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

[espire]

Originally Posted by Topaz

Nico wasn't exploited (as much). She went on to be relatively successful. Although Nico was heroin dependent. We'll see.

Well, everybody needs a hero(in)!

[RMJ]

Originally Posted by Snatcher42

+1

Chyld on MFI suggested that it might be more about Nico than Edie. But either way, we're concluding a lot from one verse/bridge/chorus. Lets wait and see.

This could be... One bridge is very little in whole song. There's many surprising factors in larger scale.

[Cooney]

Originally Posted by Snatcher42

+1

Chyld on MFI suggested that it might be more about Nico than Edie. But either way, we're concluding a lot from one verse/bridge/chorus. Lets wait and see.

---Edit---
Previous post removed after I got pWned by RMJ's superior knowledge of the subject :-)

[RMJ]

It's Andy Warhol, there's no doubt about it.

Is it about Nico ? Well, I wouldn't rule that possibility out just yet. She was a model, she was drug addict, she was close to Andy... list goes on...

But dunno.... there's still things in the song to understand.

[RMJ]

Not to forget that Nico was modeling for Chanel...

chic en Chanel, amour et toujours glamour,

Or that she became famous at fifties (né en cinquante), at the age of 15/16 (pretty sexteen). She became "the Siren of the sixties" (sexy soixante) as Time wrote...

She was true icon of those days.

[RMJ]

Partially done full lyrics were leaked out in MFIC so I might well leak out my translation and lyrics for the full song...


Translation of the lyrics by RMJ (with little help)



Pretty sixteen,
Beautiful heroine of the sixties,
You hip-swaying,
You are divine,
When you dance,
In the eyes of Andy...

Goodbye bebop,
On the top,
It's pop-art,
That runs you down,
To the trap,
Pop-corn and hula hoop...

Dream of glory and fortune,
Chic in Chanel, love and always glamour,
At exhibitions you pose and expose youself,
To 400ASA you dare all the poses...

Fifty sixty,
Born in the fifties,
Sexy sixties,
So excited,
On ecstasy,
Foolishly she believes, all that Andy,
That Andy tells to her,
That she's the most beautiful
Of all the models...

Like an icon,
Under the Nikon you turn,
The head on the velvet and Nico
Want you far away from Lou Reed
In East Village
We are all young
Take along me, yellow taxi
From which the legend comes

Dream of glory and fortune,
Chic in Chanel, love will always be glamour,
I look you in polaroid,
You know the time has not aged at all

Fifty sixty,
Born in the fifties,
Sexy sixties,
So excited,
On ecstasy,
Foolishly she believes, all that we say
What we say about her,
That she's the most beautiful
Of all the models...

The flower power is dead on the dance floor
The electro, the pop does not still exist
With (...) of rocker, time was changed
The rock rolls on rollers, the pop is (?)

The flower power is dead of it's natural death
New wave and techno does not still exist
You go play your last role, n'est plus la (???)
But you still dance in the eyes of (???)

Fifty sixty,
Born in the fifties,
Sexy sixties,
So excited,
On ecstasy,
Foolishly she believes, all that we say
What we say about her,
That she's the most beautiful
(The most beautiful)

Fifty sixty,
Born in the fifties,
Sexy sixties,
So excited,
On ecstasy,
Foolishly she believes, all that we say
What we say about her,
That she's the most beautiful
Of all the models...

Translation by RMJ


French transcription by French-fan-who-might-not-want-to-be-mentioned & tiny bit lil help from RMJ)


Pretty sixteen,
Belle héroïne des sixties,
Tu te dandines,
T'es divine,
Quand tu danses,
Dans les yeux d'Andy...

Adieu bebop,
Plus au top,
C'est le pop-art,
Qui te sape,
À la trappe,
Pop-corn et hula hoop...

Rêve de gloire et de fortune,
Chic en Chanel, amour et toujours glamour,
Aux expos tu poses et t'exposes,
À 400ASA tu oses toutes les poses...

