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Old 09-10-2007, 11:49 PM
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Default Mademoiselle Juliette - Transcription and Translation

---Updated 09/12/07---
I've adopted the French transcription by Needles + RMJ and Shakepspeare, which RMJ posted below. The only differences are that I corrected "Aimerai" to "Aimerait" (3rd person conditional of aimer), and seperated out certain words to make it cleared what was being heard (see footnote 1).

The English translation is my own unless otherwise noted.

<TABLE><TD VALIGN="top">French
Mademoiselle Juliette a
Son Roméo dans l’Alpha
De Vérone à Rome elle court
Jolie syndrome de l’amour
Shakespeare s’amuse de sa muse
L’héroïne trouve qu'il abuse
Elle monte vite dans les tours
Le grand écrivain aime lui jouer des tours

Mademoiselle Juliette a
Pas vraiment la tête à
Choisir entre Montaigu et Capulet
Mademoiselle Juliette aim- (1)
-erait faire la fête cham- (1)
-pagne à sabrer coca à décapsuler (1)

Mademoiselle prends des ailes
Ne pas se faire mettre en pièces (2)
Dans son rôle elle ne veut qu'elle
Pas de réplique de toute pièce
Cette "Commedia dell’arte" (3)
N’est pas assez déjantée
Qu'enfin William rende l'âme (4)
Il n’y a plus que ça pour éviter le drame

Mademoiselle Juliette a
Pas vraiment la tête à
Choisir entre Montaigu et Capulet
Mademoiselle Juliette aim-
-erait faire la fête cham-
-pagne à sabrer coca à décapsuler

Mademoiselle Juliette a
Pas vraiment la tête à
Pleurer sur Montaigu et Capulet
Mademoiselle Juliette aim-
-erait faire la fête cham-
-pagne à sabrer coca à décapsuler

Ahhhhhhhhhhh...
Ahhhhhhhhhhh...
Ahhhhhhhhhhh...
Ahhhhhhhhhhh...

Mademoiselle Juliette a
Pas vraiment la tête à
Choisir entre Montaigu et Capulet
Mademoiselle Juliette aim-
-erait faire la fête cham-
-pagne à sabrer coca à décapsuler

Mademoiselle Juliette a
Plus vraiment la tête à
Pleurer sur Montaigu et Capulet
Mademoiselle Juliette aim-
-erait faire la fête cham-
-pagne à sabrer coca à décapsuler



</TD><TD VALIGN="top">English
Mademoiselle Juliet has (5)
Her Romeo in the Alpha
From Verona to Rome she runs
A pretty syndrome called love (6)
Shakespeare plays with his muse
The heroine thinks he abuses
She climbs quickly to the towers
The great writer likes playing tricks on her

Mademoiselle Juliet
Really doesn't have the head to
Choose between Montague and Capulet
Mademoiselle Juliet
Would like to celebrate
Champagne to saber, coca to open (7) (8)

Mademoiselle takes wings
Don't make her smash things apart (2)
In her role she only wants not to
Have lines in the play (9)
This commedia dell'arte (3)
Is not insane enough
When finally William passes away
There is nothing more that can be done to avoid tragedy

Mademoiselle Juliet
Really doesn't have the head to
Choose between Montague and Capulet
Mademoiselle Juliet
Would like to celebrate
Champagne to saber, coca to open

Mademoiselle Juliet
Really doesn't have the head for
Crying about Montague and Capulet
Mademoiselle Juliet
Would like to celebrate
Champagne to saber, coca to open

Aahhhh
Aahhhh
Aahhhh
Aahhhh

Mademoiselle Juliet
Really doesn't have the head to
Choose between Montague and Capulet
Mademoiselle Juliet
Would like to celebrate
Champagne to saber, coca to open

Mademoiselle Juliet
Really no longer has the head for(10)
Crying about Montague and Capulet
Mademoiselle Juliet
Would like to celebrate
Champagne to saber, coca to open</TD></TABLE>



Notes

1: These three lines are very hard to hear for we anglophones! Alizée divides the word on the ends of these lines in to two parts; the end of the starting line, and the beginning of the following line. Aimerait become Aim-erait and Champagne becomes Cham-pagne. This certainly accounts for my difficulty in figuring them out originally. I'd assumed each line was distinct.

