Une Enfant du Siècle lyrics

[Roman]

Originally Posted by Sir Wood

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/show...5&postcount=11

[Sir Wood]

Originally Posted by Roman

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]

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

[Chuck]

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?

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]

You guys are fantastic!


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



Ed

[Roman]

Originally Posted by Edcognito

You guys are fantastic!
MERCI BEACOUP! (I hope I got that right this time... )
Ed

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.

[Edcognito]

Originally Posted by Roman

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!

Originally Posted by Roman

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...

( 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! )


Ed

[Roman]

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

I have a few suggestions also.

Originally Posted by Chuck

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. 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.

[Toc De Mac]

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

[Roman]

Originally Posted by Toc De Mac

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.