The songs of Georges Brassens with English translation

Here are two songs sung by the famous French singer, Maxime le Forestier, on the theme of the transitory pleasures of childhood and youth. This precious experience disappears in a flash and its passing is imperceptible.
The first song by Brassens suggests an unseen epic dimension behind ordinary human life, which is the inevitably destructive wheel of history. Although he was happy with this poem, Brassens never set it to music. Here, Le Forestier is singing the melody written for the song by Jean Bertola.

In the second song from 1998, “Mistral Gagnant”, Le Forestier, sings a duet with the beautiful Vanessa Paradis. The lyrics of this song are by the French singer- song writer, Renaud. As well as individual memories, Renaud lists the specific objects which formed part of the magic world of his 1950 -1960 childhood, which time, the assassin, stole away.



LES CHÂTEAUX DE SABLE (BRASSENS – 1978)

sung by Maxime Le Forestier








Je chante la petite guerre (1)
I sing of the little war waged

Des braves enfants de naguère
By the nice children of recent past

Qui sur la plage ont bataillé (2)
Who on the beach put up a fight

Pour sauver un château de sable
In order to save a sandcastle

Et ses remparts infranchissables
And its ramparts that could not be breached

Qu'une vague allait balayer.
Which one wave would come wash away



J'en étais : l'arme à la bretelle,
I with them : weapons at the ready

Retranchés dans la citadelle,
Firm entrenched within the citadel

De pied ferme nous attendions
Resolute,we were awaiting

Une cohorte sarrazine
A great horde of saracen fighters (1)

Partie de la côte voisine
Embarked from the coast close by us

À l'assaut de notre bastion.
For the assault on our bastion



À cent pas de là sur la dune,
Hundred yards from there upon the dune

En attendant que la fortune
While waiting for the fortune of war

Des armes sourie aux vainqueurs,
To smile forth upon the vanquishers

Languissant d'être courtisées
Languishing for sweet courtships to come

Nos promises, nos fiancées
Our own betrothèd, promised to us,

Préparaient doucement leur coeur. (3)
Were gently preparing their hearts



Tout à coup l'Armada sauvage (1)
All at once the savage Armada

Déferla sur notre rivage
Launched its might upon our sandy shores

Avec ses lances, ses pavois, (4)
Pitting its lances, its bucklers

Pour commettre force rapines,
To carry out their widespread plunder

Et même enlever nos Sabines (5)
And even run off with our Sabine girls

Plus belles que les leurs, ma foi.
More beautiful than theirs, in truth



La mêlée fut digne d'Homère, (1)
The skirmish was worthy of Homer

Et la défaite bien amère
And the defeat was very bitter

À l'ennemi pourtant nombreux,
For the foe though strong in number

Qu'on battit à plate couture,
Whom we beat in resounding manner

Qui partit en déconfiture
Who went off in complete disarray

En déroute, en sauve-qui-peut.
Put to flight, running for their lives



Oui, cette horde de barbares
Yes, all that horde of barbarians

Que notre fureur désempare
Whom our awesome fury tears apart

Fit retraite avec ses vaisseaux,
Retreated with all its vessels,

En n'emportant pour tous trophées,
Carrying off as sole trophies

Moins que rien, deux balles crevées,
Next to nothing, a pair of bursted balls

Trois raquettes, quatre cerceaux. (6)
And three rackets, four bowling hoops.



Après la victoire fameuse
After the victory illustrous

En chantant l'air de "Sambre et Meuse"(7)
Singing the tune of « Sambre et Meuse »

Et de "La Marseillaise", ô gué, (8)
And of « the Marseillaise » tra la la,

On courut vers la récompense
We ran off for the sweet recompense

Que le joli sexe dispense
Which the fairer sex lavishes on

Aux petits héros fatigués.
Little heroes tired from the fray.



Tandis que tout bas à l'oreille
Whilst in soft tones into the ear

De nos Fanny, de nos Mireille,
Of our Muriels, of our Fannys

On racontait notre saga,
We related our stirring tale

Qu'au doigt on leur passait la bague,
Whilst on their finger we slipped the ring

Surgit une espèce de vague (9)
There rose up something like a sea swell

Que personne ne remarqua.
Of which nobody was aware



Au demeurant ce n'était qu'une
All said and done, it was only one

Vague sans amplitude aucune, (10)
Wave without real consequence at all

Une vaguelette égarée,
A little wave that lost its way

Mais en atteignant au rivage
But on its arrival on the shore

Elle causa plus de ravages,
It brought on more devastation

De dégâts, qu'un raz-de-marée.
More damage, than a tsunami.



