Léo Ferré - Caussimon - Both of us

Original title: "Nous deux"
Text: Jean-Roger Caussimon
Year: 1961

They left without a warning
With their kids and their guitars
Our gipsy brothers of Saint-Ouen
They left in a flurry of wings
And without return, the swallows
Paris had no use for them anymore
Waves of concrete and idiocy
Drug stores and some strip tease are necessary
High rises and undergrounds
And of Boulogne and of Vincennes
And of the florished quays of the Seine
Soon nothing will be left no more
But that day my turtledove
My girl who's mine, my all beautiful
My love sister, my mom
In spite of the planks and the soil
We'll snuggle up like we can do
Both of us...
In spit of the soil and the planks
We'll cuddle like on Sunday's
When we go to the movies
Both of us...
And let us meet in dream afterwards
Fascinated like Adam and Eve
But all proud of having found that
Both of us...

You see it's written on the frontpage
We are already fighting over the moon
Inocent children of tomorrow!
One general on the planets
Will follow you with its spyglass
And will say "It's red with blood ! "

By juggling so much with the bomb
One day it'll have to fall
It's its purpose and it's our lot
That day has to come eventually
Farewell, Paris and farewell, Vienna
Farewell Rome and Monte Carlo
But on that day my turtledove
My girl who's mine, my all beautiful
My love sister, my mom
Be it that everything turns to ice or burns
It does not matter if we are together
Us both...
That everything burns or that every turns to ice
We'll already have our place
In the legend of the lovers
Us both...
So when the planet will explode
If the trumpets ever sound
We'll divinely not care
Both of us...

People will treat me of artist
Of being heartless and if it saddens me
I'd not be surprised of it...
Because that pitiful and tender heart
To you only who could take it
It's been a long time I have given it...
Just like I give you today
This song of end of fall
That thought itself love song
I'm not a saint nor an apostle
And to still think of other people
The time left to me is too short
In the meanwhile my turtledove
My girl who's mine, my all beautiful
My love sister, my mom
As our souls wander
Let's kiss very close to the waves
Of the Ocean of the bad days
Us both...
And then to our faithful loves
In the heart of eternal snows
Let's get lost forever
Both of us!
Both of us!

Jean-Roger Caussimon's version (1970) :

Léo Ferré - Caussimon - Nights of absence

Original Title: "Nuits d'absence"
Text: Jean-Roger Caussimon
Year: 1985

There are nights when I go away
Discretely, secretely
My image alone is present
It has my forehead, my clothes...
It's my double in that mirror
It's my cinema stand-in
To that reflection replacing me
You'd swear I'm there

But I fly over in a hang-glider
The blue tops of the Pyrénées
In Andorra-The-Catalan
I let my destiny go...
I trample a rye field
Or maybe a wheat field
In the air, I've met eagles
And I thought I looked like them...

The summer wind, sometimes, carry me away
Too far, it's a risk to take
In the tumult of the arena's
I'm everything which must die
I am the poor nag
Belly opened by a bull
I'm the bull who falters
I'm the fear...of the torrero
Weekday or is it Sunday?
All shivering in the thaw
I'm on the edge of the White sea
In the white night of Arkhangelsk
I hail drunk sailors
As much from alcohol than sleep
"That bleak glare on the frost
Is if the moon...or the sun?"

The pale day saddens the furniture
And here it's, it's already tomorrow
The frost persists to the blind eyes
Of my dog which is looking for my hand...
And you, you sleep in the silence
Where, without me, you manage to recover
That calm face from childhood
Which moved me...to the point of crying...

There are nights when I go away
Discretely, secretely
My image alone is present
It has my forehead, my clothes...
It's my double in that mirror
It's my cinema stand-in
To that reflection replacing me
You'd swear I'm there

There are nights when I go away
Discretely, secretely
My image alone is present
It has my forehead, my clothes...
It's my double in that mirror
It's my cinema stand-in
To that reflection replacing me
You'd swear I'm there

Jean-Roger Caussimon - On a wish by Paul Eluard

Original Title: "Sur un voeu"
Year: 1977

Any caress, any trust survive themselves
Those words so simple made of light
Were written by Paul Eluard
More fervent words than a prayer
And louder than a shout
They are stronger than invectives
Than violence or contempt
They spurted out like flowing water
There speaks the heart before the mind

Any caress, any trust survive themselves
Where are the singing futures
And that forever promised happiness
In the indifferent cities
Everybody thinks he sees his enemies
But if by chance it happens
To glimpse a friendly gaze
Among so many fleeing shadows
Let that gaze be passed on

Any caress, any trust survive themselves
For the motherly lulaby
The voice of the father at home
And for the memory of the one
Who loved you more than reason
Let nothing drift off
And let the happiness of a moment
Write itself on a sky of future
And shines with time
Any caress, any trust survive themselves

Jean-Roger Caussimon - It's sunny

Original Title: "Il fait soleil"

Year: 1975

From the song to the prayer
There is a long way and yet
Every morning of light
I find back the soul of a child
Which meditates and is filled with wonder

