Le testament - English translation

Georges Brassens

Le testament

10 translations

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Je me suis fait tout petit

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Original lyrics

Translation

Le testament

Lyrics removed on request of copyright owners

The testament

I'l be sad like a weeping willow

when the God who follows me everywhere

says to me, his hand on my shoulder:

"Off you go, up there to see if I'm there."1

Then, I will have to grieve

for heaven and for earth...

Is it still standing, the oak tree

or the fir tree for my coffin?

Is it still standing, the oak tree

or the fir tree for my coffin?

If it's necessary to go to the cemetary

I will take the longest path,

I'll play truant to the grave,

I'll quit life reluctantly...

So what if the pall-bearers scold me,

I don't care if they think I'm mad as a hatter,

I want to part for the other world

by the scenic route2.

I want to part for the other world

by the scenic route.

Before going to flirt

with the beautiful souls of the damned,

I dream of one more little love affair,

I dream of once more being infatuated...

saying "I love you" one more time...

Once again to be crazily excited

while stripping the chrisanthemum

which is the daisy of the dead,

while stripping the chrisanthemum

which is the daisy of the dead.

May God wish that my widow be upset

when burying her companion,

and that to make her shed some tears

there is no need for an onion...

That she take, in he second marriage,

a husband of my sort:

he can make use of my boots,

and of my slippers and of my clothes.

He can make use of my boots,

and of my slippers and of my clothes.

Let him drink my wine, let him love my wife,

let him smoke my pipe and tobacco,

but let him never - by all that's holy! -

never whip my cats...

Even thoughI have not an atom,

not a shadow of viciousness,

if he whips my cats, there's a ghost

who will come to persecute him.

If he whips my cats, there's a ghost

who will come to persecute him.

Here lies a dead leaf,

here ends my testament...

The have marked on my door

"Closed on account of burial."

I've quit life with no hard feelings,

I'll never again have toothache:

There I am in the common pit,

the common pit of time.

There I am in the common pit,

the common pit of time.

1. maybe a pun - if "haut" (up) were replaced by "bas" (down) it would mean something like "get lost"
2. this has two meanings in English: 1 the longest and most pleasant route, 2 a route that doesn't go to the named destination. It used to have a third meaning, but very few people now think it means 3 a route with pleasant scenery

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michealt

submitted on 9 Nov 2017 - 00:57

Comments 2

michealt A

2 Feb 2018, 00:46

Thanks, Pierre.
I've added a footnote to cover that pun, and fixed the typo.

I was quite surprised by you comment on chemin des écoliers, so I looked at the online TLF and it does mean "the scenic route" - but if you didn't recognise that most people who don't speak English as a first language won't either, so I've added a footnote explaining the meaning of the English phrase.

For m'enjupponer I think the physical side is adequately covered by "affair" in the previous line.

PaotrLaouen

18 Mar 2020, 18:14

At note (1): I can hardly see a pun here. The French expression is in fact "Va voir ... (anywhere) si j'y suis". You could say as well "Va voir sur la lune si j'y suis".
At (2): the "chemin des écoliers" is basically an erratic and longer way, be it scenic or not. I do'nt expect schoolboys having fun on their way back home to be very sensitive to the scenery. TLF mentions scenic only as a secondary aspect. None of the alleged examples there implies an interest for the scenery. Quandoque grammatici errant!