Brains' flowers

Artist: Georges Moustaki
Song: Fleurs de meninges
Translation: French → English
Submitted by purplelunacy on Sat, 17/07/2010 - 22:10

French

Fleurs de meninges

FLEUR DE MÉNINGE

J'ai la méninge qui fleurit
La nature m'a tout appris
Je suis poète
Ma fortune est bien entendu
Comme un beau jardin suspendu
Dans ma tête
Pas de mémoire des myosotis
Souvent mon araignée en tis..
...sant sa toile
Fait un hamac pour ma pensée
Qui de là rêvant d'odyssée
Met la voile
Quand je m'embarque au grand bonheur
Je peux tout dire avec des fleurs
De méninge
Quand je m'en vais conter fleurette
Pas besoin de roses ni de pâquerettes
Au smokinge
Suffit pour être ensorceleur
De savoir faire pousser les fleurs
De méninge

Je ne cultive pas le souci
Mais je me rends vite à merci
Quand on cueille
Les plus douces pensées d'amour
Et la marguerite alentour
Que j'effeuille
Des fleurs poussées par ma passion
J'en fais éclore sans aversion
Sur le bitume
Tout un parterre enjuponé
De belles de nuit dès que le né..
...on s'allume
Quand je joue au bel oiseleur
Je peux tout prendre avec des fleurs
De méninge
Pour étourdir la midinette
Pas besoin de roses ni de pâquerettes
Au dancinge
Suffit pour ce gentil labeur
De savoir faire pousser les fleurs
De méninge

Je pense trop et je suis trop beau
Pour faire de vieux os de barbeau
Je m'en flatte
Tranquille j'attends qu'un voyou
Comme pour me guérir du mildiou
Me sulfate
Ou bien qu'on me plante au surin
Sur le ventre un joli jardin
Qu'on me vaccine
Bref qu'on m'envoie sans mon faire part
Grignoter les pissenlits par
La racine
Quand je m'embarquerai pour ailleurs
Tout sera dit en quelques fleurs
De méninge
Pour m'en aller aux oubliettes
Pas besoin de roses ni de pâquerettes
Ni de méninge
Pas besoin non plus d'orchidées
Mais d'un simple bouquet d'idées
Suffira de verser quelques pleurs
Pour arroser vos propres fleurs
De méninge

Submitter's comment:

Request English translation FLEUR DE MÉNINGE Paroles et musique: Georges Moustaki Serge Reggiani's recording of the song is beautiful. I would like a translation into English. My French is weak, but if I understand the words, I will learn it in French. Many thanks. I would appreciate your comments about the song. It seems beautiful to me. Barbara recorded a version on video that seems to be tongue in cheek. On a web forum I found this: Fleurs de méninges: Le journaliste Emile Noël a écrit le texte de la chanson et Georges Moustaki la musique. En 1968, Serge Reggiani l'enregistre à Bobino. Il me semble que cette expression était une métaphore des souvenirs anciens.

English

Brains' flowers

Brains' flower

I've got my brains blossoming
Nature taught me everything
I am a poet
My fortune is, of course,
Like a beautiful garden hanging
In my head
No memory of forget-me-nots
Often, my spider, when wea...
...ving its cobweb,
Is making a hammock for my thoughts
That, thence, dreaming of an odyssey,
Set sail.
When I sail to great happiness
I can say anything with brains'
Flowers
When I go to flirt
There's no need for roses nor daisies
The dinner jacket
Only needs, to be charming,
To be able to grow brains'
Flowers

I don't cultivate worry
But I quickly surrender at mercy
When are plucked
The sweetest thoughts of love
And the surrounding daisy
Of which I pluck the petals
Flowers grown by my passion
I make bloom out of them, with no aversion,
On the asphalt,
A whole bed in the petticoats
Of beautiful nights, as soon as the ne...
...on light comes on
When I act the nice bird-catcher
I can take anything with brains'
Flowers
To make silly young girls' heads spin
There's no need for roses nor daisies
In the dance hall
It only takes, for this light toil,
To be able to grow brains'
Flowers

I think too much and I am too handsome
To remain a pimp for long
I pride myself with that
Peaceful, I'm waiting for a thug,
As if to cure me from mildew,
To spray me with copper sulphate,
Or to be planted by means of a knife
In the belly of a pleasant garden
To be vaccinated
In short, to be sent, without my announcement,
To push up
Daisies
When I sail to go elsewhere
Everything will be said with a few brains'
Flowers
To go into oblivion
There's no need for roses, nor daisies,
Nor brains
There's no need for orchids either
But a simple bunch of thoughts
It'll take only to shed a few tears
In order to water your own brains'
Flowers

Author's comment:

- *conter fleurette* = flirt, flutter... I believe the word "flirt" actually comes from "fleurette"

- Oh, and there are two misspellings : it's "dancing" and "smoking", without the "e". There are a few french words ending in "-ing" which have been borrowed from English although it doesn't have the same meaning nor grammar accuracy, as "parking" = "parking lot", "dancing" = dance hall, or (and this is even more surprising) "smoking" = "dinner jacket"/"tuxedo"...

- "Quand on cueille les plus douces pensées d'amour" = when are plucked the sweetest thoughts of love ; the word "pensées" also mean "pansies", so the verse could mean "when are plucked the sweetest pansies of love", but here the trick is precisely to play between the lexical field of the thoughts and feeling with that of flowers and nature.

- "Et la marguerite alentour que j'effeuille" = and the surrounding daisy of which I pluck the petals ; but "effeuiller la marguerite" means to play she-loves-me she-loves-me-not... In France, we "play" this solely with daisies.

- "Je ne cultive pas le souci" = I don't cultivate worry ; "souci" also means marigold, but here the use of the singular (i.e. "souci" and not "soucis") totally rules out the meaning "I don't cultivate marigolds".

- "pour faire de vieux os de barbeau" = to remain a pimp for long
"ne pas faire de vieux os" = idiomatic expression meaning "not to last long (in a place)". originally, it meant "not to grow old bones/to die young";
"barbeau" = originally a fish name which, as the fish name "maquereau", ended up meaning also "pimp" ; but that's an old word, today the word "maquereau" is more used.

- "grignoter des pissenlits par la racine" = to be pushing up the daisies
the original expression is "manger les pissenlits par la racines" = litt. to be eating dandelions by their roots ; here, the author modified the expression with "grignoter" instead of "manger", which means "to nibble"

- "s'en aller aux oubliettes" = to go into oblivion
the original expression is "tomber aux oubliettes" = to fall into oblivion/between the cracks
"oubliettes" = the dungeon where prisoners were kept, the term itself was built on the verb "oublier" which means "to forget", so litterally the word "oubliettes" means "the place where people are forgotten".

I hope I helped !

thanked 1 time