The songs of Georges Brassens with English translation

This one of Brassens’ most entertaining poems- in spite of the gloomy title.
Paul Valéry, a highly respected man of letters of the previous generation, born also in Brassens’ home town of Sète, had written a famous poem called “Le cimetière marin”. Brassens gives an alternative viewpoint to Valéry’s symbolist vision of a seaside graveyard, as he writes with wit, imagination and nostalgia about the more down-to-earth realities of his birthplace and the love, friendship and enjoyment he had found there.



Supplique pour être enterré à la plage de Sète
Plea to be buried on the beach at Sète (1)

La Camarde, qui ne m'a jamais pardonné (2)
The Grim Reaper, who has never forgiven me
D'avoir semé des fleurs dans les trous de son nez,
For sowing flowers in the sockets of his nose (3)
Me poursuit d'un zèle imbécile.
Pursues me with the craziest zeal.
Alors cerné de près par les enterrements,
And so, hemmed in close by funerals (4)
J'ai cru bon de remettre à jour mon testament,
I thought right to bring back up to date my last will
De me payer un codicille.
To pay out for a codicil

Trempe dans l'encre bleue du Golfe du Lion,
Dip well in the blue ink of the Gulf du Lion
Trempe, trempe ta plume, ô mon vieux tabellion,
Dip well, dip well your quill, oh my old legal scribe
Et, de ta plus belle écriture,
And then in your finest handwriting
Note ce qu'il faudrait qu'il advînt de mon corps,
Note what there would have to become of my body
Lorsque mon âme et lui ne seront plus d'accord
When my soul and it are no longer in accord
Que sur un seul point : la rupture.
Save on one sole point: the break-up

Quand mon âme aura pris son vol à l'horizon
When my soul has taken its flight to the sunset
Vers celles de Gavroche et de Mimi Pinson, (5)
Towards those of Gavroche and of Mimi Pinson
Celles des titis, des grisettes,
Those of urchins and common tarts
Que vers le sol natal mon corps soit ramené
Let my body be brought to the soil of my birth
Dans un sleeping du "Paris-Méditerranée" (6)
In a sleeper on "Paris-Méditerranée"
Terminus en gare de Sète.
Terminus at Sète station.

Mon caveau de famille, hélas, n'est pas tout neuf.
My own family tomb, alas, is not brand new.
Vulgairement parlant il est plein comme un œuf (7)
It's, in vulgar parlance, packed like a sardine tin
Et, d'ici que quelqu'un n'en sorte,
And failing that someone might get out
Il risque de se faire tard et je ne peux
I risk getting there late and will not be able
Dire à ces braves gens : "Poussez-vous donc un peu !
To say to these good folk: “Move up then just a bit!
Place aux jeunes !"(8) en quelque sorte.
Give way to young ones!” or some such thing.

Juste au bord de la mer, à deux pas des flots bleus,
Right up on the sea shore, two yards from waves of blue,
Creusez, si c'est possible, un petit trou moelleux,
Dig out, if it’s possible, a little comfy hole
Une bonne petite niche,
A nice and smallish niche
Auprès de mes amis d'enfance, les dauphins (9)
Next to the friends of my childhood, the dolphins,
Le long de cette grève où le sable est si fin,
Along that stretch of beach, where the sand is so fine
Sur la plage de la Corniche. (10)
On the Plage de la Corniche.

C'est une plage ou même, à ses moments furieux,
It’s a beach where even, in his moments of rage
Neptune ne se prend jamais trop au sérieux,
Neptune doesn’t come on too heavily
Où, quand un bateau fait naufrage,
Where at the shipwreck of his boat
Le capitaine crie : "Je suis le maître à bord ! (11)
The captain bellows forth: “I’m the master of this ship!
Sauve qui peut ! Le vin et le pastis d'abord !
Each for himself! The wine and the pastis go first
Chacun sa bonbonne et courage !"
Each take his demi-john and hope for …” (12)

Et c'est là que jadis, à quinze ans révolus,
It was there in the past, at fifteen years of age
À l'âge où s'amuser tout seul ne suffit plus,
At an age when lonely pleasure was not enough
Je connus la prime amourette.
I had my first little taste of love.
Auprès d'une sirène, une femme-poisson,
From a little siren, a sea dwelling mermaid
Je reçus de l'amour la première leçon,
I got my first lesson about the rules of love
Avalai la première arête. (13)
Humbly learnt where you are made to stop.

