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.

MY FREEDOM, I HAVE BETRAYED YOU FOR THE LOVE OF A WOMAN

MY FREEDOM

GEORGES MOUSTAKI
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S-fs6VBPTxc

My freedom
I cared for you for a long time
Like a rare pearl.

My freedom
It was you who helped me
To cross the waves
To go wherever I wanted
Till the end of the world of adventure
To collect on my return
A rose of the wind
From a ray of moonshine


My freedom
I was your slave
My freedom
I gave you everything you demanded
How much I deprived myself
To keep you happy
To satisfy your demands
I gave up friends
To win your love.


My freedom
You knew my habits
You even made me love loneliness
You taught me to smile after every adventure
You protected me
When I hid myself
To help my wounds heal.


My freedom,
Yet, I have left you
I have deserted you
And left the road that we travelled together
I have betrayed you
For the love of a woman
For her beautiful prison.

GOOD MORNING, SADNESS

GOOD MORNING, SADNESS (Bonjour, tristesse)


Juliette Greco ( 1958 )
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b2KGRC-FKtA


Since we started living together
You greet me every morning
You give me the first kiss of the day.
Good morning, sadness.


You are like me
You are my mirror
Which makes me think of my youth,
Good morning, sadness.


You know the secret of my pain,
Because it is you who have cradled it
How can I forget
That you always held my hand
That you have never forgotten me?


Ever since we started living together
You are my only love
I am too weak
To break with you.


Good morning, sadness,
You are my only love
I am too weak
To break with you.


Good morning, sadness.

THAT'S NOT GOING TO CHANGE THE WORLD

JOE DASSIN 1976
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S_wQXYfmCro&NR=1

( A paraphrased version of the lyrics )

After we last met,
I expected you to say "bye" as usual,
But you surprised me by saying "farewell"

You have broken with me
That’s not going to change the world
The world kept turning even before we became friends
It will keep turning even after we have broken
Life will continue as before
The weather will be the same as before
Let us not speak about it.


It’s not me who has changed
It’s you who have changed.
I thought you liked me
I found it was not true.
You felt I was not the man
You thought I was.
Let us not talk about it.
Life will continue as before.
The weather will be the same as before,
The world will keep turning as before.

The world will be right
Why should it stop turning
Just because you have broken with me?
The weather will be right
Why should it change
Just because you have broken with me?
You are right,
What's wrong in your breaking with me
If you don't like me?

HELLO, SWEETHEARTS (SALUT, LES AMOUREUX)

Joe Dassin (1972)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dybBx3u10LU&feature=related
------------------

Mornings follow and resemble each other,
When love becomes routine.
We were not made to laugh together in life.

It is funny, yesterday we were bored
And we could hardly find
The words to speak even about the bad weather.
And now that we are leaving,
We have a hundred thousand things to say,
To each other.

We fell in love with each other, like we broke with each other,
Quite simply without even thinking of tomorrow,
Tomorrow which always comes a little too fast.

We do what is necessary, we play our roles,
We look at each other, we laugh, we argue a little,
We have always forgotten something.

And we know too well that sooner or later,
Perhaps tomorrow or even tonight,
We will think that everything is not lost,
Of this unfinished novel,
We'll make a fairy tale,
But we've passed the age of fairy-tales,
We would not believe in it anymore.

Romeo, Juliette and all the others,
Sleep in peace at the very bottom of our books,
A simple love story like ours
Is one of those that will never be written.

Come on, it's time to go,
Let us leave our memories here,
We'll go downstairs together if you want,
And when she sees us pass,
The owner of the cafe,
Will still greet us "Hello, sweethearts".

WORDS, WORDS, WORDS

By Alain Delon & Dalida (1973)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ifJapuqYiU

Alain Delon

It is strange,
I don’t know what has happened to me tonight,
I look at you as if I am looking at you for the first time.


Dalida

More words, always words
The same words


Alain

I don’t know how to tell them to you,


Dalida

Nothing but words


Alain

You are the beautiful love story
That I will never stop reading


Dalida

Easy words, brittle words
Too beautiful


Alain
You were my yesterday, you will be my tomorrow


Dalida


Too beautiful


Alain

You are the only truth in my life
You are like the wind that carries the music of the violin
And the smell of the roses
Caramels, sweets and chocolate


Dalida

Sometimes, I don’t understand you
Tender words, sweet words
From your mouth, but not from your heart
One more word
Words, words, words
More words carried by the wind
Nothing but words
Words magical, words deceptive,
That sound false.

AS USUAL

AS USUAL
Claude Francois
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n5BAXIcseak&NR=1

I get up
I shake you up
You do not wake up
As usual .
I cover you with the sheet
So that you don’t catch a cold
As usual .
My hand caresses your hair
Almost despite myself
As usual.
But you
You turn your back on me
As usual .

And I dress very quickly
I leave the room
As usual .
All alone I drink my coffee
I'm late
As usual
I quietly leave the house
Everything is gray outside
As usual .
I'm cold
I raise my collar
As usual .

As usual
All day
I play a make-believe life
As usual.
I smile
As usual .
I even laugh
As usual.
I live the day
As usual .

And then
The day is over
I return
As usual
To You
You are out still
Not yet returned home
As usual .
All alone
I go to bed
In this cold
As usual .
My tears
I hide them
As usual.

As usual
Even at night
I'll play a make-believe
As usual .
You get back
As usual
I wait for you in bed
As usual
You smile at me
As usual.

As usual
You undress
As usual
You get into bed
As usual
We kiss
As usual .

As usual,
We will pretend
To be making love
You will pretend
As usual,
To be enjoying.
We will go to sleep
As usual.

