" is more used in American English.

i) "Edie était du genre..." – Edie was of a rather beautiful sort

Chuck

03-29-2010, 01:14 AM

Note to all: As work on the translations are made and errors found, I often go back and update the original lyrics in the first post.

You know, Sir Wood, I sure would do that to make it easier for people to find the best translation, except then it would seem like I got it right, the first time, without any help. Which simply is not true! You, Roman, and Toc de have all been indispensably helpful on Grand Central, and I'm sure this next one, 14 décembre, is going to need you guys and more! Perhaps the best thing would be to have a separate thread for just the finalized versions?
...Discussion? Moderators?

But for the moment, I'ma borrow Roman's approach -- update the whole thing, and put it in blue. That looked good, Romie-O! So here's the way I see this one now, thanks to all y'all.

Grand Central

We're here (*)
Converse laced up
Hair let down
We've arrived
Inside
Ah how nice
In the echoes
Under the dome
It is better yet
Once outside
It is so blue
It is so loud
We are so small
(I am hungry, my God, I am hungry)

Grand Central
Grand Central
Everyone heads down

Two arrows
The grumpy signal lights
The crossed topcoat
Of the veteran
The policemen

Their Adam's apples
It is spring
The towers of steel
Forty-Second Street
Thousandth Avenue
The Salvation Army (**)
There is no skyline
(It is science fiction)

Grand Central
Grand Central
Nobody waits for her, but

She was waiting for a limousine under the canopy of Tiffany
One might have taken her for the daughter of the president, a real nuisance
Under the edges of her wide-brimmed hat crackled a Lucky
She asks me who I know on the east coast

Between azure and her blonde eyes, the sun chose
Edie, Edie, girl of straw, Edie of the Factory
Edie was of a rather beautiful sort

Grand Central
Grand Central
Everyone heads down
Grand Central
Grand Central
Nobody waits for her, but

* (according to the wiktionary post that sir wood pointed out, this is one possible meaning for "ça y est", and I think it's the best one for this case.)
**(i suspected that, but then i blew it!)

And, being a glutton for punishment, here's my stab at...

14 Décembre

December 14th at five to seven
Strong wind from the west, the city trembles
Five quaaludes, seven percosets
I go back to sleep among the cinders

Of belief and those crossed (***)

If tonight is war, I am dressed for it
Of all the army I have the nicest weapons
I shall not take prisoners
Evening after evening
Dexedrine and dollars
Night after night (****)
My life
Under a light fed on looks
Evening after evening

Fourteenth night of December
The moon opens one lysergic eye
My taxi with darkened windows
As if without a pilot it flies on automatic

Of belief and those crossed

At the end of a long corridor
Music reigns as a golden idol
Where humans gather pathetically

Evening after evening
One thousand thousand small departures
Night after night
My life
Under a light rolling on looks
Evening after evening

Evening after evening
Ten billion small departures
Night after night
My life
Under a light rolling on looks
Evening after evening

*** (this could also mean "of beliefs and crusaders", which may be equally apt, considering the war and armor references. I'd call it an intentional double entendre.)
**** ("nuit après nuit" could also mean "harm after harm". Another double entendre here? Probably, especially considering that: why else would the lyrics also repeat "soir après soir" ("evening after evening")?

...Okay? Well of course not, but we are more than halfway through the disc now, right?

And now it's officially Monday, March 29th here, per CDT. Release date! I wonder if any stores in France were actually open at midnight (seven hours ago) to start selling EDS at the first possible second? Prob. not, but hey -- Bigdan, or anyone, any info?

Cheers all! Great day in the morning! :D:D:D:D

Now 7 am in Paris. Scruffy, hope you're doing great!!! :D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D

FanDeAliFee

03-29-2010, 09:08 AM

...was not published under that name "Oui" until October of 1972... Edie's life spanned from April 20, 1943 to November 16, 1971...

1972 > 1971?
Edie se demande: quel sujet de MON fantôme? ;)

Criss_pl

03-29-2010, 12:42 PM

Freak:p

I was working on Eden, Eden translation, but you were first:)

Tough, at least, you won't steal my Polish translation:p, that I'm going to make, it'll be hard try, but I'm ready for adventure:p

When I get to that génie du lieu I visited my great friend - wordreference, and there were only one topic regarding this phrase. But before clicking I had the impression that I know what I'll see inside and I was right:)

My translation is pretty similar, so I won't post it.

Now I'm taking for A coeur fendre, so by tomorrow it'll be ready:) Don't take it, as I'm finishing it

Your 14 décémbre translation seems very 'accessible' for non-native English.

And Yes, we are even further than a halfway of album, only last 4 French songs left out of seven/eight total.
Btw.
IT'S happening, NOW.

Sir Wood

03-29-2010, 09:27 PM

You know, Sir Wood, I sure would do that to make it easier for people to find the best translation, except then it would seem like I got it right, the first time, without any help. Which simply is not true! You, Roman, and Toc de have all been indispensably helpful on Grand Central, and I'm sure this next one, 14 décembre, is going to need you guys and more! Perhaps the best thing would be to have a separate thread for just the finalized versions?
...Discussion? Moderators?

I was thinking of updating the first post with the translated work next to the original. I'm just not sure if there's a max character limit per post. Though as you've suggested, each song could use a separate thread after this in order for folks to discuss them on an individual basis. ;)

Roman

03-30-2010, 02:50 AM

Man! Some of these songs have really gotten under my skin. I'm really loving Factory Girl at the moment. Like Idéalise, it's very sing-along-able. Cela donne l'envie de chanter avec. Like Alizée says, they have very catchy melodies.

It's like, it's too bad they weren't making the movie right now. It so has the quality of a song rolling in the background, especially during some kind of montage or someone driving down the road with a serious look on her face. :P So many times I've thought how cool it would be to have one Alizée song or another (or all of them) in a movie and so far I only know of Moi... Lolita making it in. Still think Psychédélices got short shrift. Trying to translate the Clark magazine article at the moment, then back to songs.

Criss_pl

03-30-2010, 01:58 PM

Toc De Mac

03-30-2010, 10:09 PM

First the original French text:

I had so many problems with the verse: "J'ai fait les vitres, changé l'ampoule"
My imagination bring me a lot of possible fantastic interpretations. I didn't know how to translate it, but just a while ago I have an enlightenment and get the meaning. I thought about the glass, vials with medicals, narcotics or even poisons. But still, those words about silence, wrecks, scraps, winter, cold bring me a thoughts that maybe it's a song about the death; it well composes with that vial. She misses a person, who she is singing about. She made everything ready, but he doesn't come. It bring me a Cœur déjà pris song on my mind; it's very similar.
What do you think?

You did a great job with the translation, especially seeing as you are translating from one foreign language to another! :) :D

For the line about the windows and the "lightbulb," I think your interpretation is entirely possible. It might therefore be appropriate to translate "ampoule" as "vial." As to the windowpanes, I can't think of any other meaning that would fit.

J'ai rompu le sceau défendu: I would say "forbidden." The word "prohibited" has too much of a legal connotation.

Le ciel est noir/La vie est sombre: The sky is dark/Life is bleak. Because the lyrics refer to the physical sky, the word the is needed.

J'ai avancé l'heure de l'aurore: I advanced the hour of dawn. Again, the definite article is needed. I think that I prefer the word "hour" here, as it carries a more precise meaning in relation to the rising of the sun.

J'ai fait les vitres, changé l'ampoule/Etouffé les cris de la foule: Definite article needed for both "the vial (lightbulb?)" and "the screams."

Débris, décombres: I would translate the second word as "rubble."

There's no more noise in winter garden: "...in the winter garden"

Sans toi, le monde/Vacille, succombe: "Without you, the world/Wavers, gives way," perhaps?

I can't think of any equivalents at the moment for à pierre fendre and à cœur fendre. Perhaps you might simply just translate it directly to convey (as it does in French) the image it evokes. Thus, "It's cold enough to split a rock," and "It's cold enough to split a heart," or something similar.

According to this thread (http://forum.wordreference.com/showthread.php?t=371718), bone-splitting cold might be used.

Edit:

You know, Sir Wood, I sure would do that to make it easier for people to find the best translation, except then it would seem like I got it right, the first time, without any help. Which simply is not true! You, Roman, and Toc de have all been indispensably helpful on Grand Central, and I'm sure this next one, 14 décembre, is going to need you guys and more! Perhaps the best thing would be to have a separate thread for just the finalized versions?
...Discussion? Moderators?

But for the moment, I'ma borrow Roman's approach -- update the whole thing, and put it in blue. That looked good, Romie-O! So here's the way I see this one now, thanks to all y'all.

Grand Central
We are so small

Again, "Nous sommes si peu" means, to me, "We are so few." Little would rather be "petit." :)

Between azure and her blonde eyes, the sun chose
Edie, Edie, girl of straw

I just saw this when skimming back over the lyrics. "L'azur" is just a poetic way of saying "le ciel [bleu]", and so it might be appropriate to have the word "sky" included.

Edit:

Hi Chuck, very nice job with the lyrics! I have some suggestions (please don't feel like you have to change it just because I proposed it :)):

Des crois et des croisés

The first noun should actually be "croix," as in crosses, which, as you pointed out, has very much to do with the battle imagery. :)

I have the nicest weapons

Maybe the “finest” weapons? The “loveliest” weapons? I don’t know... :p

Under a light fed on looks

Maybe just a “fire” fed with looks/glances?

As if without a pilot it flies on automatic

I would remove the “it” here.

Où s'accolent les humains dérisoirement

S’accoler appears especially to evoke physical contact. Dérisoirement comes from dérisoire, which comes in turn from dérision. I think that all of these have to do with contemptuously laughing at something, whereas pathetic seems to be related to pity and possibly disdain. Maybe this could be translated as “Where humans laughably huddle about/around.”

Mille milliers de petits départs

Mille milliers is another way of saying million. I would say maybe “A million short absences” or, to keep the original French, “A thousand thousand...”

Sous un feu roulant de regards

I am not sure at all of the meaning of this. Maybe “Beneath a fire rolling with glances/looks..” Maybe a native speaker can help us here. :)

Edit:

I hope this post won't merge into my last one like my past two responses did. :rolleyes:

I was rereading this post and, hearing "flocon" in Eden Eden and being only able to think of "flocons de neige," I did a quick search on WordReference. Given the biblical references of the song, I think it's a reference to the verse "for dust you are and to dust you will return." :)

Criss_pl

03-31-2010, 02:28 PM

Thanks for all your suggestions to A cœur fendre. I agree with them. Most of them were a lack of the define articles before the words, my obvious faults:) In Slavic languages we don't have the articles before words, hence all those errors in text. Here the articles are one of the biggest problems for English learners:p

Again, "Nous sommes si peu" means, to me, "We are so few." Little would rather be "petit." :)

I just saw this when skimming back over the lyrics. "L'azur" is just a poetic way of saying "le ciel [bleu]", and so it might be appropriate to have the word "sky" included.

The first noun should actually be "croix," as in crosses, which, as you pointed out, has very much to do with the battle imagery. :)

I would remove the “it” here.

Agree with you:), si peu refers to quantity, not quality. And croix should be crosses, it nicely composes with rest of lyrics.

Maybe the “finest” weapons? The “loveliest” weapons? I don’t know... :p

I would take "finest", as loveliest is not the best expression for weapon for me.

I was rereading this post and, hearing "flocon" in Eden Eden and being only able to think of "flocons de neige," I did a quick search on WordReference. Given the biblical references of the song, I think it's a reference to the verse "for dust you are and to dust you will return." :)

Good, good:)
I thought about the same; we end up alone as a dust. But that whole phrase is just beautiful:
"Dans la vie on se quitte, on rompt
On finit seul sous les flocons, Oh, adieu"

Ok. Now promised Mes Fantômes translation.

Mes Fantômes

Oh mes fantômes, mes zones sombres, mes heures d'ombre, mes dangers, mes mirages
Oh mes erreurs, mes faux-fuyants, mes cousus blanc, mes histoires, mes calvaires
Oh mes enfants, mes feux filants, dieux innocents, mes héros solitaires
Oh mes amours, nos jeux troublants, tes yeux brûlants, mes larmes, mes miracles

Oh mes secrets, mes œuvres au noir, sans l'air d'y croire, mes regrets, mes silences
Oh mon enfant, mon diamant noir, mon solitaire, mon petit, ma prière
Oh mes instants, mes incendies, mes drames éclair, mes incidents, mes siècles.

