[Cooney]

Moi... Lolita

Me, my name is Lolita
Lo, or Lola as well
They're one and the same.
Me, my name is Lolita
When I dream about wolves
It's Lola who bleeds.
When I make a slip of the tongue, I have it:
A giggling fit, as crazy (1)
As a phenomenon.
My name is Lolita,
"Lo" of life, "Lo" for a diluvial love life. (2)

It's not my fault,
And when I give up (3)
I see the others,
All ready to pounce on me (4)
It's not my fault, not mine,
If I hear all around me,
L O L I T A (5)
Me, Lolita

Me, my name is Lolita
A school-girl, in stockings
The color of methylene blue (6)
Me, my name is Lolita,
Quick-tempered, and not
Half cotton, half wool. (7)
Not a word, don't say
To my mother that I
Am a phenomenon.
My name is Lolita
"Lo" of life, "Lo" for a diluvial love life.

It's not my fault,
And when I give up
I see the others,
All ready to pounce on me
It's not my fault, not mine,
If I hear all around me,
L O L I T A
Me, Lolita

It's not my fault,
And when I give up
I see the others,
All ready to pounce on me
It's not my fault, not mine,
If I hear all around me,
L O L I T A
Me, Lolita

Lo-li-ta (x8)

It's not my fault,
And when I give up
I see the others,
All ready to pounce on me
It's not my fault, not mine,
If I hear all around me,
L O L I T A
Me, Lolita

It's not my fault,
And when I give up
I see the others,
All ready to pounce on me
It's not my fault, not mine,
If I hear all around me,
L O L I T A
Me, Lolita

It's not my fault,
And when I give up
I see the others,
All ready to pounce on me
It's not my fault, not mine,
If I hear all around me,
L O L I T A
Me, Lolita

1: "Un fou rire aussi fou" – “Un fou rire” refers to an uncontrollable giggling fit - she's made a slip of the tongue and is embarrassed. "Aussi fou" could mean "as crazy" or possibly "also crazy" (though I think the word order is reversed for that). With the next line being what it is, I opted for "as crazy."

2: "Lo" is pronounced the same as "L'eau," which means water. The line is a play on words, and can be read as "Water of life, water for a diluvial love life" Diluvial is a biblical reference to Noah's flood, I believe. You'd better be ready for a lot of loving! This also helps justify the earlier lines “LO ou bien Lola, Du pareil au même,” whose value I know has been questioned.

3: "Je donne ma langue au chat" literally translates to "I give my tongue to the cat." It is an idiomatic expression used to mean "I give up" or "I have no answer" when dealing with riddles and similar things.

4: "Se jeter sur qqn" means to pounce upon or set upon somebody. Thank you aFrenchie for the clarification of "Prèts" in this context as meaning "ready."

5: I think this has been gone over a thousand times, but just to make sure I'm not skipping it. This is also written as "Hello helli t'es a" (Hello, helli, you are has) which is a nonsense expression pronounced the same as the French letters L O L I T A. The closest English equivalent I can come up with would be a British pronunciation of "Hello Hell, High Tea, Eh?" where all the leading H's are swallowed ('ello 'ell, 'igh tea, eh?)

6: The French use "blue" in the same way we use "green" to mean inexperienced or novice. To say she is a school-girl, deep methylene blue, is, I believe, the same as saying "Just an inexperienced school-girl." A very Lolita image.

7: Somewhere I think I saw an explanation of the "mi-coton mi-laine" line as being a phrase meaning "not wishy-washy," but I cannot locate the reference, so will not presume to use that meaning. It works literally as well,