Original Title: "La chanson des vieux amants"
Year: 1967
Of course, there were storms
After twenty years of love, it's crazy love
A thousand times, you packed your bags
A thousand times, I took off
And every piece of furniture remembers,
In this bedroom without a cradle,
The screams of old tempests
Nothing resembled to anything no more
You had lost the taste for water
And me, the one of conquest
But my love
My sweet, my tender, my marvellous love
From the clear dawn until the end of the day
I love you still, you know, I love you
I, I know all your spells
You know all my bewitchments
You kept me from trap to trap
I have lost you time to time
Of course you took a few lovers
The time had well to be spent
The body well has to exult
But finally, finally
It required us quite a lot of talent
To be old without being adult
But my love
My sweet, my tender, my marvellous love
From the clear dawn until the end of the day
I love you still, you know, I love you
And more time makes a procession for us
And more time gives us torment
But isn't it the worst trap
To live in peace for lovers?
Of course you cry a bit less early
I tear myself up a bit later
We protect our mysteries less
We are less confident in luck
We are wary of the current
But it's still the tender war
But my love
My sweet, my tender, my marvellous love
From the clear dawn until the end of the day
I love you still, you know, I love you
Thanks! have you seen laurika rauch's translation http://www.laurikarauch.com/?song=song-of-the-old-lovers-la-chanson-des-vieux-amants
ReplyDeleteI don't know who translated it thus but it's more of a poetic/meaning translation not word for word.
Thank you for your input.
DeleteActually it's something I asked myself when I started this. Should I try to keep the metric and verses and thus make a more poetic version or keep a word to word translation. I ended up going with the "word to word" (while keeping the meaning) because I find the other way a betrayal of the original. The translation you linked is a good example, for me it's a different poem inspired by Jacques Brel's Song but it has "nothing to do" with it (but then it matches the music better) In fact one of the reason I did this is because I found myself frustrated by other people's translations which I think did not respect the source texts.
The translations you find here also serve me in french as a way to grasp a better understanding of the meaning of the songs themselves, I just happen to share them as well ;) It's not always possible to grab a true meaning (mostly when there are some play on words or double meanings which can not be translated but sometimes also just because it's poetry and is more meant to be felt than understood) but somehow I find it easier to do so when you reach the simple meaning of words, the images they bring up are more interesting to me than the rhymes.
I know I could rework some songs mostly for them to be more readable (add some commas and be more respectful of english grammar or some things I am still not sure how to translate correctly) even maybe not respect the original position of the words like I did too much until now but with 320 songs translated that's a lot of work (just making sure the youtube video is still up is ), I time to time go back and update or correct older ones though.
Also I guess for non poetic songs (there are a few) it matters less and I could try to offer something which would be a personnal rework but I haven't managed to do that yet either :/.
Je ne voudrais pas te déconne, mon français est de la merde, je pense que je le comprend mieux que je le parle. Je connais bien la chanson des vieilles amants. Je ne l'avais jamais écouté en anglais avant ce soir. L'anglais est mon lange maternel, je comprends cette chanson comme ci-dessous.
ReplyDeleteEnglish is my native language. I know the song "chanson des V.A" very well. I had never heard it in english until this evening. I know my french sucks but I thinK i understand it better than I speak it. The way i understand the song follows:
bien Bien sûr, nous eûmes des orages
of course there were storms or yes it was stormy
Vingt ans d'amour, c'est l'amour fol
20 years of love we were crazy in love, or
after 20 years of love it's crazy mad love
Mille fois tu pris ton bagage
A thousand times you packed your bags
Mille fois je pris mon envol
A thousand times I took off
Et chaque immeuble se souvient
Every building remembers or every place holds a memory
Dans cette chambre sans berceau
in the bedroom without a cradle
Every building has a memory of the bedroom without a cradle (crib)
every place we go holds a memory, in that bedroom without a crib
des éclats des vieilles tempêtes
the screams of old (thunderstorms) fights
Plus rien ne ressemblait à rien
Nothing like it could have been
Tu avais perdu le goût de l'eau
you had lost the taste for water or you had quit drinking (took sober)
Et moi celui de la conquête
and me. that of the conquest
me, I lost my (conquest) girl
and me I lost my seduction (sex appeal)
Les languages vivent, il faut qu'on ait le goût de chaque histoire soi-meme pour mieux comprendre.
Languages are alive, one has to have the "taste" of each story itself to better understand
les deux langages n'ont pas exactement le même expression de dire quelque chose, donc il faut qu'on connaît les pensées de sa partenaire
the 2 lqnguqges do not have the same expressions for the same idea, one must know the thoughts of their partner (in conversation) or the sense of the story or song .. that's why it is often difficult to learn a second language.
c'est pourquoi c'est souvent difficile d'apprendre une nouvelle language. à mon avis bien sur
Hey. Thanks for your valuable input. I've adapted a few sentences.
DeleteA few remarks
"Fol" is a soft crazy love not really mad crazy. It's a gentle madness.
It's not "immeuble" in the song but "meuble" (furniture)
Plus rien ne ressemblait à rien meaning is more that everything looked scrambled, things did not resemble to themselves.
He did not lose his conquest/girl but the taste to conquer her.
Thx again
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
ReplyDelete