Lilly Town

[Youpidou1]

Thankyou RMJ I love this song, now I can sing it alot better with the lyrics in both languages!

[Fiat Stilo]

Originally Posted by Roman

This is great that we have more French people (Francophones in general) here. So, help us poor ignorant folks out more! I think I may have translated a few things better than RMJ or Cooney and a few I think none of us are quite getting. It's a pretty sad state of affairs when I am trying to do a translation. The whole song seems to be filled with idioms, poetic expression, and cultural references making it rather difficult to translate. I immediately though of "Lucy in the sky with diamonds", but what does Bree signify, for example?
I hightlighted those things that seem to be significantly different from what they wrote. Please set me straight on the stuff that is wrong or untranslated:
Welcome
Welcome to Lilly Town valley
The city color and shape (14)
Granny apple

London
Or Rome at its side are out of fashion
no Miss Hilton here
Paris is astonished (or surprised or something) (15)

In Lilly Town
the children dance
to the Motown oldies (1)
in school (2)

There is even
A sky so blue
That one can see there, Lucy
That one can even see there, if one wants
John or Gandhi
Or sweet words are written like (3)
Al and Simone (have written)
Lilly in her bed dreaming of Lilly Town

Seven small men wander
In deep dreams (6)
Whistling Angie of the Rolling Stones (4)
By changing the air (5)

The nuns
Have cornets full of ice cream (ice cream cones)
Earphones imagine (16)
Singing Lennon

In Lilly Town
The children fly
To the Motown oldies
Dancing with the trolls

There is even
A sky so blue
That one can see there, Lucy
That one can even see there, if one wants
John or Gandhi
Or sweet words are written like (3)
Al and Simone (have written)
Lilly in her bed dreaming of Lilly Town

In Lilly Town
the children dance
to the Motown oldies (1)
in school (2)

There is even
A sky so blue
That one can see there, Lucy
That one can do anything he wants
According to his wishes
Où l'on pique un tout petit somme (7)
Al Capone's place (or home or whatever)
Desire to take the tram to Lilly Town

On a whim
Was the trip
Balai delay
Faire Bree et le ménage (9)

Charmed
blue of the sky
And fa si fa sol (18)
Of the other stars, also considering
The do, sealed on the ground (12)
Coco, chocolate milk, macadamiyum cookies
And every evening men
who play checkers (11)

In Lilly Town
Even the time dances
To the Motown oldies
During detention (19)

There is even
A sky so blue
That one can see there, Lucy
That one can even see there, if one wants
John or Gandhi
Or sweet words are written like (3)
Al and Simone (have written)
Lilly in her bed dreaming of Lilly Town

In Lilly Town
The children fly
To the Motown oldies
above brambles

There is even
Blue of the sky
And some fa si fa sol
Of the other stars, also considering
The do, sealed on the ground (12)
Coco, chocolate milk, macadamiyum cookies
Lilly Town is a dream
For all these ladies (13)

(1) "des vieux" refers to old ones (old men as Babelfish translates), in this case old Motown music
(2) "les cours d'école" means something like courses of school - this does not translate very directly
(3) one needs to know specific grammar to get this, but this is my guess
(4) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Angie_(Rolling_Stones_song) (Alizée's musical tastes are certainly different from Mylène and Laurent.) http://fr.youtube.com/watch?v=bbZcslc9M78
(5) RMJ and Cooney's translation sounds more correct, but babelfish translates it this way. It translates "En l'air changeant" as "In the changing air". Seems like there's something more to this than the translation captures either way.
(6) going with RMJ's translation
(7) can't figure it out yet and I'm a little skeptical of the other translations
(8) "ad lib" or improvised - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ad%5Flibitum
(9) not sure what this means, balai = broom, le ménage = household – something about delaying cleaning up and something about Bree ??
(11) various sources suggest this "play with ladies" means play checkers
(12) scellées au sol is an idomatic expression apparently, but I don't know what it means
(13) this could actually refer to something else, like referring to the peices of the checkers game metaphorically
(14) this seems to be grammatically bare in French too, so, I figured I'd leave it that way. Imagine there being a couple semicolons.
(15) maybe it means this, but is not an important interpretation because the word play is what is important. In French it sounds like Paris Hilton.
Besides just taking the word of a person who knows French, "ici pas de Miss Hilton" - ici = here, if pas = step it is a noun, not a verb, and also because "de" Miss Hilton, it just doesn't make sense to try to translate that as step 'here step of miss hilton'.
A question, even if Paris s'étonne clearly is said because it sounds like Paris Hilton, the words actually mean something. So, if it means Paris is surprised or astonished or something, is that really supposed to just be ignored and not really mean much - or I guess we can draw our own conclusion?
(16) imaginent is a pluralized present tense verb, is it not?
(17) the word faire is used, not voir
(18) translators leave fa and do as musical notes, also have found references to 'fa si fa sol' in music. Just do a web search.
(19) as close as I can figure with translators and looking up les heures de colle – punishment in school suggestive of detention.

