Beau Dommage - Tous les palmiers lyrics + English translation

All the Palm Trees

All the palm trees and banana trees

Will grow as before when I am gone

I'm going home, it's summer here

Back home, chairs are standing neatly on the porch

I'm tired of waves and their constant sound (Aloha...)

I'm going home, can't wait to hear her shout:

"Manon, come, your supper waits!

Don't make mother angry, don't make her come down!

Manon, come at once

If you don't do it

Then you'll do without.

Do not make your mother wait

And come down, dear!"

Farewell, goodbye, fellow orange land (Florida...)

My brother's moving house, he'd use a hand

Since summer's here again

Back home they got bikes out of the garage, I bet

I arrived on Thursday afternoon (At the Dupuis...)

Then I took the subway to Beaubien

Not pretending anything

I stopped at the corner just to call my girl

I give her a call, then two, then three

Forth is the one she answers me

Then I ask her: "How are things, my girl? Of course, I'm he-re!"

All the palm trees and banana trees

Will grow as before when I am gone

You could write to me, you know

Sixty-seven sixty Saint-Vallier Montréal

Sixty-seven sixty...

Added in reply to request by

Salve a Selva

Author's comments:

English is not my mother tongue, but I tried my best both poetically and linguistically so you can enjoy this marvellous piece. Any corrections will be appreciated.

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.

Ymdeithydd

Mon, 28/11/2022 - 17:53

I don't think 'sortis' is 'standing neatly', just 'put out'. Not sure how 'choquer' is used in Québéc, but it seems more like 'lose her rag' than 'get shocked'. And maybe it's 'descendre dans la rue', so more like 'come out' (to bring you in)? All those 'm'a arrriver' etc would make more sense if they were future. It seems like the address at the end is Number 6760. I've never had to use such a long street number so I'm not quite sure how we'd pronounce it, but probably 'sixty-seven sixty'? See https://ici.radio-canada.ca/nouvelle/726549/beau-dommage-ruelle-6760-st-...

Misinterpreted_Interpreter

Mon, 28/11/2022 - 19:13

Thank you very much for your response! I know about 'sortis', just wanted it to rhyme better, but since you mentioned it, I'll try to rephrase it... Yeah 'shocked' sounds out of place here indeed, just couldn't think about any other verb. That, I'll think over, too. The constructions like 'm'a arriver' sound funny to me, not gonna lie, I don't understand Quebec French too good yet. So you say it's a colloquial variant of future simple? And your last remark, I didn't really understand. How is that different from what I wrote in my translation?

Ymdeithydd

Tue, 29/11/2022 - 13:16

True, I didn't understand it myself, and once I did, I failed to observe you already had. Sorry! No I don't recognize that construction either, though future makes sense from the context - guess it needs the input of a native speaker.

Misinterpreted_Interpreter

Tue, 29/11/2022 - 13:33

Duly noted. Waiting now for somebody who can outFrench us, so to say.

1.	Tous les palmiers
2.	La complainte du phoque en Alaska
3.	Harmonie du soir à Châteauguay

Tous les palmiers (English translation)

All the Palm Trees

Tous les palmiers

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