Déférence gardée envers Paul Valéry, (14)
With all deference due towards Paul Valéry,
Moi, l'humble troubadour, sur lui je renchéris,
I, humble troubadour, can go one up on him
Le bon maître me le pardonne,
May the good master please excuse me
Et qu'au moins, si ses vers valent mieux que les miens,
And if his verse is placed higher than mine, at least
Mon cimetière soit plus marin que le sien,
Let my cemetery be nearer the sea than his
Et n'en déplaise aux autochtones.
And who cares about the Autotochtones.(15)


Cette tombe en sandwich entre le ciel et l'eau,
This tomb sandwiched between the sky and water
Ne donnera pas une ombre triste au tableau,
Will not add a gloomy shadow to the picture
Mais un charme indéfinissable.
But a charm that cannot be defined
Les baigneuses s'en serviront de paravent
Female bathers will come to use it as a screen
Pour changer de tenue, et les petits enfants
In order to get changed, and the little children
Diront : "Chouette, un château de sable !"
Will say: “Oh, Brilliant. Look a sand castle!”


Est-ce trop demander...? Sur mon petit lopin
Is it too much to ask… ? Upon my little plot
Plantez, je vous en prie, une espèce de pin
Please plant for me, a tree, a species such as pine
Pin parasol, de préférence,
Umbrella pine, by preference
Qui saura prémunir contre l'insolation
That’s able to protect from the threat of sunburn
Les bons amis venus fair' sur ma concession
Those good friends who have come upon my resting place
D'affectueuses révérences.
To lower their heads in fond regard


Tantôt venant d'Espagne, et tantôt d'Italie,
Sometimes coming from Spain, sometimes from Italy
Tout chargés de parfums, de musiques jolies,
All laden with perfumes, with prettiest music
Le mistral et la tramontane (16)
The mistral and the tramontana
Sur mon dernier sommeil verseront les échos
Upon my final sleep will pour forth the echos
De villanelle un jour, un jour de fandango,
Of villanelle one day, one day of fandango,
De tarantelle, de sardane...
Of tarantella, of sardana

Et quand, prenant ma butte en guise d'oreiller,
And when, taking my mound as a kind of pillow
Une ondine viendra gentiment sommeiller
A fair nymph from the sea, should kindly come to sleep
Avec moins que rien de costume,
With her swimwear close to nothing on,
J'en demande pardon par avance à Jésus,
I am asking pardon well in advance from Jesus
Si l'ombre de ma croix s'y couche un peu dessus
If the shade of my cross lies for a while on there
Pour un petit bonheur posthume.
For a spot of posthumous bliss.

Pauvres rois pharaons ! Pauvre Napoléon !
Poor Pharaoh kings ! Poor Napoleon !
Pauvres grands disparus gisant au Panthéon !
Poor grand departed, lying at the Pantheon
Pauvres cendres de conséquence !
Poor ashes of consequence
Vous envierez un peu l'éternel estivant,
You’ll feel envy for him, on endless summer break
Qui fait du pédalo sur la vague en rêvant,
Who dreamily rides his pedalo on the waves
Qui passe sa mort en vacances...
Who passes his death on vacation.

Vous envierez un peu l'éternel estivant,
You’ll feel envy for him, on endless summer break
Qui fait du pédalo sur la vague en rêvant,
Who dreamily rides his pedalo on the waves
Qui passe sa mort en vacances...
Who passes his death on vacation.
Georges Brassens
1966 - Supplique pour être enterré à la plage de Sète