(2) Yes, "les courses d'ecole" means "during school-lessons".
(3) I wouls translate "where you can write sweet words just like Al & Simone". I would know who are these ones...
(5)(6) I think the meaning is "seven little men walk in the magic wood and whistle that song while they're in the forest to get some fresh air"
(9) I think Bree is the name of the fictional town in the middle-earth in the novel "the lord of the rings", which is lived by hobbits and men. It could also be reffered to the chronicles of narnia.. I don't know...
(11) "jouer aux dames" means "playing Draughts"
(12) "the do, joint to the sol". Do and Sol are latin notes, "Do"="C" and "Sol"="G". "fa, si, fa, sol" means "F, B, F, G"
(14) this means that Lilly town has the same colour and shape of a green apple. I think it's referred to newyork, the big apple, isn't it?
(16) nuns imagine Lennon singing through their earphones (they're simply listening to a Lennon CD I suppose)
(19), yes "les heures de colle" are the hours of school-punishment, Just think to Bart Simpson, who spends his afternoon writing down sentences on the blackboard...
Hope I've been helpful for your translations...

[Roman]

Thank you Fiat Stilo. That was helpful and here is my version 2 - still incomplete. Some things can still be made clearer and I am still not at all clear on:
Où l'on pique un tout petit somme
Chez Al Capone
Le désir prend le tram à Lilly Town

Ad libitum
Fut le voyage
Balai delay
Faire Bree et le ménage

(There's something screwy with the editor on this forum, like I can't even see a cursor, but I think I fixed all my formatting now.)

Welcome to <st1><st1>Lilly</st1><st1> Town</st1></st1> valley
The city color and shape (14)
Granny apple

<st1:city><st1>London</st1></st1:city>
Or Rome at its side are out of fashion<o></o>
no Miss Hilton here
<st1:city><st1>Paris</st1></st1:city> is astonished (or surprised or something) (15)

In Lilly Town
the children dance
to the Motown oldies (1)<o></o>
during school lessons (2)

There is even
A sky so blue
That one can see there, Lucy
That one can even see there, if one wants
John or Gandhi
Or sweet words are written like (3)
Al and Simone (have written)
Lilly in her bed dreaming of Lilly Town

Seven little men wander
In the magic woods (6)
Whistling Angie of the Rolling Stones (4)<o></o>
To get some fresh air (5)<o></o>

The nuns
Have cornets full of ice cream (ice cream cones)
Earphones imagine (16)<o></o>
Singing Lennon
In Lilly Town
The children fly
To the Motown oldies
Dancing with the trolls

There is even
A sky so blue
That one can see there, Lucy
That one can even see there, if one wants
John or Gandhi
Or sweet words are written like (3)
Al and Simone (have written)
Lilly in her bed dreaming of Lilly Town

In Lilly Town
the children dance
to the Motown oldies (1)
in school (2)

There is even
A sky so blue
That one can see there, Lucy
That one can do anything he wants
According to his wishes
Où l'on pique un tout petit somme (7)
Al Capone's place (or home or whatever)
Even desire takes the bus here in Lilly Town

On a whim
Was the trip
Balai delay
Faire Bree et le ménage (9)

Charmed
blue of the sky
And some Fa Si Fa Sol (12)
Of the other stars, also considering
The Do, joined to the Sol
Coco, chocolate milk, macadamiyum cookies
And every evening men
who play checkers (11) (aka Draughts)

In Lilly Town
Even the time dances
To the Motown oldies<o></o>
During detention (19)

There is even
A sky so blue
That one can see there, Lucy
That one can even see there, if one wants
John or Gandhi
Or sweet words are written like (3)
Al and Simone (have written)
Lilly in her bed dreaming of Lilly Town
<!--[if !supportLineBreakNewLine]-->
<!--[endif]--><o></o>In Lilly Town
The children fly
To the Motown oldies
above brambles

There is even
Blue of the sky
And some Fa Si Fa Sol (12)
Of the other stars, also considering
The Do, joined to the Sol
Coco, chocolate milk, macadamiyum cookies
Lilly Town is a dream
For all these ladies (13)