Expéditive, la traîtresse
Expeditious, the treach’rous one

Investit notre forteresse,
Invested our fortress so doughty

La renversant, la détruisant.
Knocking it down, destroying it.

Adieu donjon, tours et courtines,
Farewell dungeon, towers and castle walls

Que quatre gouttes anodines
Which four harmless seeming water drops

Avaient effacés en passant.
Had oblit’rated in passing



À quelque temps de là nous sommes (11)
At some time on from then we have

Allés mener parmi les hommes
Set out to wage among grown-up men

D'autres barouds plus décevants,
Other conflicts less rewarding

Allés mener d'autres campagnes,
Set out to wage other campaigns

Où les châteaux sont plus d'Espagne,(12)
Where the castles are more in the sky

Et de sable qu'auparavant.
And more of sand, than those before



Quand je vois lutter sur la plage
When I see them fighting upon the beach

Des soldats à la fleur de l'âge,
Soldiers in the full bloom of life,

Je ne les décourage pas,
I offer no discouragement

Quoique je sache, ayant naguère
Although I know, having not long past

Livré moi-même cette guerre,
Myself engaged in this selfsame war,

L'issue fatale du combat.
The fatal outcome of the fight



Je sais que malgré leur défense,
I know that in spite of their defence

Leur histoire est perdue d'avance,
Their history is doomed in advance

Mais je les laisse batailler,
But I leave them to fight it out

Pour sauver un château de sable
In order to save a sandcastle

Et ses remparts infranchissables
And its ramparts that could not be breached

Qu'une vague allait balayer.
Which one wave would come wash away


TRANSLATION NOTES

1) Je chante la petite guerre This first line is a deliberate echo of the opening words of Virgil’s Aeniad : "Arma virumque cano" (Of arms and the man I sing). The Roman poet was writing of the epic wars that led to the foundation of Rome. Brassens is talking of a war little in comparison, but the mock epic tone of his first line suggests that the small war has deep significance for humanity. We will see that the ordinary events of the poem are described in terms which refer to epic events in history: La mêlée fut digne d'Homère -- cohorte sarrazine -- l'Armada – the rape of the Sabine women – military victories -Sambre et Meuse

2) ..... braves enfants......... sur la plage. The theme of the poem is the carefree pleasures of childhood and youth. Brassens represents this with the games of children on the beach, boisterous and probably not too popular with some adults. Brassens’ song « Supplique pour être enterré à la plage de Sète », expresses his lifelong love for the beaches of the town where he passed his childhood.

3) nos fiancées .....préparaient doucement leur cœur. Events of childhood and puberty merge in this poem. The assailants would seem to be youths from the surrounding area come to make advances to their women. Although the newcomers are described as alien Saracens, the girls of Sète are excitedly preparing to accept the boys who emerge best from the encounters. Romantic love has as little place with Brassens as it had with George Bernard Shaw, whose play “Arms and the Man” also put a different cast on Virgil’s epic view. One of Shaw’s themes was the folly of basing your affections on idealistic notions of love.

4) Pavois (bucklers) were small shields gripped in the fist by the fighter.

5) Sabines. In Roman legend, the Romans attacked the region of the Sabines to forcibly capture and take away their women, when Rome had not enough women to provide brides for the native men folk.

6) deux balles crevées, trois raquettes, quatre cerceaux .... After the epic battle, it comes as a surprise that the defeated “Saracens” made off only with these childhood toys. The first amorous episodes of youth mark the end of childhood and we are too involved in the new excitement to realise that the no longer used toys that we pass on contain precious years of our life, with familiar places and vivid experiences now receding into the past.

7) Sambre et Meuse ……. La Marseillaise. These are of course great French patriotic songs to mark their victory. The army of Sambre-et-Meuse was the famous French revolutionary army, which, in 1794, turned the tide of war by defeating the Austrians and the Dutch in Flanders.