COMMENTS ON TRANSLATION PROBLEMS
1) Brassens did not intend his petition to be buried on the beach too seriously. He once said he was only having fun with the idea. The tone of the poem verifies it.
2) Five lines of each verse use the 12 syllable “alexandrine” of French Classical poetry
3) semé des fleurs –The dictionary says that “semer des fleurs sur la tombe de quelqu’un” means to turn someone’s memory into a cult. Brassens is rightly acknowledging that he goes on quite a lot about death in his songs. It has to be admitted that he did have a morbid streak.  “The Grim Reaper”, our personification of death, is depicted with a dead skull with empty sockets for the nose and eyes. In French the personification of death is called La Camarde for this same reason. Camard is an adjective which means pug-nosed, having a flat nose, as if crushed –like the nose of an old-time boxer.
4) cerné de près par les enterrements- This song was written in 1966. In the previous year, Brassens lost his father on the 28th March and Marcel Planche, Jeanne’s husband, died on the 7th May. (To Marcel, Georges had dedicated his poem- “Chanson pour l’Auvergnat”).
5) Gavroche - Mimi Pinson. Gavroche is a cheeky, rebellious young street urchin in the novel, “Les Misérables” by Victor Hugo. Mimi Pinson is a character in a work called “Mimi Pinson, profil de grisette" by the famous French poet, Alfred de Musset. A grisette is a young, sexually easy-going, working class girl. Both of these fictitious characters liked to express themselves in song. With such company Brassens’ soul would be in heaven.
6) Paris-Méditerranée A train for holiday destinations
7) il est plein comme un œuf – Brassens says the tomb was full as an egg. I had not met this expression in English but on looking it up, I find that it is in use. As I am not certain of the context in which “full as an egg” is used in English, I have substituted the most common image in English for being packed together.
8) Place aux jeunes. Perhaps this incongruous remark in the society of the dead can be interpreted as a disdainful Brassens’ reference to the call made to the older performers with the advent of the teenage pop groups of the 1960s. See “Les Trompettes de la Renommée”.
9) les dauphins – This was the name given to the swimming club at Sète when Brassens was a boy. We can assume that the girl he is to recall in the next verse is also a keen swimmer.
10) La plage de la Corniche is a very popular beach at Sète
11) The picture of life on a happy, boozy ship, with the odd nautical crisis, is reminiscent of Brassens’ memories of boating with his mates in “Les copains d’abord”.
12) la première arête. There is a pun on “arête » which means fishbone and “Arrête!”, meaning stop. The fishbone is mentioned because the girl is mermaid and thus half fish. The image seems a bit contrived and is certainly impossible to translate. This is my tentative suggestion, but I regret that an explanation needs to replace the teasing puzzle that Brassens had left us with..
13) Chacun sa bonbonne et courage -I have translated this as a play on words. The "bon" in "bonbonne" also goes before "courage". Although the captain may make pretence of being in complete control, when the boat is sinking all he can say in the end is "bon courage" - hope for the best.
14) Paul Valéry (1871-1945) was a famous poet, critic and essayist. “Cimetière Marin” was the title of one of his most famous poems. He was born in Sètes and buried there in the Cimetière St Charles. In the following year, 1946, the dignitaries changed its name to the “Cimetière Marin” in homage to him.
15) “autochtones » These are the important men of the town, who had decreed that Valéry’s graveyard was the “cimetière marin” –whose authority Brassens is undermining! Brassens, the outsider, certainly did not identify with them.
16) Le mistral et la tramontane -These are two winds that blow over the South of France. One seems to come from the West, the other from the East.
17) villanelle and tarantella - sardane and fandango This is the music of song and dance, blown in from opposite directions from Italy and Spain.


The town of Sète
Sète is the largest French fishing port on the Mediterranean , with tunny fishing boats and trawlers harboured there. Behind Sète is a large coastal lagoon called the étang de Thau where shellfish are cultivated.

Where Brassens was buried.
Brassens was not buried on the beach at Sète, but he would not have expected it as he was only joking. He was not buried with the worthy middle class and Paul Valéry in the cimetière Saint Charles, the so-called cimetière marin, but in the cimetière Le Py, from where can be seen the inland sea of l’étang de Thau. This second cemetery of Sète is known as the cimetière des pauvres , but it should not be assumed from this that the highly successful Brassens had a pauper’s funeral. It is reported that there is a pine tree near his grave, but that it had difficulty in establishing itself because of being trampled by the number of people who come to visit his grave.

If any holiday maker in a skimpy bikini comes to his grave, the only sensation she is likely to have is a mysterious sharp stabbing feeling. When she died in 1999, Brassens' long-time companion, Joha Heiman, his « Püppchen », was buried at his side in the cemetery at Sète. His song, “Je me suis fait tout petit”, describes how she used her umbrella to ward off any seductress, seeking to offer Brassens the sexual consolation, which she was not prepared to offer him.

The contrast of Paul Valéry’s picture of a graveyard near the sea
These are the first two verses of Paul Valéry’s symbolist poem
Ce toit tranquille, où marchent des colombes,
This quiet roof, on which doves walk about
Entre les pins palpite, entre les tombes;
Between the pines vibrates, between the tombs
Midi le juste y compose de feux
Midday the exact composes upon it some lights.
La mer, la mer, toujours recommencee
The sea, the sea, always restarting anew
O récompense après une pensée
Oh recompense after thinking
Qu'un long regard sur le calme des dieux!
Than a long look upon the calm of the gods.

Quel pur travail de fins éclairs consume
What fine work of fine flashes of light consumes
Maint diamant d'imperceptible écume,
Many a diamond of imperceptible foam
Et quelle paix semble se concevoir!
And what peace seems to be conceived
Quand sur l'abîme un soleil se repose,
When on theabyss a sun comes to rest
Ouvrages purs d'une éternelle cause,
Pure works of an eternal cause
Le temps scintille et le songe est savoir
Time flickers and dreaming is to know

Labels: The place his hometown has in his life and afterlife