2: "Mettre en piéces" is a play on words. It is an expression meaning "to smash to pieces" or "to tear up," but if you drop the s on piéces (it remains the same pronounciation) it can be heard as "put in to the play."

3: "Commedia dell'arte" is an old Italian form of comedy, and is the proper name of it in any language. Calling R&J commedia dell'arte is a very bitter and harsh thing - it's a bitingly sarcastic use of that terminology, almost painfully so. The usage refers to what must have been Romeo and Juliet's feeling that they were trapped in some horrible deific joke. The playthings of much greater powers who didn't give a damn about the emotions of their pawns.

4: "Rende l'âme" means to pass away, ie die. It's the equivalent of "to give up the ghost." This makes less sense to me than "rendre l'aime" (gives love), except for the fact that "aime" by itself apparently isn't a noun at all, so doesn't actually mean that. The line ends up as "when William passes away"

5: I prefer to keep the word "Mademoiselle" in the English, as we use it commonly enough in English that it isn't out of place.

6: In this context "de l'amour" could be read as "Of love" or "called love." I prefer "called love" myself, though your mileage may vary, depending on if you think Juliet is suffering from a syndrome, or is herself the syndrome. See Deepwater's comments below, from which I changed "Jolie" to "pretty" instead of "beautiful."

7: In the old days, Champagne was actually opened with a saber on some occasions. Though it's rare to use a sword these days, the expression "to Saber champagne" still is in usage in French.

8: I went with "coca" instead of "coke" to maintain the reference to the anesthetic drug-like potion Juliet consumes, as opposed to a modern soft-drink. One wouldn't really celebrate with it I suppose, but Coke and the Renaissance just don't mix.

9: RMJ's English translation below suggests she "doesn't want lines in the whole play," but what I've got here is that she "doesn't want any lines in the play." I'm not sure which is correct, but I'm guessing the latter might be more appropriate.

10: I adopted this from the RMJ's English translation, keeping the "plus" negative just as the "pas" that had been in this place throughout the rest of the song was.

As always, I welcome comments, criticisms, and feedback.
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Last edited by garçoncanadien; 12-12-2007 at 10:00 AM..
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Old 09-11-2007, 10:26 AM
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Cooney, the line "Jolie syndrome de l'amour," which you translated as "The beautiful syndrome called love," I think might better be read as "A pretty syndrome of love." And actually, if we want to stray from the literal, it might be referring to Juliet as a pretty symbol of love, since "syndrome" in French carries that connotation, but using this word instead of "symbole" gives it a medical sense and the implication of something diseased.
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Old 09-11-2007, 01:28 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Deepwaters View Post
Cooney, the line "Jolie syndrome de l'amour," which you translated as "The beautiful syndrome called love," I think might better be read as "A pretty syndrome of love." And actually, if we want to stray from the literal, it might be referring to Juliet as a pretty symbol of love, since "syndrome" in French carries that connotation, but using this word instead of "symbole" gives it a medical sense and the implication of something diseased.
I kept "syndrome" as I think it's actually saying that she has caught the "syndrome" of love, not that she is one of its symptoms or symbols. The symptoms are listed previously: she flees other men, and has Romeo perpetually in mind.

You are correct that jolie more often translates as pretty or lovely, rather than beautiful. For some reason, I just like "beautiful" more. For accuracy's sake though, I'd better go change that (I probably shouldn't editorialize in my translations, eh?).