(1) "des vieux" refers to old ones (old men as Babelfish translates), in this case old Motown music
(2) "les cours d'école" means school lessons <o></o>
(3) "where you can write sweet words just like Al & Simone" according to Fiat Stilo
(4) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Angie_(Rolling_Stones_song) (Alizée's musical tastes are certainly different from Mylène and Laurent.) http://fr.youtube.com/watch?v=bbZcslc9M78
(5)(6) Fiat Stilo: I think the meaning is "seven little men walk in the magic wood and whistle that song while they're in the forest to get some fresh air". "By changing the air" is the babelfish translation. It translates "En l'air changeant" as "In the changing air". <o></o>
(7) can't figure it out yet and I'm a little skeptical of the other translations. FS. says: "Le désir prends le tram à Lily Town" which means "even desire takes the bus here in <st1><st1>Lilly</st1><st1> Town</st1></st1>".<o></o>
(8) "ad lib" or improvised - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ad%5Flibitum
(9) not sure what this means, balai = broom, le ménage = household – something about delaying cleaning up and something about Bree ?? As suggested by Fiat Stilo, Bree is a town in Tolkien's Middle Earth: "Directly west of Bree were the Barrow-downs and the <st1><st1>Old</st1><st1> Forest</st1></st1>. Bree was the chief <st1><st1>village</st1> of <st1>Breeland</st1></st1>, a small wooded region near the intersection of the main north-south and east-west routes through Eriador. Breeland was the only part of Middle-earth where Men and hobbits dwelt side by side." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bree_(Middle-earth)<o></o>
Bree is also a horse in Narnia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bree_(Narnia)<o></o>
(11) various sources suggest this "play with ladies" means play checkers (aka Draughts, as suggested by F.S.)
(12) Et des fa si fa sol … Le do, scellées au sol
F.S. says: "the do, joint to the sol". Do and Sol are latin notes, "Do"="C" and "Sol"="G". "fa, si, fa, sol" means "F, B, F, G". Any web search will confirm this general idea.<o></o>
(13) this could actually refer to something else, like referring to the peices of the checkers game metaphorically
(14) this seems to be grammatically bare in French too, so, I figured I'd leave it that way. Imagine there being a couple semicolons. Some have suggested a reference to "The Big Apple" – <st1:state><st1>New York</st1></st1:state>. Possible connection. Maybe multiple references.
(15) The words seem to mean this, yet it has been suggested that it's not an important interpretation because the word play is what is important. In French it sounds like Paris Hilton. One can guess as to whether the actual word s'étonne is important.
(16) imaginent is a pluralized present tense verb, is it not?<o></o>
The actually meaning of the passage is probably as suggested by F.S.: nuns imagine Lennon singing through their earphones (they're simply listening to a Lennon CD I suppose)<o></o>
(17) the word faire is used, not voir<o></o>
(19) as close as I can figure with translators and looking up les heures de colle – punishment in school suggestive of "detention". – confirmed by F.S.<o></o>

version 3 with some help from Fiat Stilo of AAm.<o></o>

[Fiat Stilo]

Originally Posted by Roman

Thank you Fiat Stilo. That was helpful and here is my version 2 - still incomplete. Some things can still be made clearer and I am still not at all clear on:

You're welcome! I'm happy to give a hand!!
At the moment I have difficulties about that strophe too.
When I discover the sense of the sentences I'll write to you!
I only understand "Le désir prends le tram à Lily Town" which means "even desire takes the bus here in Lilly Town".

[Youpidou1]

You know if you really look at your iPod and these lyrics in French this is kind of a long song, or is that me? Haha I like long songs though.

[Amelie]

and what is the "Macadamiam" ?

[Roman]

Originally Posted by Amelie

and what is the "Macadamiam" ?

We assume it is Macadamia yummy. Yummy chocolaty macadamia cookies or something like.

[Zack -Alizee Lover-]

Originally Posted by Fiat Stilo

You're welcome! I'm happy to give a hand!!
At the moment I have difficulties about that strophe too.
When I discover the sense of the sentences I'll write to you!
I only understand "Le désir prends le tram à Lily Town" which means "even desire takes the bus here in Lilly Town".

You guys might think im high or something but
I think it sounds something like "even desires to take the subway to Lily Town" and guess who has a subway?

also the word tram reminds me of tramcar, and makes me think inmediatly in the NY subway... maybe it could be relationed?

[Amelie]

on one box of the creame, i have seen "...With Macadamia nuts". is it maybe the same Lilish "Macadamiam"?

[user472884]

Why does Alizée have to be so damn cryptic?

---
Hey.... I've got an idea.