En relisant ta lettre (When Rereading your letter)
When rereading your letter I realised that spelling and you aren't cut from the same cloth It's you that I love Only has one O* Above everything else
Don't say it, period
There's one missing That you don't care I'm begging you Dot the I Trust me I'm the slave
Without a grave accent**
Of appearences It's ridiculous
Capital I***
It was so nice It all affects me That is correct To the highest degree If you renounce Like its pronounced Listening to me With life Like it's spelled I'll finish To hold against me Only has one D Such a grudge You have no heart There's no mistake There's one I'll died Is not French Don't you understand ? It will be your fault There's none there I'll have you know That phenobarbitol
Doesn't have an E
But take only one Pill at least Don't take two It will calm you And you'll see It all doesn't matter
The dumps, the tears
The heartache
O E in the O**** |
En relisant ta lettre je m'aperçois que l'orthographe et toi, ça fait deux
C'est toi que j'aime
Ne prend qu'un M
Par-dessus tout
Ne me dis point
Il en manque un
Que tu t'en fous
Je t'en supplie
Point sur le i
Fais-moi confiance
Je suis l'esclave
Sans accent grave
Des apparences
C'est ridicule
C majuscule
C'était si bien
Tout ça m'affecte
Ça c'est correct
Au plus haut point
Si tu renonces
Comme ça s'prononce
À m'écouter
Avec la vie
Comme ça s'écrit
J'en finirai
Pour me garder
Ne prends qu'un D
Tant de rancune
T'as pas de cœur
Y a pas d'erreur
Là y'en a une
J'en nourrirai
N'est pas français
N'comprends-tu pas ?
Ça s'ra ta faute
Là y'en a pas
Moi j'te signale
Que gardénal
Ne prend pas d'E
Mais n'en prend qu'un
Cachet au moins
N'en prend pas deux
Ça t'calmera
Et tu verras
Tout r'tombe à l'eau
L'cafard, les pleurs
Les peines de cœur
O E dans l'O
|
*The whole premiss of this song makes it fairly impossible to translate well. It is about a letter written by a heartstricken woman to a man, who critiques his erstwhile lover's spelling. Since it was written in French, some of the constructions doen't exist in English, the œ toward the end, for example. In this first example I have changed the French mention of 'M' to 'O'.
**In French esclave is written without an accent. Presumably the lady wrote ésclave, with a grave accent, which is incorrect.
***This has a double meaning. C is a homonyme for c'est, or it is. So C majiscule means both "Capital C" and "It's capital." The way I have it makes no sense out of context. It's my call, and I made it.
****The French word for heart is cœur, the OE in the O part then only makes sense in French.
English translation ©2006 Alex Chabot