Mes Fantômes

Oh my phantoms my dark sides, my hours of darkness, my dangers, my illusions
Oh my mistakes, my excuses, my gross insubtleties*, my histories, my ordeals
Oh my children, my lights, innocent gods, my lone heros
Oh my loves, our troubling games, your burning eyes, my tears, my miracles

Oh my secrets, my dark works, without seeming to believe, my regrets, my silences
Oh my child, my black diamond, my loner*, my little one, my prayer
Oh my moments, my fires, my brief dramas, my incidents, my centuries.

* solitaire may also refer to a diamond, so a bit of word-play here

Toc De Mac

03-31-2010, 03:56 PM

Zack -Alizee Lover-

03-31-2010, 06:06 PM

Thanks for the translations.
I can understand them better now :p

Sir Wood

03-31-2010, 09:41 PM

@Chuck regarding "14 December"

Here's my opinion (again, to each there own ;) ):
Line 4: I fall asleep again among the ashes

Lines 5 & 19: (My typo on the original lyrics, should be: Des croix et des croisés, see Toc Du Mac's response)

Line 7: Of all the army I have the most beautiful weapons *I prefer the literal translation of "plus belle" here

Line 13: Under a fire of heavy looks

Line 18: Like without a pilot speeds along on automatic

Lines 21-22:
The music reigns like a golden idol
Where they put side-by-side the derisory humans *Yes, "derisory" is an English word (I learned something new :p )

Line 24: Thousand thousands of small departures

Lines 27 & 33: Under a fire of rolling looks

Line 30: Ten billion of small departures

-------------------------------------
@Criss_pl regarding A Coeur Fendre (A Heart to Split)

My take:
Line 4: Diverted the course of a volcano

Lines 7-9:
The sky is black
Life is dark
It freezes a stone to split

Line 15: Silenced the screams of the crowd

Lines 17-19:
The century crumbles
Debris, rubble
It freezes a heart to split

Line 22: We shelter under the opposite branches

Lines 24-25:
Wavers, succumb
It freezes a heart to split

Criss_pl

04-03-2010, 01:42 PM

Now for the Factory girl

French text:

C'est la fin de la ballade
Pour adorable ado
Seule face au Hasselblad
Fendue de bas en haut

Inanimée, docile
Façon petit soldat
Scrutée de long en large
De trois quart, de profil

Factory Girl
Sur le fil du miroir
Factory Girl
Toutes les couleurs du nuit

C'est la plongée dans l'abîme
D'un jeune oiseau de proie
Soumis aux lois du film
Argentique qui décroît

Vu d'en haut c'est sublime
Non rien ne vous déçoit
La plongée dans l'abîme
N'en a que plus d'éclat

Factory Girl
Dernier drame, dernière scène
Factory Girl
C'est à peine de la peine

Factory Girl
On reprendra demain
Factory Girl
Jusqu'à la fin des fins des fins des fins des fins

My rough try:p

Factory girl

It's the end of the ballad
For lovable teen (*1)
Lonely facing Hasselblad
Split from bottom to top

Lifeless, submissive (*2)
Behaving as little soldier
Examined back and forth
Three-quarter profile

Factory Girl
On the edge of the mirror
Factory Girl
All the colors of night

It's a dive into the abyss
of a young bird of prey
Obedient to laws of analog (*3)
Film, which falls

Seen form above it's sublime
No, nothing will disappoint you (*4)
Diving into the abyss
Has only more splendour

Factory girl
Last drama, Last scene
Factory girl
It's barely worth (*5)

Factory Girl
We will resume tomorrow
Factory Girl
Until the end of ends of end of ends of ends

*1 Maybe cute?

*2 Could be also docile as in French text

*3 It's "lois du film Argentique" film argentique refers to traditional photoraphy using different chemical reactions including silver (argent)

*4 Need some help here with that "Non rien ne"

*5 Great word-play with à peine and la peine. I had problems, but I believe it keeps meaning

EDIT:

Ok. Ninth song of UEdS, but the last to translate, what doesn't mean that it's not interesting:p

Souvent je vire
À l'orage
La vie chavire
À la marge
Une fille difficile
Du feu sous les cils
Désaccordée
Une fille indocile
Mais quand tu m'écris
Ecoute, reviens, pardon, tu sais, je t'aime, oublie
J'y crois, j'oublie

Faut-il me confisquer ?
Me capturer ?
Faut-il m'échapper ?
Faut-il m'aimer ?

Souvent rétive
Aux regrets
Et fugitive
À regret
Une fille indocile
Du feu sous les cils
Parfois fautive
Une fille difficile
Et si je m'en vais
J'habite encore tes bras, ta voix, tes heures, ton coeur
Comme un remords

Faut-il me confisquer ?
Me conjurer ?
Faut-il m'échapper ?
Faut-il m'aimer ?

Faut-il me confisquer ?
Me capturer ?
Faut-il m'échapper ?
Faut-il m'aimer ?

Une Fille Difficile

Often, I turn
In the storm
The life keels over
To the margin
A difficult girl
Of fire under the lashes
Disaccording
A rebellious girl (*1)
But when you write to me
Listen, come back, sorry, you know, I love you, forget
I believe you, I forget

Is it necessary to confiscate me? (*2)
Capture me?
Should I escape
Is it necessary to love me? (*3)

Often wayward (*4)
To regrets
And elusive
To regret
A rebellious girl
Of fire under the lashes
Sometimes wrong
A difficult girl
And if I'm leaving
I live in your arms again, your voice, your times, your heart
As a remorse

*1 indocile could be translated also to unruly, bit I feel that rebellious suits years of adolescence very good

*2 French have very useful and short "il faut", but it's not a problem here. Confisquer as well as confiscate in English is a word, which contains a lot of legal connotation, any other word to soften it?

*3 It may be also "Should I be loved?" (Of course:p)

*4 May be "capricious" will fit the lyrics better?

Thanks for all suggestions:)

Roman

04-06-2010, 01:31 AM

Hi Roman :), here are some things that I would suggest:
Wow! Thanks. That was a real help. Some of that I just didn't even notice. I think I agree will all of your edits.
And thanks for "for dust you are and to dust you will return."

And as for edits, I reposted someone else's fixes because there were several and it's just easier that way, but if I am making changes to something that I post, I will edit the original and post a link to it. I would actually like to ask everyone to do that because otherwise someone will come along much later and have to read through revision after revision even from the same person. You can of course credit whomever when you edit the original.
And yes, we should have an non-discussable section that just posts things like press releases, official lyrics (though I would edit all lyrics to reflect what the singer is actually singing as Amigo! points out), translations, etc.
Such a section exists at alizee-forum.com or it used to be alizee-fanpage.com. I'm not sure how up to date they are.

I will say, this community has been the best at really polishing up the discussions of translations (and interpretations), at least in the last few years.
--------------
Notes for À Coeur Fendre
1. The original has an "accent grave" on the 'a's, not a circonflexe in French.
2. It is 'vitres' not 'bitres'.
3. "ampoule" as "vial"? I don't get it. How are vial and light bulb related? If she's saying, 'I did the windows, changed the light bulb' that sounds to me like chores in a shop or something. And I would agree that 'cleaned the windows' is the most likely implication.
4. "J'ai avancé l'heure de l'aurore" - that means made dawn come earlier right? (though I agree with the translation given, just want to be clear.)
5. Since "Il gèle à coeur fendre" is a play on the other phrase, I think it helps to spell it out a bit more in order to elucidate. Thus: 'It's freezing, enough to split stone' and 'It's freezing, enough to split the heart', the latter coming after the former will make sense and retain the poetic sense.
6. yields, gives way, succumbs (with 's'!) all can mean the same thing, but I'm going with the latter.

Chuck

04-07-2010, 02:05 AM

First - WOW I been away from this thread for a while! I feel like I've been irresponsible! Especially since I didn't realize how much the work had continued! Yow! All but totally done!

Criss - you did so much! You actually finished the last song! You deserve a special prize, man. English, French, Polish, and I bet you probably know some German too, right? Any Russian or Chinese? You are a poet at heart, and an expert of words.

To Roman, Toc, Sir Wood, you guys and Criss had as much (or more) to do with straightening out these two songs below as I did. So all five of us have to sign them now. :o

RE À Coeur Fendre - as Roman pointed out, it starts with "À". Criss had it right in his translation, post #36. (he even had the "oe" smooshed together properly - whooah!) So far we've been saying the title means "A Broken Heart" or "A Split Heart", but now I'm not so sure. Maybe "To Break A Heart"? Gentlemen? Anyone?

Okay, here's the newer (& very much improved) versions of Grand Central and 14 Décembre.

Grand Central

We're here
Converse laced up
Hair let down
We've arrived
Inside
Ah how nice
In the echoes
Under the dome
It is better still
Once outside
It is so blue
It is so loud
We are so little (*1)
(I am hungry, my God, I am hungry)

Grand Central
Grand Central
Everyone heads down

Two arrows
The irritable signal lights
The crossed topcoat
Of the veteran
The policemen

Their Adam's apples
It is spring
The towers of steel
Forty-Second Street
Thousandth Avenue
The Salvation Army
There is no skyline
(It is science fiction)

Grand Central
Grand Central
Nobody waits for her, but

She was waiting for a limousine under the canopy of Tiffany's
One might have taken her for the daughter of the president, a real nuisance
Under the edges of her wide-brimmed hat crackled a Lucky
She asks me who I know on the east coast

Between azure sky and her blonde eyes, the sun chose
Edie, Edie, girl of straw, Edie of the Factory
Edie was a rather beautiful sort

Grand Central
Grand Central
Everyone heads down
Grand Central
Grand Central
Nobody waits for her, but

(*1) (Toc, apologies! Lemme 'splain: I admit, "peu" usually means "few", but sometimes "little". I personally think Etienne may have chosen "peu" instead of "petit" for the lyrical flow. To me, saying "we are so few" just couldn't have made sense in this song.

14 Décembre

December 14th at five to seven
Strong wind from the west, the city trembles
Five quaaludes, seven percosets
I go back to sleep among the ashes

Of crosses and crusaders

If tonight is war, I am dressed for it
Of all the army I have the loveliest weapons
I shall take no prisoners
Evening after evening
Dexedrine and dollars
Night after night (*2)
My life
Under a fire fed on looks
Evening after evening

Fourteenth night of December
The moon opens one lysergic eye
My taxi with darkened windows
As if unpiloted, it flies on automatic

Of crosses and crusaders
At the end of a long corridor
Music reigns as a golden idol
Where humans laughably huddle

Evening after evening
A thousand thousand small departures
Night after night
My life
Under a fire rolling on looks
Evening after evening

Evening after evening
Ten billion small departures
Night after night
My life
Under a fire rolling on looks
Evening after evening

(*2) ("nuit après nuit" also means "harm after harm". Double entendre here (or as the French would say, "double entendre"). Especially considering that: why else would the lyrics also repeat "soir après soir" ("evening after evening")?

Okay, goodnight.

BTW My (regular) copy of UEDS arrived today from Amazon.fr! But I haven't dared open it yet. Complicated, right? :blink:

Criss_pl

04-07-2010, 01:48 PM

--------------
Notes for À Coeur Fendre
1. The original has an "accent grave" on the 'a's, not a circonflexe in French.
2. It is 'vitres' not 'bitres'.
3. "ampoule" as "vial"? I don't get it. How are vial and light bulb related? If she's saying, 'I did the windows, changed the light bulb' that sounds to me like chores in a shop or something. And I would agree that 'cleaned the windows' is the most likely implication.
4. "J'ai avancé l'heure de l'aurore" - that means made dawn come earlier right? (though I agree with the translation given, just want to be clear.)
5. Since "Il gèle à coeur fendre" is a play on the other phrase, I think it helps to spell it out a bit more in order to elucidate. Thus: 'It's freezing, enough to split stone' and 'It's freezing, enough to split the heart', the latter coming after the former will make sense and retain the poetic sense.
6. yields, gives way, succumbs (with 's'!) all can mean the same thing, but I'm going with the latter.

1. corrected
2. just typo, corrected
3. Well, it's just "ampoule" which have different meanings, here it will be light bulb, but other meanings are interesting. And I understand it, as I cleaned the windows, changed burnt light bulb, so now everything is "fresh" and ready for your coming
4. Yes, dawn come earlier
5. Ok, I wrote it in longer version, I agree that short version didn't deliver full artistry of original verse
6. I think the same, I could only suppose that succumbs is the closest equivalent for French succomber

Criss - you did so much! You actually finished the last song! You deserve a special prize, man. English, French, Polish, and I bet you probably know some German too, right? Any Russian or Chinese? You are a poet at heart, and an expert of words.