The choice between "A ... of" and "The ... called" is, I think, a preference issue that could go either way. With the article dropped on the beginning of the line, it's up for grabs. "de l'" can go either way, as it's an expression that doesn't literally translate to English. It could either be "of the" or "called," depending on the context of the English sentence. I think most Americans would use "called" for the context of this particular line, regardless of which article is chosen for the beginning.
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Old 09-11-2007, 04:49 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Cooney View Post
I kept "syndrome" as I think it's actually saying that she has caught the "syndrome" of love, not that she is one of its symptoms or symbols.
I disagree, and this is why. The song is ironic, it's about Juliet's image as a symbol of love, contrasted with the bitter reality of how her love was thwarted and her life and Romeo's cut short by the tragedy of their situation, with overtones of criticism directed at the Bard for being so cruel to his characters. To the average person, when you say "Romeo and Juliet" an image arises of some kind of perfect, passionate young love. Yet in reality, nobody with any sense would want to be in their places.

So calling Juliet a "pretty syndrome of love" is a way of evoking that irony. I think this is what the writer (whoever it was -- Jean Fauque maybe?) had in mind, rather than merely saying that Juliet suffers from the symptoms of being in love.
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Old 09-24-2007, 04:27 AM
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Ok, so there was the whole waiting for it to be released thing, but it's rather hard to avoid listening to these songs and everyone's talking about them; so...

Quote:
Originally Posted by Cooney View Post
...or is herself the syndrome...
Reminds me of ALS.

8: I went with "coca" instead of "coke" to maintain the reference to the anesthetic drug-like potion Juliet consumes, as opposed to a modern soft-drink.
Really? What reference? It just sounds like people like coke/coca to me - because people can relate to that. Hmm...

10: I adopted this from the RMJ's English translation, keeping the "plus" negative just as the "pas" that had been in this place throughout the rest of the song was.
This I have always found strange. Is it because in casual spoken French they are dropping the 'ne' negative marker; so, instead of 'n'a plus' it is 'a plus' and you just have to know that?
Quote:
Originally Posted by Deepwaters View Post
I disagree, and this is why. The song is ironic, it's about Juliet's image as a symbol of love, contrasted with the bitter reality of how her love was thwarted and her life and Romeo's cut short by the tragedy of their situation, with overtones of criticism directed at the Bard for being so cruel to his characters. To the average person, when you say "Romeo and Juliet" an image arises of some kind of perfect, passionate young love. Yet in reality, nobody with any sense would want to be in their places.

So calling Juliet a "pretty syndrome of love" is a way of evoking that irony. I think this is what the writer (whoever it was -- Jean Fauque maybe?) had in mind, rather than merely saying that Juliet suffers from the symptoms of being in love.
Well, I agree that the implication is not "that Juliet suffers from the symptoms of being in love", but that either she is the symbol of love or perhaps the whole story is. Either way, I can see how both syndrome and symbol would work, which, if you have that connotation in French, then it's really just not translatable and you must notate it anyway.

"To the average person, when you say "Romeo and Juliet" an image arises of some kind of perfect, passionate young love." Well yes. It is just like Lolita actually. The main draw of that book is the expression of love driving toward perfection of the emotion, yet certainly it ends as a tragedy. No one would want to be in the postion of Lolita or Humbert, Romeo or Juliette. Then again, such a love these people will give their lives for.

So, is Alizee taking a pop-culture history class or something? Just kidding. I know, she didn't even write these songs, but that's two songs along the same lines - past popular culture, heroines, tragedy, some rappy parts in both songs.
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Old 09-11-2007, 10:56 AM
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very nice!
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Old 09-11-2007, 03:54 PM
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Sigh... posted the translation to wrong thread.... Here we go again:





Revised translation. Thanks to shakespeare from MFIC for another version of transcript so I was able to fill out couple blanks from Needless' transcription.