Fifty sixty,
Né en cinquante,
Sexy soixante,
Si excitante,
S’extasie
Candide elle croit, tout ce qu’Andy,
Qu'Andy dit d'elle,
Qu’elle est la plus belle
De toutes les modeles...

Comme une icône,
Sous le Nikon tu tournes,
La tête au velvet et Nico
Te voudrais, loin de Lou Reed
À East Village
On est tous jeune
Emmene moi, taxi jaune
La d'où vient la légende

Rêve de gloire et de fortune,
Chic en Chanel, amour sera toujours glamour,
Je te regarde en polaroid,
Tu sais le temps n'a pas pris une ride

Fifty sixty,
Né en cinquante,
Sexy soixante,
Si excitante,
S’extasie
Candide elle croit, tout ce qu'on dit
Ce qu'on dit d'elle
Qu’elle est la plus belle
De tout les modeles...

Le flower power est mort sur le dance floor
L'electro, le pop n'existe pas encore
Avec (...) au rocker, on a changé d'époque
Le rock roule en roller, la pop est en cloque

Le flower power est mort de sa belle mort
New wave et techno n'existent pas encore
Vas-y joue le ton dernier role, n'est plus la (???)
Mais tu danses encore dans les yeux d'(???)

Fifty sixty,
Né en cinquante,
Sexy soixante,
Si excitante,
S’extasie
Candide elle croit, tout ce qu'on dit
Ce qu'on dit d'elle
Qu’elle est la plus belle
(La plus belle)

Fifty sixty,
Né en cinquante,
Sexy soixante,
Si excitante,
S’extasie
Candide elle croit, tout ce qu'on dit
Ce qu'on dit d'elle
Qu’elle est la plus belle
de tous les modeles...

[heyamigo]

haha so much for the song being about edie segwick eh? now whichever of you guys that wrote that stuff on edie segwick's wikipedia page better go take it off...

[Ben]

I haven't had time to look at the lyrics carefully in either French or English, but I wouldn't write off Edie completely.

However, what I was trying to say on the previous page is that the second half of the song (especially the rap) seems to be more about just the 60s in general rather than any one person. Certainly it doesn't support the Mylene interpretation as well.

Anyway, lyrically it seems very much like a counterpart to Jérémy's Katmandou, the first single from his last album. Both about the 1960s, but whereas he sang about the "peace and love" generation, Lili's talking about the fashonistas in New York.

[Cooney]

Nico DID model for Chanel? Huh... I went hunting specifically for that, and didn't locate anything mentioning her modeling at all. I mustn't have looked hard enough, or else the bio's I found on her just sucked. Given how many things I seem to have missed, I'll go with a little from both columns!

That being the case, I retract my previous statement that it couldn't be her.

[RMJ]

"nico chanel" gives several hits in google. You must have mistyped.

Few pics from the first page:


http://smironne.free.fr/NICO/drama.php

Coco Chanel discovered her next and then she moved to Paris where she took amphetamines to stay thin and earned enough from photo shoots to buy herself a home on Ibiza, the Spanish island where she first adopted the male name of Nico, and where she would eventually die.

http://64.233.183.104/search?q=cache...&ct=clnk&cd=10

Nico worked for Vogue, Tempo, Vie Nuove, Mascotte Spettacolo, Camera, ELLE, and various other fashion magazines in the late 1950s. She was also hired by Coco Chanel.

http://everything2.com/index.pl?node=Nico

Buoyed by her film roles, Nico's modelling career took off, and she began work for Coco Chanel in Paris.

And reference from a book written about her life (so it's rather good reference):
smironne.free.fr/NICO/BOOKS/bkhb.html

Nico's contribution as an artist (17 films and 7 LPs) was smothered by gossip or her alleged affairs with men and women, whether Jimi Hendrix or Jeanne Moreau, Brian Jones of the Rolling Stones or Coco Chanel.