Thanks!
I used to learn German for some time, but for last 3 years I didn't practiced, so I forgot most of it, but perhaps after small refreshing I could say something:) And yes, Polish, English and French (my French vocabulary is still not so good), recently I also started learning Spanish. But no Russian, even that it's a bit similar to Polish, so I can understand some words:) And absolutely no Chinese

To Roman, Toc, Sir Wood, you guys and Criss had as much (or more) to do with straightening out these two songs below as I did. So all five of us have to sign them now. :o

Yup, let's make a team:p

RE À Coeur Fendre - as Roman pointed out, it starts with "À". Criss had it right in his translation, post #36. (he even had the "oe" smooshed together properly - whooah!) So far we've been saying the title means "A Broken Heart" or "A Split Heart", but now I'm not so sure. Maybe "To Break A Heart"? Gentlemen? Anyone?

I will be for To break a heart. Fendre is in infinitive form, but after the cœur, where adjectives are usually placed, interesting thing.

(*1) (Toc, apologies! Lemme 'splain: I admit, "peu" usually means "few", but sometimes "little". I personally think Etienne may have chosen "peu" instead of "petit" for the lyrical flow. To me, saying "we are so few" just couldn't have made sense in this song.

Good point, I didn't noticed that.

BTW My (regular) copy of UEDS arrived today from Amazon.fr! But I haven't dared open it yet. Complicated, right? :blink:

You're Lucky:)

Roman

04-08-2010, 08:21 AM

...
RE À Coeur Fendre - as Roman pointed out, it starts with "À". Criss had it right in his translation, post #36. (he even had the "oe" smooshed together properly - whooah!) So far we've been saying the title means "A Broken Heart" or "A Split Heart", but now I'm not so sure. Maybe "To Break A Heart"? Gentlemen? Anyone?
Yes, it is nice to put in the œ "ligature", but even the French rarely bother; so...
And I explained...
5. Since "Il gèle à coeur fendre" is a play on the other phrase, I think it helps to spell it out a bit more in order to elucidate. Thus: 'It's freezing, enough to split stone' and 'It's freezing, enough to split the heart', the latter coming after the former will make sense and retain the poetic sense.(*1) (Toc, apologies! Lemme 'splain: I admit, "peu" usually means "few", but sometimes "little". I personally think Etienne may have chosen "peu" instead of "petit" for the lyrical flow. To me, saying "we are so few" just couldn't have made sense in this song. Well, from what I see, it sometimes can mean little as an adverbe. E.g. J’ai peu mangé. I have eaten little. It still means little in the sense of quantity. However, I suppose it could be short for "peu de" as in "Nous sommes si peu de chose..." http://ecriplume.unblog.fr/2010/02/07/nous-sommes-si-peu-de-chose/. Especially in this context where it does seem to be there in order to rhyme with "bleu", I guess I can agree that it perhaps means "diminutive"--"we are not much". So, how about "We are so slight"?
...
I will be for To break a heart. Fendre is in infinitive form, but after the cœur, where adjectives are usually placed, interesting thing.

Look this up at Wordreference.com. It is an old saying and a set phrase--il gèle à pierre fendre. Since the preposition à is used, I think one can expect a verbal phrase after it (or whatever that's called). So, I think, "Il gèle à fendre une pierre." would mean the same, but is perhaps a structure that is not and was not used at the time that phrase came along. It's a set phrase so the idea of "enough to" is implied. Thus, you can not really translate it by the words alone without knowing how the French use the phrase (and/or similar phrases).

Well, I can only do one song at a time here; so, just wait! I'll have something to say about those others.
---------
You know what. Uh, are we even listening to these songs? I keep hearing it and forgetting to look into it until now...
in Grand Central we are missing a line:
Deux flèches
Les feux revêches
Le manteau croisé
Les épaules carrées
Du vétéran
Les policiers

Two arrows
The grumpy signal lights (which seems to be what the two arrows refer to. Again, train lights? Couldn't find a photo. Who'd ever think that anyone would care about that?)
The crossed topcoat
The squared shoulders
Of the veteran
The policemen
---------
And... I was just listening to something yesterday which used feuilleton to mean serial and was talking about a tv show. Some maybe des feuilles was indeed just to distinguish and refer to the newspaper or magazine or whatever that was (obviously the original meaning).

Edit:

--------------
"14 décembre"

December 14th from five to seven (at five to seven = 6:55, from five to seven = 5:00 - 7:00 sounds like it relates to some performance or something?)
Strong wind from the west, the city trembles
Five quaaludes, seven percosets
I go back to sleep among the ashes

Crosses and crusaders (des is often just used to mean plural and "of" is not needed in English)

If tonight is war, I am dressed for it
In all the army I have the finest weapons
I shall take no prisoners

Evening after evening
Dexedrine and dollars
Night after night (nuit après nuit - I think that just means night after night and it replaces soir après soir just because they can and the song becomes more interesting because there's a little change while remaining similar. Where'd you get "harm after harm" come from?)
My life
Under a heavy fire of looks/glances *1
Evening after evening

Fourteenth night of December
The moon opens a lysergic eye
My taxi with darkened windows
As if without a pilot, speeds by on automatic

Crosses and crusaders

At the end of a long corridor
The music reigns like a golden idol
Where the humans ridiculously arrange themselves *3 (note to Sir Wood, s'accoler is reflexive; so, they do it to themselves, it's not by someone)

Evening after evening
A thousand thousand small departures
Night after night
My life
Under a continuous barrage of looks/glances
Evening after evening

Evening after evening
Ten billion small departures
Night after night
My life
Under a continuous barrage of looks/glances *2
Evening after evening

*1 regards means regards/looks/glances, feu nourri means heavy fire
*2 feu roulant is a method of attack that generically means something like continuous barrage
*3 this is an approximation which could be translated a number of ways that mean the same thing

Roman

04-10-2010, 03:32 AM

---------------
"Mes Fantômes"

Oh mes fantômes, mes zones sombres, mes heures d'ombre, mes dangers, mes mirages
Oh mes erreurs, mes faux-fuyants, mes cousus blanc, mes histoires, mes calvaires
Oh mes enfants, mes feux filants, dieux innocents, mes héros solitaires
Oh mes amours, nos jeux troublants, tes yeux brûlants, mes larmes, mes miracles

Oh mes secrets, mes œuvres au noir, sans l'air d'y croire, mes regrets, mes silences
Oh mon enfant, mon diamant noir, mon solitaire, mon petit, ma prière
Oh mes instants, mes incendies, mes drames éclair, mes incidents, mes siècles

(with some fixes and opinions by me. Read throught the lyrics now and I think you will see that each section has a consistency of meaning; so hopefully that means that this is rather good.)

Oh my phantoms, my dark sides, my hours of shadow, my dangers, my illusions
Oh my mistakes, my excuses, my gross insubtleties *1, my histories, my ordeals
Oh my children, my shooting stars, innocent gods, my lone heros
Oh my loves, our troubling games, your burning eyes, my tears, my miracles

Oh my secrets, my dark works *2, without seeming to believe them, my regrets, my silences
Oh my child, my black diamond, my loner *3, my little one, my prayer
Oh my moments, my fires, my brief dramas *4, my incidents, my centuries

*1 look up: cousu de fil blanc
*2 Generally it just refers to the color black in paintings or drawings, but also is metaphoric and means dark ideas.
*3 Take note that the line is: mon diamant noir, mon solitaire. A solitaire can refer to a diamond as well; so, there's probably a bit of a play on words there.
*4 here and gone, quick like a flash

Well, Sir Wood, don't feel so bad. They have errors on the web site too. In this song where it says uvres, it should be œuvres. Maybe the software couldn't handle the ligature and they didn't notice. Anyway, there are errors in other songs too, which I will point out when I get there.

User22

04-10-2010, 07:18 PM

Ok so sorry guys that I am not skilled with, or have the time to translate these amazing songs. I was wondering if someone would like to post all the songs you guys have done so far...that would be amazing and thanks!

sumi1

04-11-2010, 02:11 AM

Fall

04-11-2010, 03:18 AM

Okay, so I shamelessly copied the translations to make a PDF for taking a print out. The pdf is attached here. I apologize in advance for any mistakes. Let me know if you find any and I will correct them.

PS: Attached as a zip file due to size limit for PDF files.
thanks very much Sumi, I noticed from their translation and your pdf that there is an extra Candida after Ciega in the song but not in the translation, so I added that in there :)
I also agree with Alex's edit of "I'm dying." Besides that, their translations are okeydokey :D Here it is:
<link rel="File-List" href="file:///C:%5CUsers%5CRemmy%5CAppData%5CLocal%5CTemp%5Cmsoh tml1%5C01%5Cclip_filelist.xml"><style>  </style>[I]La Candida (The Naive One)

I’m here you're there
For me you'll return
I'm dying I'm dying

I know you're faithful
Never lie
You'll never forget.
There is no other.
Who would you love
if not me?

Im the naive one
In love
I believe in you

I'm the naive one
You do not deceive me.
You think of me.

I know you're faithful
Never Lie
I'm dying I'm dying
Happy, without me?
Oh god you couldn't
You live here
Here very much here
Only for me.
I believe in you

I'm the naive one
In love
You think of me

I'm the naive one
You do not deceive me.
You think of me.

Naive

Blind

Naive

Fèvier

04-11-2010, 08:08 PM

I recently found this site:

http://alizee-reflections.net/

any clue as to who it is?

Merci Alizée

04-11-2010, 08:27 PM

I recently found this site:

http://alizee-reflections.net/

any clue as to who it is?

docdtv can answer that.

DannyMac524

04-11-2010, 08:38 PM

Just got my copy of Alizée's new CD from Amazon.fr. Awesome!

User22

04-11-2010, 10:32 PM

Congrats DannyMac!

And does anyone have any finished translations of any of her songs on UEDS?

Cause I wanna see some final ones since I am anxious to see what she is saying. But no rush and thanks for translating:D

ImRawdg

04-11-2010, 11:05 PM

I recently found this site:

http://alizee-reflections.net/

any clue as to who it is?

I've never known who it is but I've used it for lyrics since my early Alizée days for very accessible translations side by side with the actual lyrics. I highly recommend it.

Chuck

04-12-2010, 12:03 AM

A quick "whois" lookup reveals that alizee-reflections.net is registered to a Michael D____ in Dublin. That's in Ireland!

And I agree with Rawdg - that site is a treasure trove! Early on, I tried to do translations of Alizée's songs myself. What a chore! Then I discovered alizee-reflections and this site, and the rest is history.

Aaronius, for finished translations, you'll just have to scroll up this thread until you get to the last versions posted for each of the songs. That may all you can do, I don't know if any of the other translators are coming back to work here or not. Personally, there's still only one or two things I might want to change or add to the trans`s of "Grand Central" and/or "14 Décembre". But no guarantee how soon I'd be back to do that - I'm planning to ask some French pen-pals.

Therefore, I recommend you do that, go ahead and start putting these onto your other thread. If anything else comes up later, we can just message you with whatever specific edits we still might feel compelled to get in there.

I mean - the good people of the forum want and need what you're trying to provide! But if you wait until all the translators involved say they're all completely done with all ten songs*, you'll be as old as me!
_________
*Ben, dammit, when are you ever gonna get that "Limelight" done and up here? :blink:

User22

04-12-2010, 12:12 AM

Oh hey don't worry about it. I was expecting you guys to get it done in maybe a couple of months, cause I heard the Psych translations took a while to perfect. So yah no rush.

And I was going to try and wait until all the UEDS trans were done so I can update the file so one could download every trans in existence of her songs...but I will see whats in here and decide if I want to post 'em one by one or whatever. I was hoping maybe AF would do the translations so I could just cite 'em:oCause they seem to get it done at the speed of light, those darn AF'rs:rolleyes:

Toc De Mac

04-12-2010, 05:58 PM

Wow, rereading the lyrics of Grand Central I can't believe we didn't understand earlier: "Tout le monde descend." = "Everybody gets off." It is a train station after all. :p

(*1) (Toc, apologies! Lemme 'splain: I admit, "peu" usually means "few", but sometimes "little". I personally think Etienne may have chosen "peu" instead of "petit" for the lyrical flow. To me, saying "we are so few" just couldn't have made sense in this song.

