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    Ля-ля, тополя → French translation

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La-la, peuplier

Tant d’eau a coulé,
Et ça n’a pas d’importance que ce soit du sang ou du vin.
Je ne regretterai plus.
Essayez de répondre, qui est chanceux ?
 
Refrain :
La-la peuplier ! Echappons du navire
Dans l’ambulance jusqu’au bal
La-la peuplier ! Bonne journée à tous !
Et laissez l’été durer indéfiniment.
 
Les larmes glissent sur le visage,
Ton baiser est amer comme du Hop.
Si la Terre est une balle,
Une âme malade la tiendra-t-elle ?
 
Refrain :
La-la peuplier ! Echappons du navire
Dans l’ambulance jusqu’au bal
La-la peuplier ! Bonne journée à tous !
Et laissez l’été durer indéfiniment.
 
Refrain :
La-la peuplier ! Echappons du navire
Dans l’ambulance jusqu’au bal
La-la peuplier ! Bonne journée à tous !
Et laissez l’été durer indéfiniment.
 
Original lyrics

Ля-ля, тополя

Click to see the original lyrics (Russian)

Comments
IgeethecatIgeethecat    Fri, 15/02/2019 - 01:56

Хмель has 2 meanings- the plant and the drunkenness, you are correct. However “горький, как хмель” literally means “it tastes bitter like the hops (the flowers of the hop plants they use for brewing)”. Idiomatic meaning could be “it makes someone feel bitter”. The ‘drunk’ meaning won’t make sense in Russian in this context, but footnote and/or your native idiom with similar meaning would be helpful ;)

IgeethecatIgeethecat    Fri, 15/02/2019 - 02:22

C’mon, all synonyms make perfect sense, for example:
То-сё - that-this
То да сё - that and this
Куры-гуси - hens-geese
Пятое-десятое - fifth-tenth
Слово за слово - word after word
Ну а «чиздиком-пиздиком» тяжелее, it’s like BS in English... is everything clear now?
:D

IgeethecatIgeethecat    Fri, 15/02/2019 - 02:42

I personally don’t see any hidden meaning.
It could be {‘long story short’, or ‘no shit’, or ‘what the heck’, or polite ‘oh, well’, or many other ‘word combinations’ (I cannot even call them phrases or idioms)} - they don’t really mean anything, but we say:
{}, let’s hijack the ambulance and go to the ball

IgeethecatIgeethecat    Fri, 15/02/2019 - 03:03

Oh, about fleeing the boat - it’s «крысы бегут корабля»
А насчёт “hijacking” - how else would they get a ride in the ambulance? To the ball?

IgeethecatIgeethecat    Fri, 15/02/2019 - 05:10

The song actually is not “nonsense,” it has kinda sorta has some meaning. If you have your translation, please publish it
La la poplar means as much as Ля-ля тополя, almost... but you can refer them to a ‘no hands or tails’ academic dictionary ;)

BratBrat    Fri, 15/02/2019 - 08:11

Before asking it's sometimes useful to look at the bottom of the lyrics: though the idiom-picking algorithm sucks, here it did its job.
As for la-la-poplar - it's rather funny, for this idiom stands in Russian for blah-blah-blah that rhymes perfectly and is perfectly understandable to French speakers.
You may even say something like "la-la-voila!" I think it will work here for both French and English. ;)
BTW, sometimes this tree idiom points to a meaningless song like: "Песня-то не очень - так, ля-ля-тополя."

BratBrat    Fri, 15/02/2019 - 08:43

Сколько воды утекло is a modified idiom
The whole song is about going mad from love and life, I'd say.

IgeethecatIgeethecat    Fri, 15/02/2019 - 08:56

Pierre, are you going to translate it?
A если нет, то, куры-утки, о чем базар? Я по любому спать иду

sandringsandring    Fri, 15/02/2019 - 09:58

Pierre, Ля-ля, тополя may be used in different meanings:
1. Blah-blah-blah - To fake speech: Она начала трепаться по телефону, она типа "Я ему ничего не обещала, а он...".Короче, ля-ля тополя. She started chatting on the phone, she like "I didn't promise him anything but he...Anyway, just blah-blah-blah
2. The same old tune/Well, you know.....-To avoid repeating what's common knowledge. Лиза прогуливала уроки, потом, как всегда, завалила экзамен, ну и ляля тополя Lisa skipped classes, then she failed the exam and well, you know/and the same old tune
3. To save someone the trouble of drilling you again on what you're not buying
- I'm tired of telling you that you should ....
- Я знаю, знаю эти Ляля тополя. You'd better not waist your time on me.

In this song, I'd use "Well, you know....."

JadisJadis    Fri, 15/02/2019 - 10:16

I tried and posted a new French version... whatever it may be worth!

sandringsandring    Fri, 15/02/2019 - 10:33

But why didn't you title it "La-la-la"? It's the exact translation into French. Like someone singing without words. Speech filler, so to say?

JadisJadis    Fri, 15/02/2019 - 11:01

Well, the exact title in Russian is "Ля-ля, тополя", which is OK for a Russian text but has no equivalent in French, as far as I know. A title like "La-la-la" in French would look very common and of little interest (just any song could be titled "La-la-la", I guess), while "Quittons le navire" (Сбежим с корабля) is already more interesting. And by the way, IMO, the only reason for "Ля-ля, тополя" to be there is to rhyme with "корабля", so I tried to find an equivalent.

sandringsandring    Fri, 15/02/2019 - 12:19
Quote:

A title like "La-la-la" in French would look very common and of little interest (just any song could be titled "La-la-la", I guess)

That's exactly Jadis what you've missed. The title means exactly like "Just a Song", "Song With No Name" и ляля тополя. But who am I to tell you what they mean in Russian songs? My words are just ляля тополя o:)

JadisJadis    Fri, 15/02/2019 - 13:05

Please не обижайся! I think I understood what it means, but if you say "ляля тополя" in Russian, the interlocutor immediately can guess what you mean, when in French "La-la-la" is not so obvious, it could be just about singing a tune, without any idea of telling trifles or blathering. It would be as if you said just "ляля" in Russian (I suppose). Perhaps one could find an equivalent yet, but I just couldn't find it... One might say "bla bla bla" or "taratata" or "cause toujours" or "c'est du vent" or whatever, but the play on words is lacking there. That's why I thought it would be better to leave the poplars where they grow (I thought of "yé, yé, peupliers", it would rhyme but it just doesn't make any sense) and change the title. After all, as I understand it, it's about a love affair that ended, a change of situation and of point of view... and the phrase is in the text too.

sandringsandring    Fri, 15/02/2019 - 13:51

Agree. Я не обижаюсь, упаси боже. Я вообще не понимаю, как у вас с Пьером хватает терпения разбираться с этими русскими заморочками. Респект и уважуха ;)

JadisJadis    Fri, 15/02/2019 - 14:15

I guess we decided to understand the Russian soul and we shall succeed, even it it will take us a lifetime! :)

sandringsandring    Fri, 15/02/2019 - 14:22

I think you've been quite successful so far :)