The songs of Georges Brassens with English translation

Vénus callipyge

This song was inspired by the famous ancient sculpture, the Venus Kallipygos, pictured on the left, which is now in the Royal Museum in Naples. It is a marble statuette, just under 6 inches in height. It was found in Rome but became the property of the king of Naples. The worship of this Venus had been widespread in Ancient Greece and then had spread to Italy. The word Kallipygos is formed by an adjective, Κάλλος, which means beautiful and a noun πυγὴ, which means bum. For some reason it is always catalogued under a form of the Greek. Brassens, however, prefers the blunt truth and the whole truth and there is no doubt about the part of the anatomy on this ancient work of art that he is especially glorifying.

Brassens sings his song but the pictures added to illustrate may not get everyone's approval

Vénus callipyge Georges Brassens 1964
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Que jamais l'art abstrait, qui sévit maintenant,
Never let abstract art, all the rage right now
N'enlève à vos attraits ce volume étonnant.
Take from your female charms that stunning dimension
Au temps où les faux-culs (1) sont la majorité,
At a time when fake rears form the majority
Gloire à celui qui dit toute la vérité !
Glory to the one that tells nothing but the truth.

Votre dos perd son nom(2) avec si bonne grâce,
Your back with such good grace, yields to it precedence
Qu'on ne peut s'empêcher de lui donner raison.
One cannot help but think that this is only right.
Que ne suis-je,(3) Madame, un poète de race,
Am I not he, Madame,a poet born and bred
Pour dire à sa louange un immortel blason. (4)
To tell of its praises in an enduring rhyme.

En le voyant passer, j'en eus la chair de poule,(5)
On seeing it go by, my neck hairs stood on end
Enfin, je vins au monde et, depuis, je lui voue
At last, I am reborn and henceforth I offer it
Un culte (6)véritable et, quand je perds aux boules,
Genuine worship and when I lose at bowls
En embrassant Fanny, je ne pense qu'à vous.
While I’m kissing Fanny, (7) I think alone of you

Pour obtenir, Madame, un galbe de cet ordre,
For you to get, Madame, a contour of that order
Vous devez torturer les gens de votre entour,
You must be torture to the people round about you,
Donner aux couturiers bien du fil à retordre,
Give to the dressmakers a lot of thread to wind
Et vous devez crever votre dame d'atour.
And you must work to death your wardrobe lady.


C'est (8) le Duc de Bordeaux qui s'en va, tête basse,
Like the Duke of Bordeaux who sneaks off, head bent low
Car il ressemble au mien comme deux gouttes d'eau,
For he resembles mine like two peas in a pod
S'il ressemblait au vôtre on dirait, quand il passe :
If he resembled yours they’d say when he goes by
"C'est un joli garçon que le Duc de Bordeaux !"(9)
“A right good-looking chap is that Duke of Bordeaux.”

Ne faites aucun cas des jaloux qui professent
Do not pay account to jealous folk who profess
Que vous avez placé votre orgueil un peu bas
That you have placed your pride a little bit too low
Que vous présumez trop, en somme de vos fesses,
That all in all you think too highly of your bum
Et surtout, par faveur, ne vous asseyez pas !
And above all we would ask: Please don’t take a seat

Laissez-les raconter qu'en sortant de calèche (10)
Let them tell the story that stepping from your coach
La brise a fait voler votre robe et qu'on vit,
The breeze lifted up high your dress and people saw
Écrite dans un cœur transpercé d'une flèche,
Written inside a heart pierced by an arrow
Cette expression triviale : "À Julot pour la vie"
This motto commonplace: “It’s Julot’s till I die”

Laissez-les dire encor qu'à la Cour d'Angleterre,
And one more let them tell that at the English court
Faisant la révérence aux souverains anglois,
Performing a curtsy to the English sovereigns
Vous êtes, patatras ! Tombée assise à terre :
You fell crash bang wallop, your seat upon the floor
La loi d' la pesanteur est dure, mais c'est la loi.
The law of gravity is harsh but it’s the law.

Nul ne peut aujourd'hui trépasser sans voir Naples, (11)
No-one can die today without having seen Naple
À l'assaut des chefs-d'oeuvre ils veulent tous courir !
All want to join the charge to see great works of art
Mes ambitions à moi sont bien plus raisonnables :
My own ambitions are more sensible by far
Voir votre académie, madame, et puis mourir.
To see your nude study, madame, and then to die

Que jamais l'art abstrait, qui sévit maintenant,
Let never abstract art, all the rage right now
N'enlève à vos attraits ce volume étonnant.
Take from your female charms that stunning dimension
Au temps où les faux-culs (1) sont la majorité,
At a time when fake rears form the majority
Gloire à celui qui dit toute la vérité !
Glory to the one that tells nothing but the truth
Georges Brassens
<<(1964 - Les copains d'abord, 7)>>

TRANSLATION POINTS Vénus callipyge
1) Brassens makes a play on words: faux-cul means false arse. The nearest word I found in the dictionary was faux col – false collar which in English translates “loose collar”. .
2) Votre dos perd son nom – Halfway down the back is no longer the back but the bottom. Out of delicacy some people may refer to it as the lower back.
3) Que ne suis-je ? (3) Que followed by ne in a question or an exclamation is usually translated by “why”. E.g.: “Que n’est-tu allé la voir?
4) A blazon is a verse which gives a list – for example of the features of the person you love
5) j'en eus la chair de poule – I got goose pimples
6) Un culte. Brassens is amused to be talking about a cult dedicated to a cul. Such puns have to be abandoned in translation.
7) En embrassant Fanny- It is explaned that there is a tradition, when playing bowls, that any player who fails to score a single point in a game has to ceremoniously kiss the bum of Fanny on a picture or a sculpture. Brassens associates this mischievously with the Christian faith, where the priest may sometimes present a religious icon to kiss, by talking about his own new “cult”. In fact that part of the sculpture in Naples has become slightly discoloured by furtive kisses, achieved in spite of the close supervision.
8) C'est….. This phrase doesn’t fit in grammatically, but it is like a performer warning the audience that he is in the groove so hold on to their hats – like a comic saying : »Did you hear about……. Something scandalous is coming up
9) Continuing with his praise of this lady’s bottom, Brassens quotes a verse of a traditional dirty and amusing French song. This is the verse:

Le Duc de Bordeaux ressemble à son frère,
Son frère à son père et son père à mon cul.
De là je conclus qu’le Duc de Bordeaux
Ressemble à mon cul comme deux gouttes d’eau.

10) Calèche – A fashionable carriage drawn by a pair of horses
11) The tourism slogan, of course is: “See Naples and die”




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Labels: Artistic focus on a feature of the female anatomy