Okay, I was just thinking of Grand Central being full to the brim with people, and, after getting off the train, Alizée and co. (or whoever is speaking) realize how few they are in comparison to the crowd. :)

Roman

04-13-2010, 01:14 AM

Wow, rereading the lyrics of Grand Central I can't believe we didn't understand earlier: "Tout le monde descend." = "Everybody gets off." It is a train station after all. :p
Okay, I was just thinking of Grand Central being full to the brim with people, and, after getting off the train, Alizée and co. (or whoever is speaking) realize how few they are in comparison to the crowd. :)
Oh my god. Now I feel like a real idiot. Thanks for the suggestion. :p

Oh, and I just noticed that unfortunately they changed from the original lyrics a bit I guess because at the end there was 'everyone gets off' and then followed by 'no one waits for her' and having that together we can understand what is being said there. Interestingly, the original followed those with ,mais ('but'), leaving me of course to wonder "but what?". :) I wonder if some tiny nuance of the story was lost there.

Hey, I seem to recall in my talk with Rob a few months ago that he said he'd do translations. I wonder if I could get a hold of him again. Hmmm.

User22

04-13-2010, 01:18 AM

Since when did you talk to Rob?!?! That is so Awesome! And yah if you could hook us up with tranny's from him that'd be amazing:D That would speed stuff up faster then the LHC:D

Criss_pl

04-13-2010, 10:36 AM

I put all my translations in this post, they are last available versions till now. Thanks to Toc De Mac, Roman Sir Woos, Chuck and all other who contributed:)

A Cœur fendre

I forced the door of hell
I broke the forbidden seal
For you

Diverted the course of a volcano
To warm up your trembling arms
For you

The sky is dark
The life is bleak
It's freezing, enough to split stone
I'm cold

I advanced the hour of dawn
I hurried the return of flowers
For you

I cleaned the windows, changed the light bulb
Silenced the screams of the crowd
For you

The century collapses
Debris, rubble
It's freezing, enough to split heart
I'm cold

There's no more noise in the winter garden
We shelter under the opposite branches

Without you, the world
Wavers, succumbs
It's freezing, enough to split heart
I'm cold

Without you

Mes Fantômes

Oh my phantoms my dark sides, my hours of darkness, my dangers, my illusions
Oh my mistakes, my excuses, my gross insubtleties*, my histories, my ordeals
Oh my children, my lights, innocent gods, my lone heros
Oh my loves, our troubling games, your burning eyes, my tears, my miracles

Oh my secrets, my dark works, without seeming to believe, my regrets, my silences
Oh my child, my black diamond, my loner*, my little one, my prayer
Oh my moments, my fires, my brief dramas, my incidents, my centuries.

Factory girl

It's the end of the ballad
For lovable teen
Lonely facing Hasselblad
Split from bottom to top

Lifeless, submissive
Behaving as little soldier
Examined back and forth
Three-quarter profile

Factory Girl
On the edge of the mirror
Factory Girl
All the colors of night

It's a dive into the abyss
of a young bird of prey
Obedient to laws of analog
Film, which falls

Seen form above it's sublime
No, nothing will disappoint you
Only diving into the abyss
Has more splendour

Factory girl
Last drama, Last scene
Factory girl
It's barely worth

Factory Girl
We will resume tomorrow
Factory Girl
Until the end of ends of end of ends of ends

Une Fille Difficile

Often, I turn
In the storm
The life keels over
To the margin
A difficult girl
Of fire under the lashes
Disaccording
A rebellious girl
But when you write to me
Listen, come back, sorry, you know, I love you, forget
I believe you, I forget

Is it necessary to confiscate me?
Capture me?
Should I escape
Is it necessary to love me?

Often wayward
To regrets
And elusive
To regret
A rebellious girl
Of fire under the lashes
Sometimes wrong
A difficult girl
And if I'm leaving
I live in your arms again, your voice, your times, your heart
As a remorse

Is it necessary to confiscate me?
Beg me?
Should I escape
Is it necessary to love me?

Is it necessary to confiscate me?
Capture me?
Should I escape
Is it necessary to love me?

Now, I need your help to put the footnotes where they are absolutely necessary as you know what could be unclear to readers. Well, actually it's you who use English everyday, in contrary to me, so let me know what should be explained.

Also, I need help with translating "Il faut", Something shorter and better fitting the lyrics than "Is it necessary"?

Chuck

04-14-2010, 12:56 AM

Wow, rereading the lyrics of Grand Central I can't believe we didn't understand earlier: "Tout le monde descend." = "Everybody gets off." It is a train station after all. :p

Exactly right! I'm recently told that that's what the French conductors say. (...NYC conductors, though?)

And then Roman said "Oh my god. Now I feel like a real idiot." I'd like to say I feel like a real idiot, too. But I'm used to the feeling.

I'm actually pretty busy today. (so why am I here? Taking a break from the 1040's.) But I'll be back to update Grand Central and 14 Dec real soon, if someone doesn't beat me to it.

CRISS: RE THE "IL FAUTS" - here's my thoughts...
"Is it necessary to confiscate me?" could be changed to
"Does someone have to kidnap me?"

"Is it necessary to love me?" - This can stay exactly as you did it. Seems fine!

Rev

04-14-2010, 01:06 AM

Exactly right! I'm recently told that that's what the French conductors say. (...NYC conductors, though?)

And then Roman said "Oh my god. Now I feel like a real idiot." I'd like to say I feel like a real idiot, too. But I'm used to the feeling.

I'm actually pretty busy today. (so why am I here? Taking a break from the 1040's.) But I'll be back to update Grand Central and 14 Dec real soon, if someone doesn't beat me to it.

CRISS: RE THE "IL FAUTS" - here's my thoughts...
"Is it necessary to confiscate me?" could be changed to
"Does someone have to kidnap me?"

"Is it necessary to love me?" - This can stay exactly as you did it. Seems fine!

Is there a word that is halfway between the two (confiscate & kidnap), such as capture, or ...?

Criss_pl

04-14-2010, 12:35 PM

CRISS: RE THE "IL FAUTS" - here's my thoughts...
"Is it necessary to confiscate me?" could be changed to
"Does someone have to kidnap me?"

[QUOTE=Rev;160568]Is there a word that is halfway between the two (confiscate & kidnap), such as capture, or ...?

For me kidnap contents too much negative connotations, but I could be wrong I agree that it should be something between them, but capture is in following verse, so I try to avoid it. I have plenty of possibilities of verbs... but in Polish:) In English I'd rather lean to "seize".

User22

04-14-2010, 12:43 PM

Man so it looks like you guys got half the songs down! Nice! Has anyone done La Candida yet? Or should I ask one of our spanish-speaking members to?

O wait I bet AlizeeLatino has it...

Criss_pl

04-14-2010, 01:40 PM

Man so it looks like you guys got half the songs down! Nice! Has anyone done La Candida yet? Or should I ask one of our spanish-speaking members to?

O wait I bet AlizeeLatino has it...

Read carefully and you find every song, including Eden Eden (by Roman) Grand Central and 14 décémbre (by Chuck), Les Collines (by Toc De Mac), La Candida (by Amigo!), À cœur fendre, Factory girl, Une fille difficile and Mes fantômes (accidentaly by me)
Nine of ten songs are down, as Limelight translation is still being made by Ben afaik :p

CFHollister

04-14-2010, 08:07 PM

First the original French text:

À Cœur fendre

J'ai forcé la porte des enfers
J'ai rompu le sceau défendu
Pour toi

Détourné le cours d'un volcan
Pour réchauffer tes bras tremblants
Pour toi

Le ciel est noir
La vie est sombre
Il gèle à pierre fendre
J'ai froid

J'ai avancé l'heure de l'aurore
J'ai brusqué le retour des fleurs
Pour toi

J'ai fait les vitres, changé l'ampoule
Etouffé les cris de la foule
Pour toi

Le siècle s'effondre
Débris, décombres
Il gèle à cœur fendre
J'ai froid

Il n'y a plus un bruit dans le jardin d'hiver
Nous nous abritons sous les ramures contraires

Sans toi, le monde
Vacille, succombe
Il gèle à coeur fendre
J'ai froid

(Sans toi)

Now for the English translation. Feel free to criticize and list all my faults:) I'll edit it.

A Cœur fendre

I forced the door of hell
I broke the forbidden seal
For you

Diverted the course of a volcano
To warm up your trembling arms
For you

The sky is dark
The life is bleak (*1)
It's freezing, enough to split stone(*2)
I'm cold

I advanced the hour of dawn
I hurried the return of flowers
For you

I cleaned the windows, changed the light bulb (*3)
Silenced the screams of the crowd
For you

The century collapses
Debris, rubble
It's freezing, enough to split heart (*4)
I'm cold

There's no more noise in the winter garden
We shelter under the opposite branches

Without you, the world
Wavers, succumbs
It's freezing, enough to split heart (*4)
I'm cold

Without you

This song, as every song, needs a set of footnotes

*1 Could be also 'sombre', as in French lyrics

*2 'Il gèle a pierre fendre' literally means "It's so cold, that the rocks split."; Roman proposed that this verse should be better elucidated, so I spelled it a bit more

*4 'Il gèle a cœur fendre' literally "It's so cold, that the heart splits". The same as above, but with heart instead of rock

*3 I had so many problems with the verse: "J'ai fait les vitres, changé l'ampoule"
My imagination bring me a lot of possible fantastic interpretations. But still, those words about silence, wrecks, scraps, winter, cold bring me a thoughts that maybe it's a song about the death. She misses a person, who she is singing about. She made everything ready, but he doesn't come. It brings me a Cœur déjà pris song on my mind; it's very similar.

While at work today I attempted my own translation, without having read this one first. In some places I stuck more to the literal, and in others I was a little more free and tried to make a better interpretation into english. What do you think of this version (changes in red):

I've forced the gate of hell (1)
I've broken the forbidden seal (1)
For you

Diverted a volcano's flow (2)
To warm [deleted] your trembling arms
For you

The sky is black
[deleted] Life is dark (3)
It's so cold, stone splits (4)
I'm cold

I've advanced the hour of dawn (1)
I've hurried the return of flowers (1)
For you

I've done the windows, changed the light bulb (1, 5)
Silenced the screams of the mob
For you

The century collapses
Debris, rubble
It's so cold, the heart breaks (4)
I'm cold

There's not but a sound in the winter garden (6, 7)
We shelter under the opposite branches

Without you, the world
Flickers, Dies (8)
It's so cold, the heart breaks (4)
I'm cold

Without you

Notes:
1) I think it's important to preserve what's called present perfect tense/aspect (whatever it's called in french) that is present in the original: J'ai [past participle] = I have (I've) [past participle]

2) English retains the vestiges of the genitive case (the possessive, [noun]'s) while french has pretty much totally discarded it (except in possessive pronouns), using the prepositional construction "de [noun]" instead. This has the same denotation as the english equivalent "of [noun]" but the connotation in english between the two is usually off. Here I opted for the genitive construction which I think is more natural.

3) French usually retains definite articles on abstract nouns where english almost always deleted the definite articles on abstract nouns (though not 100% of the time, often for emphasis). but more often than not "la vie" should be rendered as "life" (not "the life").

4) I know I got a little loose mixing the literal and interpreting the line. But I think these renderings better capture the meaning in english even if it's traveled a good distance from the original in french. I also think the brevity (fewer words used) serves the impact of the line better.

5) I like keeping "fait" closer to the literal in english "done" because it retains the same pattern in english when we talk about menial chores; "I did the laundry," "I did the dishes." I think this retains the intent of the line; that she's done all the little menial things for (him) as well.

6) Here's a very English english (as opposed to American) expression which I really like here. "there's not but a [noun]" translates more directly into American english as "there isn't even a [noun". I just this this cadence works better in english and also preserves the placement of un bruit/a sound at the end of the phrase, which I also like.

7) I think "noise" carries a connotation of a sound that it somehow out of place. For example, say you're watching TV with a friend (the volume is on) and your friend suddenly asks "Do you hear a noise?"... the emphasis is on a sound that is somehow out of place. but if he had instead asked "Do you hear a sound?" the question now seems a little strange; of course you hear a sound, the TV is on. Since the emphasis of the line seems to be on the total silence of the garden, the absence of sound, rather than just the absence of unwanted or out of place noises.

