SHE IS SHE

(By Georges Moustaki)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vjrizdjdu3w




She is docile
She is rebellious
She is changing
And yet she is eternal.
She is blue jeans
She is lovely lace
She is pure
She is full of passion.


She is a girl
She is a woman
She is fleeting
She is steady
She is Mozart
She is Ravel
She is passion
She is delicate .

She is today.
She is tomorrow
She is quiet
She is adventurous
She is musk
She is lavender
She is Spain
She is Ireland.

She is consonant
She is vowel
She is tsunami
She is rainbow
She is guitar
She is cello
She is tigress
She is gazelle.

She is chilli
She is cinnamon
She is gun powder
She is prairie fire
One can’t describe her,
SHE IS SHE

MA PREFERENCE

MA PREFERENCE

Julien Clerc

http://youtu.be/p92pXFgCKUg

Yes,I know it,
The way she is towards me,
Between her and me,
Silence.
And yet, I like her.

Yes,I know it,
The way she is towards me,
Seeming indifference.
And yet, I like her.

Yes,I know it,
The way she is towards me
Unconcerned.
And yet, I like her.

You must believe it
Only I know when she is unhappy,
Only I know she looks at me
Without seeming to look at me.
Only she understands my shyness,
Only I understand her desire to be alone.

Yes,I know it,
Between her and me,
Silence.
Yes, I know it,
Between her and me,
Indifference,
And yet, she is my world

---Rough translation

DYING ON THE STAGE

( Dalida)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FdSpzt19qtM



Oh death,come,
But not when I am alone.
When the curtain one day comes down,
I want that it should come down behind me.
Oh death, come,
But not when I am alone.
I choose everything in my life,
I want to choose my death also.
Some want to die when it is raining,
Others in bright sun light.
Some want to die alone in their bed,
Calmly in their sleep.
But I want to die on the stage in front of the lights.
Yes, I want to die on the stage
My heart open in all its colour.
I want to die painlessly,
In my last appearance on the stage.
I want to die on the stage
Singing till the end.
Oh death, Come,
But not when I am alone.
Oh death, remember
We know each other well.
Oh death, come,
But not when I am alone.
Come on a gala evening
If you want to dance with me.
My life is used to light
I don’t want to leave this world in darkness.
I want to die totally covered with laser lights
Before a packed audience.
I was born on the stage,
I want to die on the stage

SUFFERING FOR YOU IS NO SUFFERING

JULIEN CLERC

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c49_exfPoT8

This is not a faithful translation of the lyrics. The song – one of the best by Julien, my favourite--- is so beautiful, so poignant that nobody can do justice to a translation. I am trying to give the lovely, moving sense of the song.

Julien has always taken naturally without drama and in his stride the ups and downs of inter-personal relationships---particularly between a man and a woman. It is not very clear to me whether this song is dedicated to a woman who has left him or who is dead. It could apply to both.

Julien appeals to the woman to come back to him----informally, casually without any sense of guilt, without feeling the need to give an explanation. He says: You don’t have to blush. You don’t have to tell me a lie (as to why she left him ). You don’t have to smile ( to convince him that things are OK again ).

He says: Just walk in. The drawing room is wasting its time without you. There is a place for you at the dining table. Stay again with me. Let us live in the present for the rest of our lives.

The refrain of the song always makes me cry. Suffering for you is no suffering. Dying for you is no dying. It is as simple as my making you laugh.

There is one sentence the import of which I am not able to understand. He says: “My travels mean nothing.” My inference is that he is telling her that making you smile and laugh gives me greater pleasure than my travels.

Do enjoy.

IT IS TOO LATE

"Il est trop tard" (It is too late)of Georges Moustaki
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=slhYI5Z9fmw&feature=endscreen&NR=1

While I have been sleeping
while I have been dreaming
the clock has ticked away
it is too late
my childhood's long ago
and now it's tomorrow
pass the time pass the time
there's not much time left now

While I have been loving
holding you my darling
love has faded away
it is too late to regain your love
I'm again alone in my bed
pass the time pass the time
there's not much time left now..

While I was singing
About freedom and liberty
Others were in chain
But they fought for their love
I never learnt how to fight for my love
pass the time pass the time
there's not much time left now.

And yet I'm still alive
and yet I still make love
sometimes I sing and play
on my guitar
for the child that was me
for the child that's from me
pass the time pass the time
there's not much time left now.

While I was sleeping
while I was dreaming
while I had you darling
time was still on my side...
It is no longer so.
It is too late now.

LA PLUIE ( THE RAIN )

BY ZAZ
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NUh0i7tJpTk&NR=1

The sky is dark, there the ever welcome rain
Comes on her own, what a surprise.
The rain visits us
And overwhelms us.

The umbrellas open
And dance under the rain.
The raindrops pour
On gentle France.

Chorus
Pour, pour, pour dear rain
On this Sunday of December.
Our umbrellas dance
As we rush without waiting.

One loves the rain, even if she raises her voice
And pushes us around.
We miss the rain, no more news of her
When there is a heat wave.

And then she comes back,
As if she too was missing us
And our love.
She comes back singing,
The music of the downpour

Chorus
Pour, pour,pour dear rain
How hot it is,
Pour, pour,pour, keep pouring.

LA PHILOSOPHIE

THE PHILOSOPHY


Georges Moustaki


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DbeRF--jQpM&feature=related


( A free translation of Greek singer Georges Moustaki's French chanson inspired by the life of gypsies. Very popular in the Latin Quarter of Paris in the 1970s. )

It's a nice band of merry revellers
Who go to bed at dawn and rise late
Thinking only of love or playing guitar
They have in life only this philosophy

We have a lifetime to have fun
We are going to rest after death.
Let us spend our lifetime in fun
We will rest after death.

They do nothing more than to celebrate each moment
They welcome the full moon, celebrate spring
For work they do not have much time
They have in life only this philosophy

We have a lifetime to have fun
We are going to rest after death.
Let us spend our lifetime in fun
We will rest after death.

And I recognize myself in them often enough
Like them I waste my life to the winds
And I tell myself they are my brothers or my children
They have in life only this philosophy.

We have a lifetime to have fun
We are going to rest after death.
Let us spend our lifetime in fun
We will rest after death.

If they are with you, look at their good life
How they're mad, how they're drunk
Their only folly, is wanting to be free
They have in life only this philosophy.

We have a lifetime to have fun
We are going to rest after death.
Let us spend our lifetime in fun
We will rest after death.

Even as they grow old they are what they are
Lovers of the strange ways of Utopia.
Lovers, poets, makers of songs
They have in life only this philosophy.

We have a lifetime to have fun
We are going to rest after death.
Let us spend our lifetime in fun
We will rest after death.