I am happy, it's sunny
And yet

In this newspaper that is being brought to me
I could read black on white
The news items, in dead letters
All that stream of tears and blood
Rolls like it was rolling the day before

I am happy, it's sunny
And yet

I am free, I drink, I eat
In prison, cries an innocent man
On the dried up bank of the Ganges
A child falls slowly asleep
Under the dry eye of the vulture that watches

I am happy, it's sunny
And yet

Our only country, it's the world
We forget there, from time to time
That here and there, the canon rumbles
But who wants to listen to it, hears it
You just have to lend an ear

I am happy, it's sunny
And yet

That it's casting off to the abyss
This time of misery and death
Where our joys, pays itself with shame
And that I sing without remorse
Simply, like does the bee

For everyone, it's sunny
It's sunny! It's sunny!
Sunny! Sunny, sunny, sunny, sunny...

Jean-Roger Caussimon - The buddies of May

Original Title: "Les copains de mai"
Year: 1979

On the path of my bohemian life
I have seen childreen pass
If they were anxious about the future
They still wanted to hope
Our meeting was too brief
Where, without saying it, we love each others
While sharing the same dreams
The time for a month of may to last
The time for a month of may to last

Because this city in which we hasten ourselves
Is merciless to the springs
Life takes them. Life city spoils them
In a banal way I mean
In a banal way I mean

Not wanting to appear more gamine
Nor weaker than boys anymore
The girls had ways,
Slightly troubling, of androgynes
Love was, if you listened to them,
Nothing but hobby by mutual agreement
It was of course to protect themselves
from suffering and crying because of it
from suffering and crying because of it

Because this city in which we hasten ourselves
Is merciless to the lovers
Life takes them Life city spoils them
In the cruel way I mean
In the cruel way I mean

On three chords of a guitar
We were singing the same songs
But destiny has its reasons
Undoubtly when it parts us
Am I still in your memory
I who would like to beg you
To never think nor believe
That I could forget about you
That I could forget about you

Because this city in which we hasten ourselves
Is merciless to the missings one
Life takes them Life city spoils them
In the meaningless way I mean
Where are your teenager hearts?

Jean-Roger Caussimon - Girls like that

Original Title: "Des filles comm'ça"
Year: 1977

There are some girls like that
Who have the heart like an island

No need to be beautiful, don't dress in Sunday's clothes
Step forward into the sea, lie down on your back
Let yourself drift placid and float on your back
Shout "I am the drunken boat" of Arthur Rimbaud
I am not an happy person, life is a problem to me
Happiness is so far away, I have looked so much for it
I become an orphan if noone loves me
And a girl like that will come to fish you out

There are some girls like that
Who have the heart like an island
With some soft beaches
A semblance of rocks
To make everyone believe
That it's difficult
That it's difficult
To approach them

At her place a woodfire as soon as September ends
Sunshine in Spring and shadow in Summer
You'll be like a King in your robe
Which many others undoubtly wore before you
You'll be pampered without having anything to say
Nothing but love words where her first name sings
You'll have to prove her how much you desire her
And a girl like that will never say no.

There are some girls like that
Who have the heart like an island
With some soft beaches
A semblance of rocks
To make everyone believe
That it's difficult
That it's difficult
To approach them

That daily love and of every second
Will give you the idea that there must exist
Some girls to love at every corner of the world
Then you'll go away enamoured of freedom
Then another guy will come to live with her
But for how long? Maybe for ever
With every lover the hope is new
And a girl like that dreams of a single love.

There are some girls like that
Who have the heart like an island
With some soft beaches
A semblance of rocks
To make everyone believe
That it's difficult
That it's difficult
To approach them

Jean Roger Caussimon - Like in Ostend

Original Title: "Comme à Ostende"
Music: Léo Ferré
Text: Jean-Roger Caussimon
Year: 1960 (Ferré), 1970 (Caussimon)

We were seeing the sea horses
rushing head first
and breaking their mane
in front of the deserted casino

The barmaid was eighteen years old
and I who is old like winter
instead of drowning into a glass
I had a walk in the spring
of her almond shaped eyes
Nor grey, nor green
Nor grey, nor green
Like in Ostende
And like everywhere
When over the town
Falls down the rain
And you wonder
if it's usefull
and above all
if it's worth it
If it's worth it
to live your life

I left toward my destiny
But here a smell of beer
of fries and of mussels in white wine
lured me in a tavern
There were comic guys, all red-faced
who guffawed, who talked loudly
and the beer, it was served
way before you could ask for more
Yes, it was raining
Yes, it was raining
Like in Ostende
And like everywhere
When over the town
Falls down the rain
And you wonder
if it's usefull
and above all
if it's worth it
If it's worth it
to live your life

We went arm in arm
to the district with shop windows
full of feminine presence
you want to buy when one is drunk
But here at the very end of the road
arrived a barrel organ player
with a terrific old tune
to make you blubbe a great deal
So well that all the guys in the group
got lost
got lost
Like in Ostende
And like everywhere
When over the town
Falls down the rain
And you wonder
if it's usefull
and above all
if it's worth it
If it's worth it
to live your life

Léo Ferré's version: