[Cooney]

A contre-courant

Our universe
In counter-current.
Everything inverted,
But not for long.
When you are grounded
You bring me current (1)
So I can imagine
Our fusion.
We desire each other
Under high tension,
But without plugs (2)
For my nerves, I re-
concile your laughs,
And my electrons
Are a dance of life,
A dance of spheres. (3)

Nothing ordinary,
Nothing but good times,
Everything upside-down
But not for too long.
When you are grounded
Bring me current
So I can divine
Your intentions.
It electrifies us:
Maximum tension
In the body circuits
Of two lovers.
It illuminates
The instinctual light
Of the school of e-
lectromagnetic love (4)

Rediscover the meaning
Of the life, which I think
Goes by in boredom
When you, you are gone.
Rediscover meaning
In insolent moments,
From the lines of little things
In my desire for you.
When the current passes, along with the threat
Of times that split us up, times that seperate us,
And the current passes, I have in me the strength
Of a magnetic field, and it is wonderful!

Our universe
In counter-current.
Return to ground
And for all time,
When you hope for me,
Bring me current.
So I can consider
A rebellion,
We are static
When I tell him 'no'
But no more the six
times, (5)
It makes me afraid
Of electrocution.
My isulation
Is passion.

Rediscover the meaning
Of the life, which I think
Goes by in boredom
When you, you are gone.
Rediscover meaning
In insolent moments,
From the lines of little things
In my desire for you.
When the current passes, along with the threat
Of times that split us up, times that seperate us,
And the current passes, I have in me the strength
Of a magnetic field, and it is wonderful!


Rediscover the meaning
Of the life, which I think
Goes by in boredom
When you, you are gone.
Rediscover meaning
In insolent moments,
From the lines of little things
In my desire for you.
When the current passes, along with the threat
Of times that split us up, times that seperate us,
And the current passes, I have in me the strength
Of a magnetic field, and it is wonderful!


1: Some have translated this as "Keep me informed," and indeed it has that meaning. However, in order to maintain the double entendre of the song, I feel it is necessary to use the phrase "bring me current," which has not only the informational meaning, but also the electrical metaphor.

2: Another issue with the electrical metaphor. This line could be translated "But without a grip on my nerves, I reconcile your laughs..." Prises means both "grips" and various words such as "plugs," "sockets," and "adaptors." I like the sound of "Grips" more, but then we lose the meaning, as above.

3: "Ballon" means a lot more than balloon. It also means ball, and is the word for some kinds of drink glasses. It references many things with a spherical shape, and is here, I believe, a reference to the spherical shape traditionally assigned to sub-atomic particles such as electrons, which would be dancing mightily when charged up as she is in this song.

4: "Electroaimant" means Electromagnet. The lyrics are written "Electro-aimant" however, with a hyphen seperating the word "aimant" from the rest. Aimant by itself can mean magnet, or it can also mean loving. I choose to read the double meaning of electromagnetic love.

5: This one gave me problems. "Allocutions" literally means speeches (or allocutions - it's a word in English as well). Without an electrical metaphor here, I substituted "times" to try and capture what I think she is saying, ie, she won't tell him no more than six times.