8) In my dictionary these words also came up for vacille and succombe, respectively. I think the imagery of this rendering is more powerful and beatiful... conjuring the image of one's internal flame being snuffed out, rather than just a staggering person... more e representation of an internal death than an external one.

User22

04-14-2010, 08:57 PM

Would you fine men be a doll and post all the song translations:Dhaha.

But the question CF, are they at their full potential yet?not being mean:D

Fall

04-14-2010, 09:01 PM

I believe the La Candida one certainly is. Of course anybody is welcome to revise it. I think Amigo and Alex did a great job on it though. :)

CFHollister

04-14-2010, 09:03 PM

Would you fine men be a doll and post all the song translations:Dhaha.

But the question CF, are they at their full potential yet?not being mean:D

I think they could use polishing before being posted to the database (see my post below). Speaking of the database, some of the ones already there need work too. I was scanning over them the other day and finding english grammar errors (I particularly remember some issues with have/has agreement).

User22

04-14-2010, 09:27 PM

I think they could use polishing before being posted to the database (see my post below). Speaking of the database, some of the ones already there need work too. I was scanning over them the other day and finding english grammar errors (I particularly remember some issues with have/has agreement).

I definitely should skim over them and originally I just wanted them to be translations where they could get the point across quite well but I will go back in and change the grammatical errors...And thanks for the update on the UEDS trans:)

Sir Wood

04-15-2010, 12:12 AM

The thing with translations is that everyone has their own interpretation. That is why alizee-reflections.net displays 3 formats:

1. Original lyrics
2. Literal transations
3. Complimentry interpretation

When I look at it, I tend to try to keep to the literal sense but not word for word. e.g. Eden Eden... faucons can mean falcons or hawks. Roman prefer "hawks" and I "falcons" in the translation but in all essence it means birds of prey. At least that is how I see that passage.

(I need to find time to look at some of the other translations. LOL :o )

CFHollister

04-15-2010, 02:49 AM

Before it get's bumped off the first page, no comments on my ideas on the translation :(

Criss_pl

04-15-2010, 11:47 AM

Notes:
1) I think it's important to preserve what's called present perfect tense/aspect (whatever it's called in french) that is present in the original: J'ai [past participle] = I have (I've) [past participle]

Well, Passe compose originally corresponds to perfect tense, but nowadays it's mainly used to express finished actions, so I decided to use Simple Past instead of Perfect. It seems to me that all actions mentioned in song are finished and "closed", since near the end she says "without you" in present tense, so now he is gone and everything what she did before is now unimportant.
But it's just the thing of interpretation. I think that, you think differently:)

2) English retains the vestiges of the genitive case (the possessive, [noun]'s) while french has pretty much totally discarded it (except in possessive pronouns), using the prepositional construction "de [noun]" instead. This has the same denotation as the english equivalent "of [noun]" but the connotation in english between the two is usually off. Here I opted for the genitive construction which I think is more natural.

It was in my first translation, so I probably just go back to it.

3) French usually retains definite articles on abstract nouns where english almost always deleted the definite articles on abstract nouns (though not 100% of the time, often for emphasis). but more often than not "la vie" should be rendered as "life" (not "the life").

I give up when it comes to define articles between French and English:p But I agree with you, "The life" sounds not so good.

4) I know I got a little loose mixing the literal and interpreting the line. But I think these renderings better capture the meaning in english even if it's traveled a good distance from the original in french. I also think the brevity (fewer words used) serves the impact of the line better.

I went into more literal route, just issue of one's interpretation:)

5) I like keeping "fait" closer to the literal in english "done" because it retains the same pattern in english when we talk about menial chores; "I did the laundry," "I did the dishes." I think this retains the intent of the line; that she's done all the little menial things for (him) as well.

It strictly refers to point 1 "I did" or "I've done"

6) Here's a very English english (as opposed to American) expression which I really like here. "there's not but a [noun]" translates more directly into American english as "there isn't even a [noun". I just this this cadence works better in english and also preserves the placement of un bruit/a sound at the end of the phrase, which I also like.

If it's really, really English I like it:)

7) I think "noise" carries a connotation of a sound that it somehow out of place. For example, say you're watching TV with a friend (the volume is on) and your friend suddenly asks "Do you hear a noise?"... the emphasis is on a sound that is somehow out of place. but if he had instead asked "Do you hear a sound?" the question now seems a little strange; of course you hear a sound, the TV is on. Since the emphasis of the line seems to be on the total silence of the garden, the absence of sound, rather than just the absence of unwanted or out of place noises.

Yes, agree, "noise" is too 'loud' word here. Even a silent sound breaks the absolute silence in the winter garden

8) In my dictionary these words also came up for vacille and succombe, respectively. I think the imagery of this rendering is more powerful and beatiful... conjuring the image of one's internal flame being snuffed out, rather than just a staggering person... more e representation of an internal death than an external one.

There is a lot of possibilities here, but I had to decide put something and chosen those. Again, it's the think of interpreter:)

Overall, everyone has its own thoughts on particular song, so it's hard to make an absolutely definitive translation of a song.

CFHollister

04-15-2010, 05:34 PM

Thanks for replying to my suggestions. You're right, many of them are differences in interpretation which I think help preserve more of the emotional impact of the song or to take off the edges that make the translated text sound like a translation.

However, the one major thing that I think is important for "correctness" is retaining the tense of the original. What you call the passé composé (J'ai [past particple]) corresponds to the english present perfect (I've [past participle]). I think this not only a more direct literal translation but is also important in retaining the voice of the original... i.e. she seems to be listing all the things she's done for him not all the things she does or is doing (since if you were to translate the english version with the verbs changed to simple present to french, you now allow verbs to take on the connotation of the english present continuous since french does not have a construction for this tense and just uses the simple present).

Roman

04-15-2010, 06:18 PM

------------
À cœur fendre

I will make my notes in green amongst yours.
Notes:
1) I think it's important to preserve what's called present perfect tense - well, I don't really know why you think that's important. It's a fairly minor issue in English and the French use it quite indiscriminately. It's not like anyone is going to insist on using the passé simple instead. But it does sound at least as good your way. I think it's more about that in this case. I'm changing mine.

2) English retains bla bla bla. Yeah, it's again just about what sounds better not that the meaning is changed at all, but especially for polishing up an "official" AAm translation, I'll agree both of your changes here sound better.

3) The sky is black
Life is dark
Yeah, I'm changing mine to this. Just like it better.

4) ...these renderings better capture the meaning in english even if it's traveled a good distance from the original in french. I also think the brevity (fewer words used) serves the impact of the line better. I said it the way I did to explain and show the connection between the two parts of the song, the two sets of lyrics, but I see a translation on WR of "fendre le cœur à qn" as "to break sb's heart". Again, I think I will change it and just note in the footnotes the relationship. *2 'Il gèle a pierre fendre' literally means "It's freezing (enough) to split stone" *4 It's a play on the common phrase from *2 but means heart break obviously.

5) I like keeping "fait" closer to the literal in english "done" ... Yeah, I should have said that too and then in the footnote one can mention the interpretation * "done" probably means clean just as we might say in English. But it could mean something else, some other chore related to the windows. One gets the point either way.

6) Here's a very English english (as opposed to American) expression which I really like here. "there's not but a [noun]" translates more directly into American english as "there isn't even a [noun". I just this this cadence works better in english and also preserves the placement of un bruit/a sound at the end of the phrase, which I also like. I disagree. In American English "there's not but a sound in the garden," means the only thing in the garden is a sound. The French means that there was some noise, but now there isn't. Those are two different things. "There is not but a sound" makes no sense to me and would translate in my mind as "Il n'y a qu'un bruit..." in any case. This could be, "There is no longer noise/[a sound] in the winter garden." however.

7) I think that noise also carries the connotation of loud sound that is unwanted rather than necessarily strange or out of place. The jardin may have been busy with people and things going on--there was activity and "noise" there, but now that it's winter, it's silent. By the way, jardin also just means "yard", not necessarily garden as we would think of it, though here it is jardin d'hiver and besides that being the title of several songs (which one could investigate for possible relevance) it seems to refer in particular to an enclosed area with windows http://www.linternaute.com/femmes/decoration/magazine/enquete/votre-maison-ideale-ce-serait/image/jardin-d-hiver-409417.jpg (if that helps at all).

8) In my dictionary these words also came up for vacille and succombe, respectively. I think the imagery of this rendering is more powerful and beatiful... conjuring the image of one's internal flame being snuffed out, rather than just a staggering person... more e representation of an internal death than an external one. Well, and your version is more easily understandable anyway. I'll change mine.
Unfortunately I agree that the last time I looked (year ago?), even 7 to 10 year old songs haven't been translated all that well and I don't know if there is any translation for Toc De Mac.
And I do a lot of commenting in my footnotes, but indeed I think there is a difference between interpretation and translation. Especially since this album is supposed to follow the thread of a story, I'd like to at some point go through and add more interpretation to all of this (sorry I never got around to it with Décollage). Looking at À cœur fendre for example, I really wonder how this fits with the life of Edie and the rest of the album. It seems kind of generic in that sense. It may simply be that. It's really hard to tell. I wish they had put more into talking about all of this and the life in the "Roman", but then whatever they say about the album, they are songs after all and will be enjoyed and interpreted as any art would.

Fèvier

04-15-2010, 06:34 PM

------------
À cœur fendre

I will make my notes in green amongst yours.
Unfortunately I agree that the last time I looked (year ago?), even 7 to 10 year old songs haven't been translated all that well and I don't know if there is any translation for Toc De Mac.
And I do a lot of commenting in my footnotes, but indeed I think there is a difference between interpretation and translation. Especially since this album is supposed to follow the thread of a story, I'd like to at some point go through and add more interpretation to all of this (sorry I never got around to it with Décollage). Looking at À cœur fendre for example, I really wonder how this fits with the life of Edie and the rest of the album. It seems kind of generic in that sense. It may simply be that. It's really hard to tell. I wish they had put more into talking about all of this and the life in the "Roman", but then whatever they say about the album, they are songs after all and will be enjoyed and interpreted as any art would.

well I don't know French so I can't help with translating but as for any translation for Toc De Mac, there is this website:
http://alizee-reflections.net/toc_de_mac.html

CFHollister

04-15-2010, 06:41 PM

Roman:

Glad I could contribute. I think your comments are pretty accurate. I tried looking for your version, and scanning through the thread I didn't see it. Could you repost it with those contributions from my version that you incorporated so that I can see the consolidated version?

User22

04-15-2010, 09:37 PM

Yah Roman how have you not found Toc De Mac translated? Everyone and their dog has seen it haha. But yah....I'm sorry to say I'm not interested in the story of this album....I just love her melodious voice:wub:

Roman

04-15-2010, 10:53 PM

------------
Factory Girl

Ok, my favorite song i think. Finally I get to it. I will put changes in red.
The lyrics are not as endearing as in various other songs unfortunately, but the sound of the song is what has made me like it the most and ultimately that's what counts, right? (especially for a non-native speaker)

It's the end of the ballad
For lovable teen
Alone facing the Hasselblad *1
Split from bottom to top *2

Lifeless, submissive
Like a toy soldier *3
Scrutinized up and down *4
Three-quarter profile

Factory Girl
On the mirror's edge
Factory Girl
All the colors of darkness *5

It's the plunge into the abyss
Of a young bird of prey
Obedient to the laws of silver
Film, which wanes *6

Seen from above it's sublime
No, nothing disappoints you
There is nothing but more glamour
In the plunge into the abyss

Factory girl
Last drama, last scene
Factory girl
It's hardly any trouble

Factory Girl
We will resume tomorrow
Factory Girl
Until the end of ends of end of ends of ends

*1 Hasselblad is a brand of camera, in this line we also know that we are speaking of a female because of the French gender markers on words
*2 Not sure what this means—something about her clothing?
*3 There are various uses of this term. I'm not exactly sure, but it just seems to mean like a doll or toy posed.
*4 I use this translation because it is more of a natural phrase in English, but the original may indeed also imply something of treating her like an inanimate object (scanning an item at the grocery store comes to mind because of the Google translation: scanned back and forth)
*5 noir can be black or dark. I think it is taking the meaning of possibly both with an overtone of "dark things", negativity.
*6 previously traditional film which is going out of style

Oh yeah and by the way Sir Wood, on IMDB, the French title for Black Hawk Down is La chute du faucon noir; so, IN YOUR FACE! LOL :p just kidding! I know, now I'm asking for it.

