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  • Yves Montand

    Rue Saint-Vincent → English translation

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Saint-Vincent Street

She had under her furry hat,
on the mound Montmartre,
an innocent little look.
People called her rose, she was pretty,
she smelled good - like a new flower,
Saint-Vincent street.
 
Nobody knew her father,
she had no mother,
and since 1900,
she lived at her old grandmothers
Where she raised herself like that, all alone,
Saint-Vincent street.
 
She already worked to live
and on frosted nights,
in the dark and freezing cold,
her little scarf on her shoulders,
she returned home by Saules street,
Saint-Vincent street.
 
She could see in the frozen nights,
the starry sky,
and the crescent moon
shinning, white and fateful
on the small cross of the basilica,
Saint-Vincent street.
 
Summer, by the hot dusk
she met Jules,
who was so sweet,
that she stayed the entire night,
with him near the old cemetery,
Saint-Vincent street.
 
But little Jules was a thug
who pimps the chicks,
so the teenager,
seeing that she wouldn't go along with it,
by a hit of a blade pierced her stomach,
Saint-Vincent street.
 
When they laid her down on the stretcher,
she was all white,
while burying her,
the undertakers said that the poor child
was killed the day of her honeymoon,
Saint-Vincent street.
 
She had under her furry hat,
on the mound Montmartre,
an innocent little look.
People called her rose, she was pretty,
she smelled good - like a new flower,
Saint-Vincent street.
 
Original lyrics

Rue Saint-Vincent

Click to see the original lyrics (French)

Comments
fred.jaques.7fred.jaques.7    Sat, 06/09/2014 - 22:31

:) Like the original translator, I had a lot of problems with the 6th verse. I translated it as follows:

And small Jules was from the persuasion
who pimps the chicks
so the teenager,
seeing her walking the straight line
by a hit of a blade pierced her belly
Saint-Vincent street

Fred J.

lea et des poussièreslea et des poussières    Thu, 30/04/2015 - 16:39

I can provide additional information about the 6th verse: it is hard to translate because it contains some slang language from 1830-1930. Fred J.'s translation is pretty acurate.

Et je p'tit Jules était d'la tierce
qui soutient la gerce,
aussi l'adolescent,
voyant qu'elle marchait pantre,
d'un coup d'surin lui troua l'ventre,

- une tierce = a group of thugs
- une gerce = a women
- un pantre / un pente / un pante = a victim of thug

--> "la tierce qui soutient la gerce" : the thugs that support women trade = pimps (in French, a pimp can be translated as "un souteneur" : the one that supports)
--> "voyant qu'elle marchait pantre" : this is actually the original lyrics from Aristide Bruant (1900's) and Yves Montand changed it to " "voyant qu'elle marchait pas au pantre" , meaning "realizing she would not aim at the victim of thugs/ be a complice of thugs" = "she would not accept to be a prostitute"
..... by a hit of a blade pierced her belly

--> and the next line "Quand ils l'ont couché sur la planche," = "when they laid her down in her coffin"

Léa

ZathanZathan
   Fri, 01/05/2015 - 02:01

Ah brilliant, very nice, thanks a lot. Makes sense now.