Georges Brassens - Chanson pour l'Auvergnat (English translation #2)

Georges Brassens – Chanson pour l'Auvergnat

English translation

English

Translation

1#23 4

Song for the Geordie

* This song's for you, the Geordie who,

one winter's day out of the blue,

Slipped me some firewood in my sack,

when you saw I was down on my luck.

You gave me warmth when I was bust,

unlike the local upper crust,

Seeing just one more hopeless case,

they slammed their doors right in my face.

Not a big deal, maybe, you'd say,

but that wood kept my body warm,

And in my soul a flame was born

that burns for you till this day.

Well, Geordie, when your time has come,

may angels fly to lead you home,

Straight to th' Eternal Father's breast,

endless joy and rest.

* This song's for you, landlady who,

one winter's day out of the blue,

Left me some bread-rolls at my hut,

when my stomach thought my throat was cut.

You gave me food when I was bust,

unlike the local upper crust,

Seeing a shiftless, breadless fake,

told me I should go and eat cake.

Not a big deal, maybe, you'd say,

but that bread kept my body warm,

And in my soul a flame was born

that burns for you till this day.

Landlady, when your time has come,

may angels fly to lead you home,

Straight to th' Eternal Father's breast,

endless joy and rest.

* This song's for you, the stranger who,

one winter's day out of the blue,

Gave me a sympathetic smile,

when the p'lice pulled me in for a while

You gave a smile when I was bust,

unlike the local upper crust,

Who were so keen at last to see

their streets being kept vagrant-free.

Not a big deal, maybe, you'd say,

but that smile kept my body warm,

And in my soul a flame was born

that burns for you till this day.

Well, stranger, when your time has come,

may angels fly to lead you home,

Straight to th' Eternal Father's breast,

endless joy and rest.

equirhythmic

metered

poetic

rhyming

singable

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This is a poetic translation - deviations from the meaning of the original are present (extra words, extra or omitted information, substituted concepts).

You are welcome to reuse if you contact me first and credit me as translator.

Submitted by

Peter_Brittain on 2017-11-07

Subtitles created by

Ernesto Puglisi on Sat, 22/11/2025 - 09:08

Author's comments:

I intended a *singable* translation of this iconic song, that captures the spirit of the original. Hope someone can use it and so make the song better known in the non-francophone world.

If you have a Western guitar I would recommend taking it down to A-Minor to avoid the many barré chords, which will have your hands aching by the end of verse 2. Capo optional, of course.

Re: "Geordie"
This translation is from a British-English perspective. A "Geordie" is someone from the North East of England, an area that boomed in the 19th century thanks to coal-mining, steel and shipbuilding, but was already in decline in the 1930s. The Jarrow March/Crusade from Jarrow to London in 1936 was to move the politicians in London to do something about unemployment, and revitalize the area.
See wikipedia Jarrow_March.
Geordies are conspicuous in the rest of the country due to their strong accents and provincial attitudes. They would definitely be looked down upon as quaint "bumkins" in London, just like the Auvergnats were in Brassens's Paris.

If your country or region has a convenient 2-syllable equivalent, then by all means use that instead.

Translation source:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jarrow_March

French

Original lyrics

Chanson pour l'Auvergnat

Click to see the original lyrics (French)

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Translations of "Chanson pour ..."

English #1, #2, #3, #4

Breton

Dutch

Finnish

German #1, #2

Hebrew #1, #2, #3

Italian #1, #2

Russian #1, #2, #3

Translations of covers

English

Comments

sanducu

Sun, 05/07/2020 - 10:50

best english rendition, in my opinion, and the fact that it's not a literally translation made keeping rythm and rime possible, without altering the meaning, nor the dramatic athmospher of the original. which btw is interesting, french not beeing among the languages mentioned in your profile. bravo!