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Translation
The Jerk
All day on the phone or typing on the machine1
Her eyes riveted on her Kelton watch2, Josephine waits for it [her day] to end.
She says that with the size of her chest, like Dolly Parton 3
She could pose in magaizines, like Olivia Newton John.
When Josephine leaves the office
She goes right away to her cousin Bertha's place.
Together they run to the gogo club
To dance the Jerk, to pop music
Under the spotlights, the strobe lights,
They dance the Jerk.
Roger works in a factory that smells strongly of carbon monoxide.
Every midday in the cafeteria, he eats chicken full of hormones.
Roger admires Lenin a lot, Roger admires Lennon 4a lot
And every Sunday in the factory's brass band he plays trombone.
And when Roger leaves the office5
He takes the 6:17 PM bus
And makes a bee line for the gogo club
To dance the Jerk, to pop music
Under the spotlights, the strobe lights,
They dance the Jerk.6
One night Roger met Josephine, he told her, "You are so cute,
You are as pretty as a TV host,7 come to my place I'll play trombone for you."
And one fine winter morning, Josephine and Roger got married.
They had quadruplets they named
Gustave, Alphonse, Arthur, and Philibert.
And they taught them the ...
And they taught them the ...
And they taught them the jer jer jer jer Jerk to pop music
And all together, when night falls, they take the 6:17 PM bus
To go dance the Jerk, to pop music
All night long, like at Woodstock, they dance the Jerk.
- 1. I almost translated this as computer, but the reference below to the obsolete job of speakerine makes me think the era of this song could predate computers, so I left the tranlation literal here. In fact, the video shows what looks like a plain old electric typewriter
- 2. Not being a fashionista, I had to look this up; I'd never heard of Kelton before
- 3. I'm guessing Ellie Partone is a francisation of Dolly Parton; translating it as I have certainly makes sense. Actually, after suffering through the video, something I won't do again, I believe this is actually a transcription error and the original does in fact say Dolly Parton
- 4. I believe the French here is misspelling the name of John Lennon
- 5. He works in a factory so "bureau" here is a bit odd. Maybe it's like this just to make this line like the one above, you know, poetic licence, so you can get away with anything
- 6. The French here says "elles." Roger is of course not an "elle;" no doubt, more poetic licence
- 7. According to Wikipédia, an obsolete job, the French side here is apparently misspelled
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Submitted by 
Grampa Wild Willy on 2014-07-30
Grampa Wild Willy on 2014-07-30Added in reply to request by 
Romaint
Romaint ✕
Thierry Hazard: Top 3
| 1. | Le Jerk |
| 2. | Ma poupée psychédélique |
| 3. | Sing Sing |
Comments
Grampa Wild Willy
Wed, 30/07/2014 - 23:14
De rien. C'était le fun. It was also fun. See comment I am bilingue?
Grampa Wild Willy
Thu, 31/07/2014 - 21:10
C'est un processus. On est mauvais. On s'améliore. On devient bon. Ainsi va la vie. Moi, j'ai deux très bons professeurs: Martin McGuire et Dany Dubé. Les connais-tu?
About translator
For the 1), in french, a typewriter is a "Machine à écrire", so her machine is clerly a typewriter.
3 and 4), they are error of transcription without a doubt.
6) again on error, he clearly say "ils", not "elles".
7) speakrine is, of course a speakerine.
Thanks for the translation and sorry for the errors.