Criss_pl

04-17-2010, 11:00 AM

[...]

Thanks for your translation. I'm impressed how many French words have their exact equivalents: scrutinize and plunge for example. I simplified lyrics a bit, by using dive and examine. But I realized that those last translations posted by me aren't the most polished versions, there are lot of little mistakes there, which I deleted later, but accidentally post wasn't updated.

Roman

04-20-2010, 12:26 AM

Thanks for your translation. I'm impressed how many French words have their exact equivalents: scrutinize and plunge for example. I simplified lyrics a bit, by using dive and examine. But I realized that those last translations posted by me aren't the most polished versions, there are lot of little mistakes there, which I deleted later, but accidentally post wasn't updated.Yeah, sometimes the words that are very similar to the French work best, sometimes they don't. It's funny, I had no idea what scrutée meant before I looked it up or saw your translation, then it seemed obvious.

Chuck

04-20-2010, 02:30 AM

2 Roman - Sheeet, thanks for catching the missing (square-shouldered) line! Holy épaulettes, Batman, where would we have been without you!?

Grand Central

We're here
Converse laced up
Hair let down
We've arrived
Inside
Ah how nice
In the echoes
Under the dome
It is better still
Once outside
It is so blue
It is so loud
We are so little
(I am hungry, my God, I am hungry)

Grand Central
Grand Central
Everyone step down

Two arrows
The irritable signal lights
The crossed topcoat
The square shoulders
Of the veteran
The policemen
Their Adam's apples
It is spring
The towers of steel
Forty-Second Street
Thousandth Avenue
The Salvation Army
There is no skyline
(It is science fiction)

Grand Central
Grand Central
Nobody waits for her, but

She was waiting for a limousine under the canopy of Tiffany's
One might have taken her for the daughter of the president, a real nuisance
Under the edges of her wide-brimmed hat crackled a Lucky
She asks me who I know on the east coast

Between azure sky and her blonde eyes, the sun chose
Edie, Edie, girl of straw, Edie of the Factory
Edie was a rather beautiful sort

Grand Central
Grand Central
Everyone step down

Grand Central
Grand Central
Nobody waits for her, but

And some new notes for 14 Décembre:
(First, I'm capitalizing 'Décembre' cuz it's in a title.)
Second, this song imagines a day in Edie Sedgwick's life in late `67. J-R Etienne himself was overheard telling some fans why he'd chosen this date - only because it could be seen as a typical day. Personally, I think the sound of the date "quatorze décembre" and the imagery of mid-december were all the reasons they needed. (If it was about Oct. 16th ("seize octobre") or some other date, the song would have been quite different, and the rhythm would've suffered.)

&@ROMAN - YOU WUZ RIGHT AGAIN!
I asked some folks, and now we have some good (french-speaking) authority to shed light on "sous un feu nourri/roulant de regards"... Apparently the whole song has a lot of military references all over it, and these lines are no exception. "Feu nourri" and "feu roulant" are indeeed, as you said, referring to being "under fire". "Sous un feu nourri" means "under automatic-weapons fire". "Sous un feu roulant" means "under heavy-artillery fire" (i.e. tanks, etc.). Zoot Allures! Who knew? Okay, Roman, you knew. You and France!

Also, if you stick with the "military" context of the song, even the "small departures" could be viewed as bullets flying away, or troops being sent out without remorse. How that applied to Edie? She knew she was losing/sacrificing a lot at this point (love, friends, respect, hope, brain cells...) - but she wasn't too sorry about it or asking for anyone's pity.

Call me weird, but I've finally decided which UEDS song is my favorite. It's this one. I like the music, but moreso, I like Alizée's voice on this song the best. Especially the was she croons "automatique". Whoooo.

14 Décembre

December fourteenth at five to seven
Strong wind from the west, the city trembles
Five quaaludes, seven percosets
I go back to sleep among the ashes

Crosses and crusaders

If tonight is war, I am dressed for it
Of all the army I have the loveliest weapons
I shall take no prisoners

Evening after evening
Dexedrine and dollars
Night after night
My life
Under machine-gun fire of glares
Evening after evening

Fourteenth night of December
The moon opens one lysergic eye
My taxi with darkened windows
As if unpiloted, it speeds by on automatic

Crosses and crusaders

At the end of a long corridor
Music reigns as a golden idol
Where humans laughably gather

Evening after evening
A thousand thousand small departures
Night after night
My life
Under an artillery fire of glares
Evening after evening

Evening after evening
Ten billion small departures
Night after night
My life
Under an artillery fire of stares
Evening after evening

Okay? Anything else? I don't think so, but I seem to have a knack for missing the obvious. Like having to re-edit just to add this "anything else" line at the bottom...

Jess

04-20-2010, 12:37 PM

Thanks Roman and Chuck, you've made my new favorite song all that more significant... :cool:

Roman

04-20-2010, 07:05 PM

Grand Central
I think I'll keep some of my differences. It's minor stuff except that if you listen to the song as sung, there are some parts you should trim from this, for example:
Nobody waits for her, but there is no "mais".

Near the end, this does not exist:
Grand Central
Grand Central
Everyone step down

Second, this song imagines a day in Edie Sedgwick's life in late `67. J-R Etienne himself was overheard telling some fans why he'd chosen this date - only because it could be seen as a typical day. I don't remember reading that. Thanks for the insight.
-------------
14 Décembre
I also like the sound of 14 décembre, though the meaning of the lyrics kinda puts a damper on it. Oh well. One must contort one's thinking to appreciate the artistry of it and then it's not a problem.

December fourteenth at five to seven
again, I think it's from five to seven, rather different in meaning even if not important in the song.

Under machine-gun fire of glares
it doesn't necessarily have to mean machine-gun. That might be putting too fine a point on the translation. And, I think glares is wrong because glare means something in English which I don't think is meant here. I think it just means that people are watching her, not giving her the evil eye or whatever. I think it's more like she is affected by an overabundance of attention (like one might imagine Alizée may have felt at some time or other). Maybe I'll change mine to stares because I think that might be good.

I'd warn against trying to be too poetic and create an English version rather than just translate the meaning, which is my primary intention so that people who do not know French can know what she is actually saying. But again, some more might be a little different from what I'd say, but negligable in it's difference in meaning.
-----------------
"Une Fille Difficile"
Here are my changes from what Criss_pl posted.

Often, I turn
To the storm
Life keels over
At the border
A difficult girl
Of fire under the lashes
Discordant
An unruly girl
-I think I actually like unruly better than rebellious because the latter tends to have some connotations which the former does not. I think it simply meets the meaning of the song, a difficult girl, better.

But when you write to me
Listen, come back, sorry, you know, I love you, forget
I believe you, I forget

Is it necessary to confiscate me?
-I don't get the impression that confisquer means anything other than confiscate and since she follows it up with me capturer, I get the impression that it sounds the same in French as it does in English and the author was just having a bit of fun with the language, with ideas.
Capture me?
Must one escape from me?
Must one love me?

Often restive *1
To regrets
And elusive
To regret
An unruly girl
Of fire under the lashes
Sometimes wrong
A difficult girl
And if I am leaving
I live still *2 in your arms, your voice, your hours, your heart
-Your hours - yeah, that just doesn't translate cleanly at all. It's an idea that would sound a bit strange however you say it in English. So, I go with literal.
Like a pang of remorse

Is it necessary to confiscate me?
Beg me?
Must one escape from me?
Must one love me?

*1 Merriam-Webster: stubbornly resisting control or marked by impatience or uneasiness. Wayward could also be a good translation considering the following.
*2 It's hard to tell between still and again sometimes, but still fits the context better in any case. Maybe toujours would have been a better word.
------------
And that's it folks! If there are not any more additions or explanations, ça y est, c'est tout! I'm a bit sorry to be done with it. That was fun. Thanks everyone for participating! I really liked the back and forth and helping each other.

I guess we can expound on the interpretations beyond the simple translation now. I need to go and read through the whole album now.

Toc De Mac

04-23-2010, 06:42 AM

Grand Central
Grand Central
Everyone step down

It's not a command, and "step down" doesn't relate, in my opinion, to exiting a train/subway as much as "get off" -- Everybody gets off.

lefty12357

04-23-2010, 08:56 PM

http://alizee-reflections.net/ now has their translations of the lyrics posted in case anyone wants to compare.

Roman

04-25-2010, 05:36 PM

Apparently someone really did need to translate Limelight. Disappointingly, the four lyricists associated with it (Raphael Vialla, Angy Laperdrix, Julien Galinier, Guillaume de Maria), didn't bother to ask a native speaker if the song even made any sense (or didn't care if it's really only there to give other French people the dubious impression that she's "international" and can do songs in English). Alizée's most "hyped" album yet?

I'm referring to having just figured out that "white night" means a sleepless night or an all-nighter perhaps--staying up all night.

So, in the song, "I can't recall where I've been In this long long white night" I am guessing the character is going to clubs and parties all night long. Some of you know what that's about. And it's such a whirl (probably filled with the taking of alcohol, cocaine, etc. considering the time and place) that she can't remember where she's been.

Could it be that they were hoping it could stand in as yet another double meaning phrase? Well, you kind of need to have at least one meaning before you can have two. Anyway, "Find a way and away" was pretty clever once I figured out what that means. I appreciate that. And then, "Dream always and all ways." I understand the difference between "always" and "all ways", though I'm still not sure what that line really means.

Well, I can't even hear the word "white" anyway and had to see the lyrics to know that's what it was. I know it's not that big of a deal and as I've pointed out before, there are plenty of American artists who have created worse lyrics and still been popular, but this kind of thing just comes off as sloppy. It doesn't help. I like her English songs on MCE and maybe it even comes off as cute eventually, but we all know that Mylène did a similar thing with some of the English lyrics. The first time you hear it, it just comes off as hokey and that is no doubt at least part of the reason those songs weren't more popular. Maybe this is why people like Alizée in French better than English. 1) she can pronounce French adroitly 2) we don't really know if something sounds hokey in French so we're perhaps more accepting of it. Though I must say, after translating one of Christophe Willem's songs into English I find it so hokey I can't even listen to it and I can well imagine that some French people feel the same way. You can't win 'em all eh? But you can at least try.

User22

04-25-2010, 07:57 PM

Well I still think that just because Limelight had 1 mess-up, well then hey, it won't change whether people like it or not....And plus the Electro-n'maziness makes up for it:D

I'M NOW IN THE 1,500 CLUB:D:D:D

Roman

04-25-2010, 09:59 PM

User22

04-25-2010, 10:09 PM

Well, I have come to really like how the song starts out and how the music moves. It's funny how I didn't really like it at first, but now I do. Yeah, like I said, it's not a big deal, just of course wish everything from her could be perfect.

She's perfect, but her music sometimes isn't in regards to english lyrics:(

Whenever I show my friends her english songs they are like, "This makes no sense" haha....but yah I think I'm Fed Up is her most "Make-cents" English song.....

Roman

04-26-2010, 03:51 AM

Makes no sense? I wouldn't expect that. Hmm. Maybe because I already understood the French version by translation. But learning and seeking is part of what makes becoming a fan of Alizée so great. Those who think they know the language and thus can easily dismiss the lyrics without really studying it usually miss something and they miss what is enjoyable about it. Maybe that's why as frustrating as it can be to not understand her songs (as was the case with Psychédélices especially) it may be more rewarding for a foreigner. I wonder if Alizée herself will ever understand that. She might have more appreciation for what she has done if she did.

No. Alizée is not perfect. It's just that she has seemed as close to perfect as I could bother to imagine or hope for anyway. Some things she has done were perfect in the sense that nothing could have made it better. But that's my opinion. I'm still not sure if I think that Alizée should have at least tried to write some of her own lyrics or should in the future. But then it would be harder for her to play the game of being detached from what she does and apparently she sees some value in that. Is it a way to hide or is it just her relationship with being a recorded singer--works so why mess with it?

User22

04-26-2010, 08:25 AM

Maybe that's why as frustrating as it can be to not understand her songs (as was the case with Psychédélices especially) it may be more rewarding for a foreigner. I wonder if Alizée herself will ever understand that. She might have more appreciation for what she has done if she did.