THE UNHAPPY SINGER

THE UNHAPPY SINGER

Claude Francois. He died young (39) in 1978 when I was in Paris electrocuted while taking a shower. His father was French, mother Italian. Born in Egypt. Died in Paris.

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xlve9_

I wonder whether you still exist
I wonder where is your heart
I wonder whether you still make love at night
I wonder about so many things.
For me nothing has changed, you are still in my heart.

I wonder who caresses your hair now
I wonder whether you are sitting near the fire
I wonder whether you still say the words
You used to say to me
I wonder about so many things.
While I still think of you, you have forgotten me.

Am like an unhappy singer
Whom nobody listens any more
Am like an unhappy singer
Whom nobody likes any more.
Even if you are no longer there
I still sing for you
I wonder whether you can hear me sing.

I wonder whether we will see each other again
I wonder whether you will remember me
Whether we will become friends again
I wonder about so many things
But you have forgotten we loved each other once.

Am like an unhappy singer
Whom nobody listens any more
Am like an unhappy singer
Whom nobody likes any more.
Even if you are no longer there
I still sing for you
I wonder whether you can hear me sing.

TALK TO ME OF LOVE

TALK TO ME OF LOVE


Juliette Greco

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



Tell me again tender things
Your beautiful speech
My heart is not weary of hearing
Provided always
You repeat these wonderful words
I love you

You know
In reality I dont think so
But yet I still want
Listen to this word that I adore
Your voice sounds caressing
And in spite of myself I want to believe

It is so sweet
My dear treasure, to be a little crazy
Life is sometimes too bitter
If one does not believe in dreams
Grief is quickly appeased
With a hug and a kiss
The word that heals the wound in the heart.

---From Juliette Greco's Parlez-moi d'amour

Sleeping With My Loneliness

MY SOLITUDE
(By Georges Moustaki—A French singer of Greek origin)

To have so often slept with my loneliness,
She is almost a friend, a sweet habit.
She is like a faithful shadow.
She follows me here and there, to the four corners of the world.


No, I'm never alone with my loneliness.


When she is in my bed, she takes all the space,
And we spend long nights, both face to face.
I really do not know how far this will go on, this complicity


No, I'm never alone with my loneliness.


Through her, I learnt as much as I shed tears.
If sometimes I try to put her away, I can’t.
Should I choose the love of another woman?
Possibly on my last day, my last girlfriend?


But I never feel alone with my loneliness.
No, I'm never alone with my loneliness.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QvFLBs9S8FY&feature=share

IF YOU DID NOT EXIST

Si tu n’existais pas If you did not exist

Joe Dassin

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=abfQQ1hzN9M

And if you did not exist
Tell me why should I exist.
To hang around in a world without you
With neither hope nor regret .

And if you did not exist
I would try to invent love
Like a painter who sees his fingers
Give shape to the colors of the day .

And if you did not exist
Tell me for whom would I exist.
Passers- by asleep in my arms
I would never love.

And if you did not exist
In this world where one comes and goes
I would feel lost
I would need you .

And if you did not exist
Tell me how would I exist
I could pretend to be myself
But that would not be true

And if you did not exist
I think I would have found
The secret of life,
Just to create you
And to look at you.

And if you did not exist
Tell me why should I exist
To hang around in a world without you
With neither hope nor regret

And if you did not exist
I would try to invent love
Like a painter who sees his fingers
Give shape to the colors of the day.

JE VEUX I WANT

As sung by Zaz herself

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-F_9fgtEKYg

Roll down for English translation

L"ETE INDIEN--- THE INDIAN SUMMER

(Joe Dassin’s song of 1975)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SQ9acTpB0ic
-----------------------

You know, I have never been as happy as I was that morning
We were walking along the beach a bit like this,
It was autumn, an autumn when weather was nice
A season that exists only in North America
Down there one calls it the Indian Summer
This one was simply ours
With your long blue dress you resembled a watercolor by Marie Laurence.
And I remember, I remember very well
What I told you that morning
A year, a century, an eternity ago.


I told you: We will be going, where you want to go, whenever you want to
We will be loving each other still even when love will be dead
And all of life will be like the shades of the Indian Summer.


Today I'm far away from that morning of autumn
But it's like I am still there
I'm thinking of you
Where are you?
Do I still exist for you?
I'm watching this wave that will never reach the sand
You see, I'm lying down on the sand
And I'm remembering the rising tide flowing in, the sun and happiness drifting away into the sea
An eternity, a century, a year ago


We will be going, where you want to go whenever you want to
We will be loving each other still even when love will be dead
And all of life will be like the shades of the Indian Summer

I WANT

I WANT
Zaz

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pQ_ELGxTP60&feature=related

Give me a suite at the Ritz hotel, I don't want that
Chanel's jewellery, I don't want that
Give me a limo, what would I do with it?
Offer me staff, what would I do with it?
A mansion in Neufchatel, it's not for me
Offer me the Eiffel tower, what would I do with it?

I want love, joy, good spirit
It's not your money that will make me happy
I want to die with a hand on my heart
Let's go together, let's discover my freedom,
Forget all your prejudice, welcome to my reality

I'm fed up with your good manners, it's too much for me
I eat with my hands, I'm like that
I speak loud and I'm direct, sorry
Let's end the hypocrisy, I'm out of it
I'm tired of double-talk
Look at me, I'm not even mad at you, I'm just like that

I want love, joy, good spirit
It's not your money that will make me happy
I want to die with a hand on my heart
Let's go together, let's discover my freedom,
Forget all your prejudice, welcome to my reality