Charles Trenet - La mer (English translation)
La mer
purplelunacy on Tue, 10/08/2010 - 15:25
Joutsenpoika on Mon, 13/03/2017 - 23:43
The sea
purplelunacy on Tue, 10/08/2010 - 15:35| 1. | Songs about the Sea and the Ocean |
| 2. | Songs about Regions in France |
| 1. | La mer |
| 2. | Que reste-t-il de nos amours ? |
| 3. | Douce France |
gilgamesh969
Mon, 12/08/2013 - 21:21
Thanks for the translation. It got me thinking -
Les moutons is the french word for whitecaps and for sheep. (metaphor, zoomorphism?) So the references to shepherdess and moutons is a nice play on words. If you were to keep it, you might say:
I took a shot at:
https://lyricstranslate.com/en/la-mer-sea.html-4
annabellanna
Thu, 13/08/2015 - 07:57
Actually these horses look like a quite strange choice. I think that "blanc moutons" is referred to the clouds, and the sea is the sheperd that in his reflections make their shapes such indistinguible as you can confound them with angels.
I think it could be: "the sea acts like a jolly sheperd toward the sky, mixing angels and sheep.."
Without sheep, a sheperd looks a little bit out of his place, in my thoughts... 
annabellanna
Thu, 13/08/2015 - 08:05
I apologize: I realize now that "moutons" also means the white foamy tops of the waves... 
In Italian language high waves are called "cavalloni"(big horses)!
I could have understood it before... 
Tinson KTRosseau
Thu, 31/12/2015 - 21:13
Just one suggestion: Charles Trenet was born and raised in Languedoc and reputedly wrote the poem after a train ride by the sea at the age of 16. An "etang" is a pond elsewhere in France but the Languedoc-Rousillon coast of La Mer is lined with bodies of water that are called etangs. These are far more than ponds. For example, the Etang de Thau is 21 km long, complete with white birds, banks of reeds and not a few terracotta colored houses. Something like "lagoon" would be a more fitting translation in my opinion.
great idiomatic English translation - thanks a lot