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Harley Davidson
I don't need anybody
When I'm on my Harley Davidson!
I don't acknowledge anyone any more1
When I'm on my Harley Davidson!
I push the starter button
And bam! I leave the world behind.
Maybe I'll go to Paradise
But in a train to Hell.2
I don't need anybody
When I'm on my Harley Davidson!
I don't acknowledge anyone any more
When I'm on my Harley Davidson!
And if I die tomorrow,
That was meant to be my fate.
I value my life a lot less
Than my rockin' bike.
I don't need anybody
When I'm on my Harley Davidson!
I don't acknowledge anyone any more
When I'm on my Harley Davidson!
When I feel the urge to travel,
The vibrations of my bike
Make me hot
In my crotch.
I don't need anybody
When I'm on my Harley Davidson!
I don't acknowledge anyone any more
When I'm on my Harley Davidson!
I'm doing over a hundred
And I feel on fire.3
I don't care if I die
So long as my hair is in the wind!4
- 1. The usual translation of "reconnaître" is "recognize" but I don't think that is the sense of the lyrics here.
- 2. The meaning of "train d'enfer" is "at top speed." But if I translate it that way, I lose the delicious pun here. So I've translated this literally to catch at least part of the joke.
- 3. As far as I can tell, "à feu et à sang" is an idiomatic expression. But all the examples of its usage that I found connected it with war and battlefields and such things. So I think I've translated this right but I could be taught otherwise.
- 4. This isn't exactly what it says in French but I get the feeling this is what it is trying to say. Again, I could be taught otherwise.
Grampa Wild Willy✕
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About translator
This is a translation of the Submitter's comments accompanying the French lyrics:
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Harley Davidson (1967) signals the meeting -- I should say "the collision" -- of Brigitte Bardot and Serge Gainsbourg, who would have a brief but intense love affair during part of 1968.
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This dalliance would not survive the threats of Bardot's mercurial husband, Gunter Sachs, but it did leave behind some superb traces in audio recordings. It was for and with "BB" that "Gainsbarre" wrote the anthem to "strictly physical love"1 Je t'aime, moi non plus. The version by the two lovers would remain hidden a couple of decades in the vaults at Philips.
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In the song on this page, Gainsbourg twists the myths of his day and pays homage to the cult ride of bikers, a symbol of manliness, set against the ultra-sensual and frankly sexual voice of Bardot.
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He would revisit the subject of Harley Davidson, the American motorcycle brand, in 1984 with "Harley David Son of a Bitch", from the album "Love on the Beat."
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Here is the remixed version of this song: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IfOgAdLm-QE.
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And for you guitarists: http://www.boiteachansons.net/Partitions/Brigitte-Bardot/Harley-Davidson....
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END OF TRANSLATION
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I have to say I prefer the original video of this song. It is more raw and to the point, not to mention half as long. The annoying, repetitive disco overlay of the remix quickly becomes tiresome. Despite its extra length, they couldn't manage to include the final two verses.
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You simply haven't lived until you've heard the name "Harley Davidson" coming out of her mouth. You pretty much don't have to understand French to understand what she is singing. She leaves no doubt.