Now the transcript should be almost perfect. The translation was improved too somewhat, especially when I found the missing French expression, after browsing language forums...


translation by RMJ (with help of Petsku1 & sb483)

Miss Juliette has
Her Roméo in the alpha
From Verona to Rome she runs
Pretty syndrome of the love
Shakespeare plays with his muse
The heroine thinks he abuses
She quickly climbs in the towers
The great writer likes to play tricks on her

Miss Juliette has
Really not the head
To choose between Montaigu and Capulet
Miss Juliette
Would like to celebrate
Champagne to sabre, coca to uncap

Miss takes the wings
Not to happen (but) put in to play
In her role she doesn't want
Lines in the whole play
This "Commedia dell’arte"
Isn't crazy enough
When finally William gives his heart
There's no way to avoid the drama

Miss Juliette has
Really not the head
To choose between Montaigu and Capulet
Miss Juliette
Would like to celebrate
Champagne to sabre, coca to uncap

Miss Juliette has
Really not the head
To cry over Montaigu and Capulet
Miss Juliette
Would like to celebrate
Champagne to sabre, coca to uncap

Ahhhhhhhhhhh...
Ahhhhhhhhhhh...
Ahhhhhhhhhhh...
Ahhhhhhhhhhh...

Miss Juliette has
Really not the head
To choose between Montaigu and Capulet
Miss Juliette
Would like to celebrate
Champagne to sabre, coca to uncap

Miss Juliette has
Really no longer the head
To cry over Montaigu and Capulet
Miss Juliette
Would like to celebrate
Champagne to sabre, coca to uncap





Transcript by Needles (with help of RMJ & Shakespeare)

Mademoiselle Juliette a
Son Roméo dans l’Alpha
De Vérone à Rome elle court
Jolie syndrome de l’amour
Shakespeare s’amuse de sa muse
L’héroïne trouve qu'il abuse
Elle monte vite dans les tours
Le grand écrivain aime lui jouer des tours

Mademoiselle Juliette a
Pas vraiment la tête à
Choisir entre Montaigu et Capulet
Mademoiselle Juliette
Aimerai faire la fête
Champagne à sabrer coca à décapsuler

Mademoiselle prends des ailes
Ne pas se faire mettre en pièces
Dans son rôle elle ne veut qu'elle
Pas de réplique de toute pièce
Cette "Commedia dell’arte"
N’est pas assez déjantée
Qu'enfin William rende l'âme
Il n’y a plus que ça pour éviter le drame

Mademoiselle Juliette a
Pas vraiment la tête à
Choisir entre Montaigu et Capulet
Mademoiselle Juliette
Aimerai faire la fête
Champagne à sabrer coca à décapsuler

Mademoiselle Juliette a
Pas vraiment la tête à
Pleurer sur Montaigu et Capulet
Mademoiselle Juliette
Aimerai faire la fête
Champagne à sabrer coca à décapsuler

Ahhhhhhhhhhh...
Ahhhhhhhhhhh...
Ahhhhhhhhhhh...
Ahhhhhhhhhhh...

Mademoiselle Juliette a
Pas vraiment la tête à
Choisir entre Montaigu et Capulet
Mademoiselle Juliette
Aimerai faire la fête
Champagne à sabrer coca à décapsuler

Mademoiselle Juliette a
Plus vraiment la tête à
Pleurer sur Montaigu et Capulet
Mademoiselle Juliette
Aimerai faire la fête
Champagne à sabrer coca à décapsuler


Last edited by RMJ; 09-12-2007 at 06:37 PM..
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Old 09-11-2007, 05:00 PM
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Updated the lyrics once again... New much better verse goes:


Miss takes the wings
Not to happen (but) put in to play
In her role she doesn't want
Lines in the whole play
This "Commedia dell’arte"
Isn't crazy enough
When finally William gives his heart
There's no way to avoid the drama


It's already added to post couple post before this...
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Old 09-11-2007, 05:28 PM
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The only line I really disagree with is "Aimerai faire la fête." I just can't figure out how she could be saying that. It sounds like the last syllable she is saying is a "ch" sound, as in "penchant."
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Old 09-12-2007, 02:52 PM
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Dam good song - Can't wait for the full version! (i am hoping its a little longer - I really like how it flows, the composition and the "style"). Rock on Lili!

Ed
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