Alizee and many of the French can understand what we feel. They have about 50% English hits on their music charts and they have trouble understanding our songs. Black Eyed Peas was played at Les Enfoires and I doubt everyone understood what they were saying...

wasabi622

04-26-2010, 08:55 AM

With music, I don't think that you have to necessarily understand the lyrics to enjoy it.
Even songs in English I don't fully understand, nor do I really try. There are some out there that prefer to enjoy songs based on their meanings, but that's not the only way. If I like listening to them, I find myself singing along(or at least trying to), then I like it. Simple as that.

The only reason I know meanings to some of Alizée's songs is because of the translations on this forum. Did they enhance my enjoyment of her songs? ...not particularly.

User22

04-26-2010, 08:58 AM

With music, I don't think that you have to necessarily understand the lyrics to enjoy it. Did they enhance my enjoyment of her songs? ...not particularly.

Agree Agree Agree....Soy La Candida Esta no agua...Yo cree blah blah///I love this song sorry...Posting+Listening to UEDS=You post the lyrics alot:rolleyes:

Chuck

05-10-2010, 03:06 AM

I'm thinking we may be almost done with all this translating stuff. But that's where I'd probably be wrong. Roman, are we ready yet?

Grand Central
We're here
Converse laced up
Hair let down
We've arrived
Inside
Ah how nice
In the echoes
Under the dome
It is better still
Once outside
It is so blue
It is so loud
We are so little
(I am hungry, my God, I am hungry)

Grand Central
Grand Central
Everyone step down

Two arrows
The irritable signal lights
The crossed topcoat
The square shoulders
Of the veteran
The policemen
Their Adam's apples
It is spring
The towers of steel
Forty-Second Street
Thousandth Avenue
The Salvation Army
There is no skyline
(It is science fiction)

Grand Central
Grand Central
Nobody waits for her, but *

She was waiting for a limousine under the canopy of Tiffany's
One might have taken her for the daughter of the president, a real nuisance
Under the edges of her wide-brimmed hat crackled a Lucky
She asks me who I know on the east coast

Between azure sky and her blonde eyes, the sun chose
Edie, Edie, girl of straw, Edie of the Factory
Edie was a rather beautiful sort

Grand Central
Grand Central
Nobody waits for her

* - Debatable. That "but" may or may not be there in the song, but since it's in the lyric sheet, there ya go.

&@ROMAN - YOU WUZ RIGHT AGAIN! AGAIN!!
(turning to 14 décembre now)
I asked some folks again, and now must totally agree with you about "de cinq à sept". Yes, it would translate to "from five to seven", not "at five til seven". (Our correspondent said you've got a good ear for catching that, too.) "De cinq à sept" usually means "during the after-dinner hours" in France, but in this case it may be in the a.m. -- or maybe not?

RE: "Under machine-gun fire of glares" - yeah, i agree with you there, too. Just sounds awkward, but I was trying to stick with the newly-discovered meanings... How about, "Under heavy fire of stares"? "Under rapid-fire glares"? This is really making my head wobble, so I'm gonna just put in some blanks for now. No, that'd be bad, too. "Shooting blanks?" Never do.

14 Décembre

December fourteenth from five to seven
Strong wind from the west, the city trembles
Five quaaludes, seven percosets
I go back to sleep among the ashes

Crosses and crusaders

If tonight is war, I am dressed for it
Of all the army I have the loveliest weapons
I shall take no prisoners

Evening after evening
Dexedrine and dollars
Night after night
My life
Under a heavy fire of glares
Evening after evening

Fourteenth night of December
The moon opens one lysergic eye
My taxi with darkened windows
As if unpiloted, it speeds by on automatic

Crosses and crusaders

At the end of a long corridor
Music reigns as a golden idol
Where humans laughably gather

Evening after evening
A thousand thousand small departures
Night after night
My life
Bombarded by stares
Evening after evening

Evening after evening
Ten billion small departures
Night after night
My life
Bombarded by glares
Evening after evening

Edcognito

05-10-2010, 04:02 AM

Oh Ed. I love you man. This place is better with you around. I just used one of your posts from 2007 (you can guess which) to help explain about the whole Alizée thing.
Yes I can! :D

But... I'm afraid not. It's: beaucoup. You forgot the u. :(

I appreciate all the translation work you guys have done - printing them out so that I can have the original and the translation when I'm singing them at home...

( :o drives my wife buggy when I "sing" in French... I have a voice between a rusty door hinge and a broken axle... most of the time, i'm singing when she's at work! :p )

Ed:cool:

Roman

05-10-2010, 09:38 AM

I'm thinking we may be almost done with all this translating stuff. But that's where I'd probably be wrong. Roman, are we ready yet?

Well, I thought we were done. By the way, it wasn't my hearing that caught that de cinq à sept thing. It's written in the lyrics (and easy enough to hear anyway). Though, after dinner? 5 to 7? in France? Who are we kidding here!? :rolleyes:
Anyway, what my hearing does detect is that it sounds an aweful lot to me like she is saying "reste" not règne in 14 décembre. You can go ahead and verify that. I'm not going to bother to change the translation because I'm not certain what she is saying and it makes more sense the original way. It might have been an accident for all I know. Anyway, while the written/original lyrics are interesting, the lyrics in a song are what the singer says; so, as far as that goes I don't care what is written; it's irrelevant. Anyway, if you want what I have in my completed lyrics for those two songs, here you go (though it's debatable who's are better; thus I think we are done):
-------------
Grand Central

Alright *6
Converse laced up
Hair let down
We've arrived
Inside
Ah how nice
In the echoes
Under the dome
It's better still
Once outside
It is so blue
It is so loud
We are so few *4
(I am hungry, my God, I am hungry)

Grand Central
Grand Central
Everyone gets off *3

Two arrows
The grumpy signal lights *1
The crossed topcoat
The squared shoulders
Of the veteran
The policemen
Their Adam's apples
It’s spring
The towers of steel
Forty-Second Street
Thousandth Avenue
The Salvation Army
There is no horizon
(It is science fiction)

Grand Central
Grand Central
Nobody waits for her

She was waiting for a limousine under the canopy of Tiffany's
One might have taken her for the daughter of the president, a real pest *5
Under the edges of her wide-brimmed hat crackled a Lucky *2
She asks me who I know on the east coast

Between azure and her blonde eyes, the sun chose
Edie, Edie, girl of straw, Edie of the Factory
Edie was of a rather beautiful sort

Grand Central
Grand Central
Nobody waits for her

*1 This is sort of a guess. It makes the most sense in the case of a train station to think of the train signal lights or maybe traffic lights up on the street.
*2 Lucky is a brand of cigarette
*3 Gets off the train here at Grand Central Station
*4 There was some discussion as to whether that means that Alizée's party is small in number or figuratively in stature. One could imagine it either way. Perhaps it's a bit ambiguous, but in the absence of something more concrete, I'm going with the literal interpretation.
*5 I just wonder what that means. Who was the president in 1960 whatever?
*6 Ça y est has a number of possible translations as it often is more affectual than concrete in meaning. Look it up.
-------------
14 Décembre

December 14th from five to seven
Strong wind from the west, the city trembles
Five quaaludes, seven percosets
I go back to sleep among the ashes

Crosses and crusaders

If tonight is war, I am dressed for it
In all the army I have the loveliest weapons
I shall take no prisoners

Evening after evening
Dexedrine and dollars
Night after night
My life
Under a heavy fire of stares *1
Evening after evening

Fourteenth night of December
The moon opens a lysergic eye
My taxi with darkened windows
As if without a pilot, speeds by on automatic

Crosses and crusaders

At the end of a long corridor
The music reigns like a golden idol
Where the humans ridiculously arrange themselves *3

Evening after evening
A thousand thousand small departures
Night after night
My life
Under a continuous barrage of stares *2
Evening after evening

Evening after evening
Ten billion small departures
Night after night
My life
Under a continuous barrage of stares
Evening after evening

*1 regards means regards/looks/glances, feu nourri means heavy fire or machine-gun fire
*2 feu roulant is a method of attack that generically means something like continuous barrage
*3 this is an approximation which could be translated a number of ways that mean the same thing

And might I add, Alizée is sounding really hot in this song. I love it. When you get in the mood, you know, this is a really great album and just makes me want more Alizée. She does that every time. I wish it was every year. Why is it too much to ask. Wouldn't that be an awesome yearly tradition to get a new Alizée album? Or something like that. I like Rob's idea, a new song every month for a year. Now that would be something--keep everyone entertained forever. Well, I don't know, but if it had started a year ago it would have been a much greater year.

User22

05-14-2010, 06:56 PM

Ok so all I have to do is go back through and get the latest version of each song in this thread? I will go back through later today and get all of them and put em in a word document compiled right and see if you guys have any advice or problems with it. Thanks:D

Edit:

Ok so I have got:

Une Fille Difficile
Mes Fantomes
Factory Girl
A couer fendre
14 decembre
Grand Central

Any idea as to where I can find the others?
Should I just get them from Alizee-Reflections.net?

wasabi622

05-15-2010, 01:00 AM

User22

05-16-2010, 12:00 AM

Finished the translations...I guess I can post 'em here.
Can someone unlock the sticky thread "Song Translation Database" if they see this? Thanks:D

You guys can look over this if you want before others...and sorry I'm not going to make changes...i dunno i might.

UEDS trannies:

Eden Eden

We are all girls of Eden
We tear down the ashen streets
In the heart of an eternal summer

We are the young women of Eden
The manor house ladies of the sealed heart
Who give in to the fourteenth summer

The fading suns
Of these veiled skies
Are my grand farewells

The veiled suns
Of these drowned skies
Are my grand farewells

At the center of the heart of the nation
All the young girls are hawks
The shadows slide back under the bushes

On all the virgin skins of Eden
Fly away the doves of Eden
Who whisper to the guardian of the place
Their farewells

The fading suns
Of these veiled skies
Are my grand farewells

The veiled suns
Of these drowned skies
Are my grand farewells

The wind filled the sails of Eden
Launched the American girls
Into an assault against inhumane cities

Cover your bare arms, oh my Eden
In life, we part, we break away
We end up alone under the specks
Oh, farewell

The fading suns
Of these veiled skies
Are my grand farewells

The veiled suns
Of these drowned skies
Are my grand farewells

The fading suns
Of these veiled skies
Are my grand farewells

The veiled suns
Of these drowned skies
Are my grand farewells

I promise, I will call
But it must be, I’m leaving
In the feuilleton of the sheets
Amongst the vessels
Amongst the rockets of Eden

Grand Central

Alright
Converse laced up
Hair let down
We've arrived
Inside
Ah how nice
In the echoes
Under the dome
It's better still
Once outside
It is so blue
It is so loud
We are so few
I am hungry, my God, I am hungry

Grand Central
Grand Central
Everyone gets off

Two arrows
The grumpy signal lights
The crossed topcoat
The squared shoulders
Of the veteran
The policemen
Their Adam's apples
It’s spring
The towers of steel
Forty-Second Street
Thousandth Avenue
The Salvation Army
There is no horizon
It is science fiction

Grand Central
Grand Central
Nobody waits for her

She was waiting for a limousine under the canopy of Tiffany's
One might have taken her for the daughter of the president, a real pest
Under the edges of her wide-brimmed hat crackled a Lucky
She asks me who I know on the east coast

Between azure and her blonde eyes, the sun chose
Edie, Edie, girl of straw, Edie of the Factory
Edie was of a rather beautiful sort

Grand Central
Grand Central
Nobody waits for her

La Candida

I'm here you're there
For me you will return
I dwell I dwell

I know it you're a faithful one
You will never lie
Nor forget

There is not another
Whom you will love
If it is not me

I am the Candida
A lover
I believed you

I am the Candida
You do not deceive me
You think of me

I know it you're a faithful one
You will never lie
Nor forget
Happy, you without me?
Oh God you will not be able!
You live here
Very much here
Only for me
I believe in you

I am the Candida
A lover
I believed you

I am the Candida
You do not deceive me
You think of me

Candida
It becomes blind

Les Collines (Never Leave You)

Pursued, I've reached the hills
I've taken refuge in the wilderness
I've shaken off the hunting dogs
covered up my tracks
Disguised my escape
My suitcases are empty, my heart is light
Light

Never wanna leave you ... ooh
Never wanna leave you ... ooh
Never wanna leave you ... ooh
Never wanna leave you ... ooh
Never ever wanna leave you
Never ever wanna leave you
Never wanna leave you ... ooh
Never wanna leave you

