TCt83067695 .
Sun, 26/08/2018 - 19:50
I wonder what goualante means.
Thanks btw for the translation.
So fun
✕
English
Translation
The Tale of Poor Jean
Just listen for a moment
To the tale of poor Jean
Whom women didn't love
But don't forget
In life there is just one moral
Whether you're rich or without a penny,
Without love one is nothing at all
Without love one is nothing at all
He lived day by day
In silk and velvet
He slept in beautiful sheets
But don't forget
In life one is of little worth
When our heart is to pawn
Without love one is nothing at all
Without love one is nothing at all
He dined with the barons
He danced in the parlours
And drank any kind of alcohol
But don't forget
Nothing is worth more than a beautiful girl
Who eats out of the same dish
Without love one is nothing at all
Without love one is nothing at all
To win some money
He was a mean thief
He was greeted quite low,
But don't forget
One day we'll mess up and get caught
And behind the locks,
Without love one is nothing at all
Without love one is nothing at all
Listen well, young ones
Take advantage of your twenty years
You won't have them more than once
But don't forget
Better to have a woman around one's neck
than a rope
Without love one is nothing at all
Without love one is nothing at all
And there you have it, my brave ones
The tale of poor Jean,
Who tells you while leaving
"Love!"
✕
Comments
TCt83067695 .
Sun, 26/08/2018 - 19:50
Preslynn 
PaotrLaouen
Tue, 29/09/2020 - 10:40
A difficult text, indeed, because of slang words - very obsolete and artificial in reality.
Some misunderstandings, however:
"tous les tafias" is rather 'any kind of alcohol'
"qui partage notre ragoût" means 'who eats out of the same dish' ("ragoût" is a stew)
"cordelette" means here a hangman's rope, the general meaning being: better to have a woman around one's neck than a rope.
"faire la pirouette" is being caught by the cops.
By the way: "goualante" is still vivid but seldom used, mostly as a joke.
psq PaotrLaouen
Tue, 29/09/2020 - 11:46
Désolé: "piausser" est bien attesté en argot, comme synonyme de "pioncer".
Voir: http://www.russki-mat.net/argot/Argoji.php
Autres coquilles ("typo" désigne en français un ouvrier typographe):
dans le titre: "goualante"
et: "à son cou" (accent)
PaotrLaouen
Tue, 29/09/2020 - 11:51
J'ajouterais: l'utilisation de "piausser" (argot obsolète) à la place de "pioncer", quasiment entré dans la langue usuelle, trahit à elle seule toute l'artificialité de ce texte.
CharlesV
Fri, 21/05/2021 - 18:32
I am not a native English speaker, so I just wonder on "who the women didn't love" (3rd line). Which women are those? In French, "les femmes" means any woman, all women. So perhaps "whom women didn't love" better reflects that. Also, just curious: why "who" and not "whom" here?
Something else. Here "on fait la pirouette" means (in a comic way) to fall hard, to fail, to capsize, to hit a wall, something like that. Nore sure this is rendered in English with the same word pirouette?
ikemenyyy
Thu, 10/06/2021 - 19:26
This song was translated years ago when my French wasn't as up to par, but looking back you are correct that it is just women in general. As for the whom vs who, it's rare that native English speakers pay close attention to that. But, in this case, it should be whom. I've edited to correct it. Thank you!
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