vendredi 12 mars 2010

Translation of Bash and Fauque's "Mes Bras"


from the album "L'Imprudence" (2002)



Words: Alain Bashung/Jean Fauque
Music: Alain Bashung/Mobile in Motion

Open a new window in Jiwa, close "country" message window (click "close") and play song. http://www.jiwa.fm/#track/1346093


Translation dedicated to Jean Fauque, sa chanson préférée

J'étais censé t'étourdir
i was supposed to knock you out
Sans aviron sans élixir
Without oar without elixir
J'étais censé te soustraire
I was supposed to subtract you
À la glu
From the glue

Les impasses
The impasses
Les grands espaces
The big spaces
Mes bras connaissent
My arms know
Mes bras connaissent
My arms know
Une étoile sur le point de s'éteindre
A star at the point of going out

J'étais censé te ravir
I was supposed to steal you away
À la colère de Dieu
From the anger of God

La douceur d'un blindé
The softness of the shielded
Le remède à l'oubli
The remedy of forgetting
Mes bras connaissent
My arms know
Mes bras connaissent
My arms know

Mes bras connaissent
My arms know
La menace du futur
The menace of the future
Les délices qu'on ampute
The delights that one amputates
Pour l'amour d'une connasse
For the love of some stupid bitch

J'étais censé t'encenser
I was supposed to incense you
Mes hélices se sont lassées
¹
My helices were weary¹
De te porter aux nues
From carrying you to the clouds
Je me tue à te dire
I am killing myself trying to tell you
Qu'on ne va pas mourir
That one is not going to die

Sauve toi
Save yourself
Sauve moi
Save me
et tu sauras où l'acheter le courage
²
And you will know where the courage is to buy it

J'étais censé t'étourdir
I was supposed to knock you out
Sans aviron sans élixir
Without oar without elixir
J'étais censé te couvrir
I was supposed to cover you
À l'approche des cyclones
From the approach of the cyclones

Mes bras connaissent
My arms know
Mes bras connaissent
My arms know
Sur le bout des doigts
At the end of the fingers

La promesse d'un instant
The promise of an instant
La descente aux enfers
The descent into hells
Mes bras connaissent
My arms know
Mes bras mesurent la distance
My arms are measuring the distance

Sauve toi
Save yourself
Sauve moi
Save me
Et tu sauras où l'acheter le courage
And you will know where the courage is to buy it

J'étais censé t'étourdir
I was supposed to knock you out
Sans aviron sans élixir
Without oar without elixir
J'étais censé t'extraire
I was supposed to extract
Le pieu dans le coeur
The stake in your heart
Qui t'empêche de courir
That keeps you from running away

Mes bras connaissent
My arms know
Mes bras connaissent
My arms know
Mes bras connaissent
My arms know
Une étoile sur le point de s'éteindre
A star at the point of going out

Mes bras connaissent
My arms know
Mes bras connaissent
My arms know
Sur le bout des doigts
At the end of the fingers

Mes bras connaissent
My arms know

Mes bras connaissent
My arms know
Une étoile sur le point de s'éteindre
A star at the point of going out

Mes bras connaissent
My arms know

Sauve toi
Save yourself
Sauve moi
Save me

Mes bras connaissent
My arms know



¹ "My helices were weary", corkscrews, spirals; may be referring to Curschmann's spirals, which are coiled, basophilic plugs of mucus formed in the lower airways and found in sputum and tracheal washings, indicating chronic obstruction.

² "où l'acheter le courage" ("where the courage is to buy it") - word play with "lacheté", cowardess, side by side with courage


Find more of my Bashung translations at http://bashung-in-english.blogspot.com. I am working to translate his entire opus.

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