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Valse ou La chanson du décervelage

Je fus pendant longtemps ouvrier ébéniste,
Dans la rue du Champ de Mars, de la paroisse de Toussaints.
Mon épouse exerçait la profession de modiste,
 
. . Et nous n’avions jamais manqué de rien.
Quand le dimanche s’annonçait sans nuage,
Nous exhibions nos beaux accoutrements
Et nous allions voir le décervelage
Rue de l’Échaudé, passer un bon moment.
 
Voyez, voyez la machine tourner,
Voyez, voyez la cervelle sauter,
Voyez, voyez les Rentiers trembler ;
(CHŒUR) : Hourra, cornes-au-cul, vive le Père Ubu !
 
Nos deux marmots chéris, barbouillés de confitures,
Brandissant avec joie des poupins en papier,
Avec nous s’installaient sur le haut de la voiture
 
. . Et nous roulions gaiment vers l’Échaudé.
On se précipite en foule à la barrière,
On se fiche des coups pour être au premier rang ;
Moi je me mettais toujours sur un tas de pierres
Pour pas salir mes godillots dans le sang.
 
Voyez, voyez la machine tourner,
Voyez, voyez la cervelle sauter,
Voyez, voyez les Rentiers trembler ;
(CHŒUR) : Hourra, cornes-au-cul, vive le Père Ubu !
 
Bientôt ma femme et moi nous sommes tout blancs de cervelle,
Les marmots en boulottent et tous nous trépignons
En voyant le Palotin qui brandit sa lumelle,
 
. . Et les blessures et les numéros de plomb.
Soudain je perçois dans le coin, près de la machine,
La gueule d’un bonze qui ne me revient qu’à moitié.
Mon vieux, que je dis, je reconnais ta bobine,
Tu m’as volé, c’est pas moi qui te plaindrai.
 
Voyez, voyez la machine tourner,
Voyez, voyez la cervelle sauter,
Voyez, voyez les Rentiers trembler ;
(CHŒUR) : Hourra, cornes-au-cul, vive le Père Ubu !
 
Soudain je me sens tirer la manche par mon épouse :
Espèce d’andouille, qu’elle me dit, v’là le moment d’te montrer :
Flanque-lui par la gueule un bon gros paquet de bouse,
 
. . V’là le Palotin qu’a juste le dos tourné.
En entendant ce raisonnement superbe,
J’attrape sur le coup mon courage à deux mains :
Je flanque au Rentier une gigantesque merdre
Qui s’aplatit sur le nez du Palotin.
 
Voyez, voyez la machine tourner,
Voyez, voyez la cervelle sauter,
Voyez, voyez les Rentiers trembler ;
(CHŒUR) : Hourra, cornes-au-cul, vive le Père Ubu !
 
Aussitôt suis lancé par-dessus la barrière,
Par la foule en fureur je me vois bousculé
Et je suis précipité la tête la première
 
. . Dans le grand trou noir d’où qu’on ne revient jamais.
Voilà ce que c’est que d’aller se promener le dimanche
Rue de l’Échaudé pour voir décerveler,
Marcher le Pince-Porc ou bien le Démanche-Comanche,
On part vivant et l’on revient tudé.
 
Voyez, voyez la machine tourner,
Voyez, voyez la cervelle sauter,
Voyez, voyez les Rentiers trembler ;
(CHŒUR) : Hourra, cornes-au-cul, vive le Père Ubu !
 
번역

A waltz, or the decerebration song

I used to be a seasoned cabinetmaker,
in the Champ-de-Mars street1, All Saints parish.
My wife was a milliner by trade...
 
...and we had never wanted for anything.
When Sundays promised to be cloudless
we would show off in our Sunday best
and go out to watch a decerebration,
to have a good time in the Échaudé2 street.
 
Behold, behold the device spinning
Behold, behold the brains flying off
Behold, behold the trembling Fat Cats3
(choir) Hooray, horns-in-your-butt, long live Papa Ubu!
 
Both our beloved nippers, smeared with marmalade
and gleefully waving paper dolls,
would step into the coach with us...
 
...and off we would merrily go to the Échaudé.
We would rush with the crowd to the safety barrier,
fighting like cats to reach the front row.
I always climbed on a stone heap
to avoid smudging my shoes with gore.
 
Behold, behold the device spinning
Behold, behold the brains flying off
Behold, behold the trembling Fat Cats
(choir) Hooray, horns-in-your-butt, long live Papa Ubu!
 
