Tuesday, April 25, 2017

Jacques Brel - To see a friend in tears


Original Title: "Voir un ami pleurer"
Year: 1977
Of course there are the Irish wars
And the tribes without music
Of course all that lack of tender
And there is no America anymore
Of course money does not have a smell
But no smell goes up to your nose
Of course we walk over flowers
But, but to see a friend in tears

Of course there are our defeats
And then death which is at all at the end
Our bodies already tilt the head
Surprised to still be standing
Of course, the unfaithful women
And the murdered birds
Of course, our hearts lose their wings
But, but to see a friend in tears

Of course those exhausted cities
By those fifty year old children
Our powerlessness to help them
And our loves that have toothaches
Of course, the time which is going too fast
Those subways filled with drowned people
The truth which is avoiding us
But, but to see a friend in tears

Of course, our mirrors are upright
Nor the courage to be a jew
Nor the elegance to be a negro
We think ourselves wick but are nothing but tallow
And all those men who are our brothers
So much that we are not surprised anymore
That, out of love, they lacerate us
But, but to see a friend in tears

3 comments:

  1. this a "google translate" rendition which points out the deficiencies of computer translation software.

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    Replies
    1. Not it's not (or I am a bad computer) but it's not a "pretty" english translation either, I explained why several times and I might come around to actually making more grammatically correct translations (translating that many songs took a lot of time, reworking them will too) but my goal was to capture the base meaning nor to rewrite the songs.

      Delete
  2. I would start by using the phrase "To see a friend in tears." If nothing else it scans better.

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