The Fifty // Sixty lyrics, translation, theme, explanation, and interpretation thread

[Tye]

The double slashes // means something in geometry or algebra and I can't remember what it is. The double slashes are not suppossed to be used with dates so I don't think Fifty//Sixty is refering to the 50's and 60's.

[Cooney]

Originally Posted by fsquared

Hmm...very interesting.
Maybe a French dictionary would shed some light. French encarta says:

balancer le corps d'un côté et de l'autre de façon gauche et disgracieuse
(elle se dandine en marchant)

That description matches a waddle :-P It translates as "To swing the body from one side to the other in an akward and ungainly fashion (she dandine when walking)."

It also shows up in some other song lyrics out there, like
in a song called "Strip Pour Moi":

Sexy t'es mon héroïne Tu te dandines C'est spectaculaire Mime l'hélice d'un hélicoptère Ces prémices m'indiquent que tu sais y faire ...

This one definitely lends more credence to using dandiner for an alluring movement: Sexy, you're my heroine. You dandines. It's spectacular. Miming the rotor blade of a helicoptor. Those beginnings tell me that you know it does...

Doesn't sound like they're talking about something ungainly and awkward to me .

The first one is very specifically doing so. The second one though, you are quite right. It definitely means a huge swing to the hips (like a helicopter rotor, side to side, quite an image!), and is used in a fashion that suggests allure. I'm willing to accept that as evidence I should be hearing it as "you sway" or an equivalent.

But I'm guessing it's some sort of idiom that's going to require a native French speaker to divine....

Could be! I'd like to know a Frenchman's take on "plus au top." I translated it as "more than anything," and others have it as "over the top" and "on the top." Literally it's "more than at/to the top" I believe, which doesn't directly translate for us :-P





Unrelated to dandiner, I wonder about one of the other transcriptions...

Si excitante / S’extasie

I wonder if this could be:

Si excitante / C'est extasie

I probably shouldn't question what a native Frenchman is telling me it says, but I'm hearing another syllable in there. The way Alizée sings, S'extasie should be three syllables, not four, and the S' and the ex should be in the same one. I'm hearing two vowels in there, instead of one.

[fsquared]

The full lyrics to Strip Pour Moi are available here for anyone interested:

http://www.hiphopdeal.com/article3070.html

[RMJ]

Originally Posted by Cooney

I probably shouldn't question what a native Frenchman is telling me it says, but I'm hearing another syllable in there. The way Alizée sings, S'extasie should be three syllables, not four, and the S' and the ex should be in the same one. I'm hearing two vowels in there, instead of one.

In this song you can question anything. Even natives doesn't agree with all the words. There is few words that are almost impossible to tell how to spell them correctly. Even for French people. Mortals like me, have no chance to distinguish those words...

But what you questioned, makes sense as is. Your suggestion would work, too. But I'd wait CD release (or official website) to confirm the lyrics.

But well, the story isn't over yet.

[Cooney]

Originally Posted by RMJ

In this song you can question anything. Even natives doesn't agree with all the words. There is few words that are almost impossible to tell how to spell them correctly. Even for French people. Mortals like me, have no chance to distinguish those words...

But what you questioned, makes sense as is. Your suggestion would work, too. But I'd wait CD release (or official website) to confirm the lyrics.

But well, the story isn't over yet.

True that! I eagerly await each coming installment.

[Toc De Mac]

Originally Posted by Cooney

Unrelated to dandiner, I wonder about one of the other transcriptions...

Si excitante / S’extasie

I wonder if this could be:

Si excitante / C'est extasie

I probably shouldn't question what a native Frenchman is telling me it says, but I'm hearing another syllable in there. The way Alizée sings, S'extasie should be three syllables, not four, and the S' and the ex should be in the same one. I'm hearing two vowels in there, instead of one.

Hmm...

What do you mean by "the S' and the ex should be in the same one?" Phonetically, I hear her saying "sex-tah-see" and not "sey-tex-tah-see." I don't hear any liaison from "c'est" on the "ex" syllable. I agree, though. This is very confusing.

[Deepwaters]

Originally Posted by Toc De Mac

HI don't hear any liaison from "c'est" on the "ex" syllable.

For those who haven't studied French, "liaison" refers to pronouncing a usually-silent last letter in a word when it's followed by a word starting in a vowel or a silent "h." So in this case, "c'est" which is normally pronounced "say" is pronounced "set" because it would be followed by "exstasie" which begins with a vowel. Or, to be more exact, the "t" at the end would be moved to the start of the next word, so it becomes "say texstasie."

But that's not what she sings, so that's not what it is.

[Cooney]

I'm certainly not hearing a t in there, far from it. I'm hearing "Say-yex-ta-sie" though, instead of "Sex-ta-sie." It sounds ellided.

Not all grammatical rules get followed in singing or in speech, and Alizée (among many others) has been known to drop consonants out to make things fit the beat. "Je ne suis pas belle" becomes "J'uis pas belle" in AMD, for example.

I certainly don't pretend to *know* that it's one thing or another, I'm just suggesting that to my ear, it sounds like that's what's happening, and without an official lyrics sheet either way, I like it.

[Fish]

I can hear where you're coming from, the "s'extasie" line does seem to be a bit extended, almost like you're hearing another syllable.

[fsquared]

BTW it was suggested to me that one way to understand "se dandiner" was to look at videos. A search on youtube turns some some baby videos, some videos of people dancing, and this video to Fatal's "J'aime trop ton boule":

http://youtube.com/watch?v=ULdaQOUIm1s

This video includes send-ups of other videos: think "Luke vs. Alizee" takes on "Russian Girls" and "Call On Me" (if you can do it without hurling )