New York I'm sorry, I loved you so
But I have to go
Your infinite displays,
Your golden horizons
I want to do without it
So say the Nymphs, I'll dress the wounds
Of the shy big cats, the wounded swans
Wounded

Never wanna leave you ... ooh
Never wanna leave you ... ooh
Never wanna leave you ... ooh
Never wanna leave you ... ooh
Never ever wanna leave you
Never ever wanna leave you
Never wanna leave you ... ooh
Never wanna leave you ... ooh

Never wanna leave you ... ooh
Never wanna leave you ... ooh
Never wanna leave you ... ooh
Never wanna leave you ... ooh
Never ever wanna leave you
Never ever wanna leave you
Never wanna leave you ... ooh
Never wanna leave you ... ooh-ahh

My suitcases are empty,
my heart is light
Light

Never wanna leave you ... ooh
Never wanna leave you ... ooh
Never wanna leave you ... ooh
Never wanna leave you ... ooh
Never ever wanna leave you
Never ever wanna leave you
Never wanna leave you ... ooh
Never wanna leave you ... ooh

Never wanna leave you ... ooh
Never wanna leave you ... ooh
Never wanna leave you ... ooh
Never wanna leave you ... ooh
Never ever wanna leave you
Never ever wanna leave you
Never wanna leave you ... ooh
Never wanna leave you ... ooh

14 Décembre

December 14th from five to seven
Strong wind from the west, the city trembles
Five quaaludes, seven percosets
I go back to sleep among the ashes

Crosses and crusaders

If tonight is war, I am dressed for it
In all the army I have the loveliest weapons
I shall take no prisoners

Evening after evening
Dexedrine and dollars
Night after night
My life
Under a heavy fire of stares
Evening after evening

Fourteenth night of December
The moon opens a lysergic eye
My taxi with darkened windows
As if without a pilot, speeds by on automatic

Crosses and crusaders

At the end of a long corridor
The music reigns like a golden idol
Where the humans ridiculously arrange themselves

Evening after evening
A thousand thousand small departures
Night after night
My life
Under a continuous barrage of stares
Evening after evening

Evening after evening
Ten billion small departures
Night after night
My life
Under a continuous barrage of stares
Evening after evening

A Cœur Fendre

I forced the door of hell
I broke the forbidden seal
For you

Diverted the course of a volcano
To warm up your trembling arms
For you

The sky is dark
The life is bleak
It's freezing, enough to split stone
I'm cold

I advanced the hour of dawn
I hurried the return of flowers
For you

I cleaned the windows, changed the light bulb
Silenced the screams of the crowd
For you

The century collapses
Debris, rubble
It's freezing, enough to split a heart
I'm cold

There's no more noise in the winter garden
We shelter under the opposite branches

Without you, the world
Wavers, succumbs
It's freezing, enough to split heart
I'm cold

Without you

Factory Girl

It's the end of the ballad
For lovable teen
Alone facing the Hasselblad
Split from bottom to top

Lifeless, submissive
Like a toy soldier
Scrutinized up and down
Three-quarter profile

Factory Girl
On the mirror's edge
Factory Girl
All the colors of darkness

It's the plunge into the abyss
Of a young bird of prey
Obedient to the laws of silver
Film, which wanes

Seen from above its sublime
No, nothing disappoints you
There is nothing but more glamour
In the plunge into the abyss

Factory girl
Last drama, last scene
Factory girl
It's hardly any trouble

Factory Girl
We will resume tomorrow
Factory Girl
Until the end of ends of end of ends of ends

Une Fille Difficile

Often, I turn
In the storm
The life keels over
To the margin
A difficult girl
Of fire under the lashes
Disaccording
A rebellious girl
But when you write to me
Listen, come back, sorry, you know, I love you, forget
I believe you, I forget

Is it necessary to confiscate me?
Capture me?
Should I escape
Is it necessary to love me?

Often wayward
To regrets
And elusive
To regret
A rebellious girl
Of fire under the lashes
Sometimes wrong
A difficult girl
And if I'm leaving
I live in your arms again, your voice, your times, your heart
As a remorse

Is it necessary to confiscate me?
Beg me?
Should I escape
Is it necessary to love me?

Is it necessary to confiscate me?
Capture me?
Should I escape
Is it necessary to love me?

Mes Fantômes

Oh my phantoms my dark sides, my hours of darkness, my dangers, my illusions
Oh my mistakes, my excuses, my gross in subtleties, my histories, my ordeals
Oh my children, my lights, innocent gods, my lone heroes
Oh my loves, our troubling games, your burning eyes, my tears, my miracles

Oh my secrets, my dark works, without seeming to believe, my regrets, my silences
Oh my child, my black diamond, my loner, my little one, my prayer
Oh my moments, my fires, my brief dramas, my incidents, my centuries.

wasabi622

05-16-2010, 01:05 AM

Wow Aaron, that's a lot of work you put in there!

Thanks man, much appreciated!!! :D

Människöpesten

05-16-2010, 02:04 AM

grand central doesn't have policia standing around! /rage

Roman

05-16-2010, 07:10 AM

grand central doesn't have policia standing around! /rage
What's that mean? You think the song is inaccurate? And was that the case in c.1965 (the setting of the song)?

User22

05-16-2010, 03:46 PM

Wow Aaron, that's a lot of work you put in there!

Thanks man, much appreciated!!! :D

No prob! And yeah you can look in the Translations section of the forum and go to the Sticky: Song Translation Database thread to see the completed version of every translation of every album of EVERYTHING wowohwowhohwo!!! Finally it is finished!

grand central doesn't have policia standing around! /rage

Random to the Max, but ok why not:Dhaha

Människöpesten

05-16-2010, 04:45 PM

What's that mean? You think the song is inaccurate? And was that the case in c.1965 (the setting of the song)?

no, it's just me being random. i love that song in its entirety

Edit:

Random to the Max, but ok why not:Dhaha

i love being random :D

User22

05-16-2010, 06:37 PM

Grand Central is quite amazing, but I can't tell she is saying Grand Central twice when she is actually singing it....I will have to listen more to try to pick it out haha

Roman

05-17-2010, 02:27 PM

Grand Central is quite amazing, but I can't tell she is saying Grand Central twice when she is actually singing it....I will have to listen more to try to pick it out haha
You can't?! That's funny. She says it quickly in a different rhythm than the rest. Maybe that's why.

Criss_pl

05-17-2010, 03:42 PM

Considering my time spent with the songs and their lyrics, especially with the 4 last songs, I can absolutely assure you that there do is second Grand Central in lyrics, just focus:)
And by the way, do we have any interesting interpretations yet? The work seems to be done, so now for the interpretation part:p

User22

05-17-2010, 04:48 PM

ES3

12-13-2010, 03:28 AM

Good input from everyone, I've been replaying "La Candida" all day while studying. I got some of it by myself from taking Spanish in high school, but not too huge of a background in it. I'm not sure if it's officially "Candida" or "Cándida", because the latter suggests it might be associated with the English word "Candid", and if it is, then it could be any of a number of things: Outspoken, sincere, pure, etc. :)

http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/candid

DrSmith

12-13-2010, 04:10 AM

Cándida is correct. Candida means nothing in Spanish without the accent. (But apparently it's some sort of fungus.)

Babelfish translates cándida to ‹ innocent ›; and alizee-reflections.net says it's ‹ naïve one ›.

User22

12-13-2010, 09:46 AM

Yeah, there are so many different meaning to either Candida or Cándida that we just left it as the song name "Candida" in the song translation database....Man there are a bunch of meanings for it. I hadn't heard those before DrSmith and ES3, so thanks :)

FanDeAliFee

03-15-2011, 06:15 AM

Allusion by "Eden, Eden" to "Eden Eden Eden"?

Considering my time spent with the songs and their lyrics, especially with the 4 last songs, I can absolutely assure you that there do is second Grand Central in lyrics, just focus:)
And by the way, do we have any interesting interpretations yet? The work seems to be done, so now for the interpretation part:p

I have reviewed the literal and free translations (http://alizee-reflections.net/eden_eden.html) of Eden, Eden at Alizée Lyrical Reflections.

<table cellspacing="10"><tr valign="top"><td>http://books.google.com/books?id=QcNzNAAACAAJ&printsec=frontcover&img=1&zoom=1&l=220</td><td>I have no great insight into the significance of the storyline, but I must observe that there is a famous controversial French novel titled Eden Eden Eden (http://www.amazon.com/Eden-Modern-Classics/product-reviews/1840680636/ref=cm_cr_dp_all_helpful?ie=UTF8&showViewpoints=1&sortBy=bySubmissionDateDescending) by Pierre Guyotat (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pierre_Guyotat), which appeared circa 1971.

Wikipedia writes:
This book was banned from being publicized or sold to under-18s. A petition of international support was signed (notably by Pier Paolo Pasolini, Jean-Paul Sartre, Pierre Boulez, Joseph Beuys, Pierre Dac, Jean Genet, Joseph Kessel, Maurice Blanchot, Max Ernst, Italo Calvino, Jacques Monod, Simone de Beauvoir, and Nathalie Sarraute). François Mitterrand, and Georges Pompidou tried to get the ban lifted but failed. Claude Simon (who won the Nobel Prize in 1985) resigned from the jury of the Prix Médicis after the prize wasn't awarded to Eden, Eden, Eden.
Amazon's product description of the book writes:
This, Pierre Guyotat's second novel, caused a huge scandal upon publication in France in 1970, and was later censored. Nowadays, he is regarded as one of the greatest French novelists of all time and his writing has been endorsed by Edmund White, Michel Foucault and Roland Barthes. Extreme and obscene, Eden Eden Eden is set in a polluted zone of the Algerian desert during the civil war.</td></tr></table>
A lay reviewer at Amazon writes:
This novel reads like some of Burroughs' earlier fictions--for example, The Soft Machine--but without the black humor that the American beat uses to leaven his nasty loaves. With Guyotat we are left with one continuous description of anal and oral rape, usually by soldiers on men and boys. There's no plot as we find in de Sade, no flights of vision or hyper-crazy odes to revolt as in Artaud to make it memorable--only the cubistic clinches of flesh and flesh--the terrible consequences of the weak in the clutches of the strong. This is not a pleasant read and I do not recommend it for the squeamish. I wonder what the author does to relax and have fun?
Another one elaborates:
The situation, however, seems to be this: a sort of camp town in the desert, a brothel of male prostitutes, and the soldiers... drillers... and assorted nomads and shepherds who wander in from the surrounding wastelands to use them. The text consists of a single uninterrupted paragraph of 181 pages describing in excruciatingly minute mechanical detail an unending series of copulatory acts without any seeming point but to emphasize the slime, stench, and excretions of living bodies.
What sort of inspiration is a book like this for a song - any song? The closest I have to a direct explanation are the remarks of yet another reviewer:
I might also suggest *singing* along with Guyotat because *Eden Eden Eden* has a uniquely intoxicating incantatory quality whose power is as much viscerally musical as it is appallingly visual.<table cellspacing="10"><tr valign="top"><td>http://mitpress.mit.edu/images/products/books/9781846380433-medium.jpg</td><td>Perhaps we can better understand a link between the book and the song when we examine the career of the boss of The Factory, Andy Warhol (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andy_Warhol). His films often highlighted gay and underground culture, like 1964's 35-minute-long Blow Job (http://mitpress.mit.edu/catalog/item/default.asp?ttype=2&tid=11428), one continuous shot of the face of DeVeren Bookwalter supposedly receiving oral sex from filmmaker Willard Maas - although the camera never tilts down to see this. (Aside: Note how use of a single shot parallels use of a single paragraph in the aforementioned novel.)

I suppose the general idea is that the story of Edie Sedgwick in New York is a tragedy leading to her suffering and premature death, one in which she is "brutally" used by Andy in a way analogous to the uses made of the brothel's workforce in the novel. Of course, the song Eden, Eden speaks about girls whose virginity lasts until their fourteenth summer, while the book Eden Eden Eden seems to feature boys whose orifices aren't left alone even for fourteen seconds, LOL. But the musical lyric about assaults on inhuman towns is an echo of novel's war-time town setting. The song also makes reference to a génie, which resonates with the cultural inheritance of Algeria, and an eternal summer, which suggests a place like North Africa.

Beyond that, I am at a loss to quickly discover significant touchpoints between the two works. Maybe Jean-René Etienne just thought referencing a hot novel would be good marketing, content relevance be damned? Hey, it worked for Mylène Farmer with Moi... Lolita, LOL!</td></tr></table>