My wife and I are soon plastered with brains.
The nippers eat the stuff and we all hop up and down
as we watch the henchman brandishing his blade4
 
...and the wounds and the lead fonts5.
All of a sudden I notice, not far from the device,
the features of a rather unpleasant bloke.
I go: "Old chap, I recognize your face.
You swindled me, I won't be sorry for you"
 
Behold, behold the device spinning
Behold, behold the brains flying off
Behold, behold the trembling Fat Cats
(choir) Hooray, horns-in-your-butt, long live Papa Ubu!
 
Suddenly I feel my wife tugging at my sleeve:
She goes: "you big dummy, now is the time to show off:
why don't you chuck a big fat lump of dung at the bloke?
 
the henchman happens to have his back turned"
Hearing this superb reasoning, I immediately
take my courage in both hands:
I chuck a huge piece of crap at the fat cat
but it hits the henchman square in the face.
 
Behold, behold the device spinning
Behold, behold the brains flying off
Behold, behold the trembling Fat Cats
(choir) Hooray, horns-in-your-butt, long live Papa Ubu!
 
Immediately, the enraged crowd jostles me about
and I'm bodily flung over the barrier
only to land head first into
 
...the black hole no one ever returns from.
This is what you get for taking a stroll on Sundays
in the Échaudé street to behold some decerebrating,
watch the hog-pincher or ruffian-shredder6 at work.
You set off alive and you come back all killed7
 
Behold, behold the device spinning
Behold, behold the brains flying off
Behold, behold the trembling Fat Cats
(choir) Hooray, horns-in-your-butt, long live Papa Ubu!
 
  • 1. a real street in Paris. If it had something special in the late 19th century, I don't know what it was
  • 2. that's a real street in Paris too, the name can be understood as "scalded"
  • 3. the capital 'R' suggests persons with unearned income are a kind of ethnic group :)
  • 4. Jarry gives "palotin" and "lumelle" specific meanings. "palotin" usually meant "pipsqueak" and "lumelle" is an archaic word for "sword blade"
  • 5. the "decerebrating device" is an allusion to the press
  • 6. "Apache" was common slang for "gangster", but Jarry uses "Comanche" instead
  • 7. "tué" would mean "killed", "tudé" is just one of Jarry's invented words, like "merdre" instead of "merde" (shit)
“Valse ou La chanson ...”의 번역에 협력해 주세요
Idioms from "Valse ou La chanson ..."
코멘트
SarasvatiSarasvati
   木, 22/03/2018 - 07:52

Bonjour,
Pour les chiffres en plomb:
La machine à decervelage est en réalité la presse de l'imprimeur: l'activité littéraire et journalistique n'a plus pour but de crétiniser le lecteur comme avec Lautréamont mais de le decerveler
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00984002

SarasvatiSarasvati
   木, 22/03/2018 - 10:50

Par contre "some hog-pincher or ruffian-flogger".?
"Pince"a plusieurs définitions ....?un porc ok...et:"démanche comanche"démanche...celui qui ôte les manches..Comanche ok

GavinGavin
   木, 22/03/2018 - 11:57

A tour de force! :)

I can't say if it captures exactly the same quirkiness of the French but it certainly paints a weird picture of its own

GavinGavin
   木, 22/03/2018 - 12:08

There's not a lot I can see to improve it but I'll have a try!

Sunday's best - oddly this is usually just "Sunday best" - no logic to it really, just an idiom

Marmelade => marmalade

some hog-pincher or ruffian-shredder at work => watch the hog-pincher or ruffian-shredder at work
(a small thing but it just reads a little more nicely)

Question: Is 'Rentiers' significant or is it just a family name?

GavinGavin
   木, 22/03/2018 - 12:24

Ah I see... now Palotin I've heard of but not rentier. I don't think we have that word. Seems to mean a person of private means, so someone well off. A toff? A big knob?
:)

GavinGavin
   木, 22/03/2018 - 13:04

Hmm, I found it in an online dictionary and apparently it does have that meaning. Don't think it's very common though. Could just be my ignorance of course...
So it's a person with a private income from investments or property. In the latter case we might say landlord.
But maybe you are as well to keep the word then - but maybe add a note for clarity?

GavinGavin
   木, 22/03/2018 - 13:29

Yep fat cat is good - it means anyone with lots of cash, whether earned or not so isn't strictly accurate but the feel is just right. :)