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  • Pierre Bachelet

    La Ville ainsi soit-il → English translation

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La Ville ainsi soit-il

Où j'vais, c'est jamais là
Qu'il m'attend mon garçon
J'voudrai rentrer chez moi
J'arrive pas, c'est trop con
 
J'ai pas fait mon fiston
Pour me tirer la nuit
Comme on tourne en prison
Comme on zone sous la pluie
 
J'veux l'serrer dans mes bras
Lui redire à mi-voix
On est si bien chez nous
J'arrive pas, c'est trop fou
 
D'ailleurs où c'est chez moi
Chez moi c'est jamais là
D'ailleurs où c'est chez moi
C'est toujours autrefois
 
Ooh ! La ville
Ainsi soit-il
A bouffé ma maison
Ooh ! La ville
Ainsi soit-il
A perdu ma raison
C'est trop con !
 
Là-bas, c'est des rafiots
C'est des boîtes à naufrage
Qui n'aiment pas beaucoup l'eau
Qui partent pas en voyage
 
C'est des bars à gogos
Où le diable a la rage
Et plus ça d'illusions
Pour claquer ton pognon
 
T'as beau tirer les rois
T'as beau tirer les reines
Un soir tu finiras
Par te tailler les veines
 
T'en auras marre des rois
Tu voudras plus des reines
Tu chercheras tes pas
Mais ce s'ra plus la peine
 
Ooh ! La ville
Ainsi soit-il
Elle se fout des enfants
Ooh ! La ville
Ainsi soit-il
Elle court après l'argent
C'est dément
 
Elle aime quand ça panique
Battre les chats, les chiens
Tordre le cou des flics
Engrosser les putains
 
Déballer ses trafics
Et ruiner les vauriens
C'est ça la voix publique
Et moi qui marche en vain
 
L'est pas drôle ma musique
Elle pleure un peu, j'sais bien
L'est pas drôle ma musique
Elle a chialé pour rien
 
Pourtant gamin je t'aime
Et ta mère j'aimerai bien
Lui demander pardon
J'arrive pas, c'est trop con
 
Ooh ! La ville
Ainsi soit-il
A perdu mon chemin
Ooh ! La ville
Ainsi soit-il
J'suis p't-être allé trop loin
C'est pas bien
 
Ooh ! La ville
Ainsi soit-il
Mon fils a du chagrin
Ooh ! La ville
Ainsi soit-il
J'suis peut-être un assassin
L'air de rien
Ooh ! La ville
 
 
Translation

The city, so let it be

Where I go, it's never there
that my lad is waiting for me.
I'd like to go home,
I can't, it's so stupid.
 
I didn't make my son
to drag myself around at night
as one paces around in prison,
as one hangs around in the rain.
 
I want to hold him in my arms
to tell him quietly again
we're so good at home,
I can't, it's so crazy.
 
Besides, where my home is
my home is never there;
besides, where my home is,
it's always long ago.
 
Ooh! The city,
so let it be,
has swallowed my house.
Ooh The city,
so let it be,
has taken away my sense,
it's so awful.
 
Over there. it's rust buckets,
it's potential shipwrecks
which don't much like water,
which never set sail.
 
There are bars for suckers
where the devil's raving mad
and none of those delusions left
to spend your dough on.
 
No matter if you pull boys,
no matter if you pull girls,
one night you'll end up
slitting your wrists.
 
You'll be fed up with having boys,
not want any more girls,
you'll be looking for your path
but it'll not be worth the effort any more.
 
Ooh! the city
so let it be.
It doesn't care a shit for kids.
Ooh! the city
so let it be.
It chases after money,
it's crazy.
 
When things get hectic it likes
to beat cats, beat dogs,
to wring cops' necks,
to make the hookers' bellies grow.
 
To open up it's rackets
and ruin good-for-nothings,
that's the public voice,
and me, I march in vain.
 
It's not amusing, my story,
it cries a bit, I well know.
It's not funny, my story,
it blubbered for nothing.
 
Nonetheless, kid, I love you,
and your mother, I would like
to ask her to forgive me
but I can't, it's too stupid.
 
Ooh! the city
so let it be.
has lost my way.
Ooh! the city
so let it be.
Maybe I've gone too far,
it's not good.
 
Ooh! the city
so let it be.
My son is very sad.
Ooh! the city
so let it be.
Perhaps I'm a murderer
don't look like anything
Ooh! the city
 
The author of translation requested proofreading.
It means that he/she will be happy to receive corrections, suggestions etc about the translation.
If you are proficient in both languages of the language pair, you are welcome to leave your comments.
Pierre Bachelet: Top 3
Comments
Valeriu RautValeriu Raut
   Mon, 05/09/2016 - 06:31
5

Dear Tom,
I am glad you like the song.

to beat (caps) cats, beat dogs

As I understand, they play cards:
T'as beau tirer les rois > You might draw the kings

michealtmichealt
   Wed, 07/09/2016 - 11:03

Thanks Vale, yes, cards is right. But some cards are dealt and others drawn, so a word that covers both "draw" and "be dealt" is needed, which means that neither "draw"nor "be dealt" fits. But now that you've drawn my attention to it it ca see that "attract" could suggest that the kings and queens are people rather than cards, so I shouldn't have used that word either. I suppose that something neutral like "get" will have to do.
And of course it doesn't matter how often you get kings or queens if someone else gets aces, so although "you might" is a possible meaning and would make sense the way I see it is that he's saying the house always wins (so he always loses) and both "no matter" and "although" convey that better than "might" does(and they are what "tu as beau" most often means) .

Rene FabriRene Fabri    Mon, 05/09/2016 - 10:49

"C'est toujours autrefois" is rather "It's like in the past".
"To beat cats" instead of "caps" d:)

michealtmichealt
   Wed, 07/09/2016 - 11:03

Thanks Rene, I must have been asleep when I mistranslated that. The usual ways of saying it in English are "It's always the same" and "It's the same as before" and "It's still the same", so I've picked the second of those three (don't know why, it just feels right).

Rene FabriRene Fabri    Wed, 07/09/2016 - 15:39

Sorry, but I think it is not the same. This is a song full of nostalgia. I see two main themes. First, the city is spreading and swallowing old houses and swallowing the lives of men and women. Second, a painful divorce occured. The singer cannot hold his son in his arms because now his son lives with his mother. The singer is wondering where his home is, because a true home is a place for a family, and he has no more family. His true home is the one where he lived with his wife and son before the divorce. He is always thinking of his previous home and his previous city. Now, I don't know how you can translate these ideas.

michealtmichealt
   Tue, 04/10/2016 - 16:19

Thanks. Your comment on "tirer les reines" rung a bell. English slang: to pull = to successfully invite to sexual intercourse. French has (or at least had some time ago) the same idiom with tirer = pull. So that line is "no matter if you pull girls"; the previous line is "no matter if you pull boys" - it's sexually neutral (and the puller and the pulled aren't neccessarily different sexes).
The other comments have made me change a few things. But I think I bit off more than I can chew when I tackled this one.