8) gué is a standard interjection found in songs and poems to express a mood of rejoicing. Larousse tells me that the word is a corruption of “gai”

9) Surgit une espèce de vague --- The responsibilities of adult life end the exhilarating freedom of youth and a most significant step is when a couple engage in what Brassens sees as the imprisonment of marriage. (See also La non-demande en mariage – Je me suis fait tout petit – Les amoureux des bancs publics etc)

10) Amplitude means “large scale”.

11) À quelque temps de là ---This verse expresses the disillusionment that life brings after the relative innocence of childhood and youth.

12) châteaux d'Espagne - Castles in Spain mean fanciful ideas.  In English we also say "castles in the air".




sung by Vanessa Paradis and Maxime Le Forestier

This song recalls the mischievous, irresponsible pleasures of childhood in France during the 1950s and 1960s –ruining your shoes by splashing in puddles to get your mum going etc. The title “Winning Mistral” was a sherbet style sweet that children bought or pinched from the shop and if it said “Winner” in the packet,you got another packet free. These were happy days filled with love, but time carries off the laughter of children.



Ah... m'asseoir sur un banc
cinq minutes avec toi
et regarder les gens
tant qu'y en a
Te parler du bon temps
qu'est mort ou qui r'viendra
en serrant dans ma main
tes p'tits doigts
Pi donner à bouffer
à des pigeons idiots
leur filer des coups d'pied
pour de faux
Et entendre ton rire
qui lézarde cracks les murs
qui sait surtout guérir
mes blessures
Te raconter un peu
comment j'étais, mino
les bombecs fabuleux
qu'on piquait chez l'marchand
car en sac et Mintho
caramels à un franc
et les Mistral gagnants
Ah... marcher sous la pluie
cinq minutes avec toi
et regarder la vie
tant qu'y en a
Te raconter la Terre
en te bouffant devouring des yeux
Te parler de ta mère
un p'tit peu
Et sauter dans les flaques
pour la faire râler grumble
Bousiller ruin nos godasses shoes
et s'marrer
Et entendre ton rire
comme on entend la mer
s'arrêter, repartir
en arrière
Te raconter surtout
les Carambars d'antan http://uk.saveurdujour.com/images/CarambarsCara.gif
et les coco-boërs
et les vrais roudoudous
qui nous coupaient les lèvres
et nous niquaient les dents
et les Mistral gagnants
Ah... m'asseoir sur un banc
cinq minutes avec toi
regarder le soleil
qui s'en va
Te parler du bon temps
qu'est mort et je m'en fous
Te dire que les méchants
c'est pas nous
Que si moi je suis barge crazy/ dizzy
ce n'est que de tes yeux
car ils ont l'avantage
d'être deux
Et entendre ton rire
s'envoler aussi haut
que s'envolent les cris
des oiseaux
Te raconter enfin
qu'il faut aimer la vie
et l'aimer même si
le temps est assassin
et emporte avec lui
les rires des enfants
et les Mistral gagnants
et les Mistral gagnants

To see Le Forestier in his youth, see his duet with Georges Brassens. Click
Les Passantes

A poem in English that deals with the same theme is “I remember, I remember,” written by Thomas Hood, who was born in 1799. In Hood’s case, the contrast between the magic of childhood and the disillusionment of the later years was all the more grim, because he suffered from a painful illness from his early thirties. He died shortly before his 46th birthday. Within this sad framework, however, his picture of the joys of his childhood are very vivid’
I remember, I remember,
The house where I was born,
The little window where the sun
Came peeping in at morn;
He never came a wink too soon,
Nor brought too long a day,
But now, I often wish the night
Had borne my breath away!

I remember, I remember,
The roses, red and white,
The vi'lets, and the lily-cups,
Those flowers made of light!
The lilacs where the robin built,
And where my brother set
The laburnum on his birthday,--
The tree is living yet!

I remember, I remember,
Where I was used to swing,
And thought the air must rush as fresh
To swallows on the wing;
My spirit flew in feathers then,
That is so heavy now,
And summer pools could hardly cool
The fever on my brow!

I remember, I remember,
The fir trees dark and high;
I used to think their slender tops
Were close against the sky:
It was a childish ignorance,
But now 'tis little joy
To know I'm farther off from heav'n
Than when I was a boy

Labels: Lost Childhood Magic 2 songs performed by le Forestier (With Vanessa Paradis)