The songs of Georges Brassens with English translation

Colombine

Unfortunately I could find no video of Brassens performing this song.


Colombine

Léandre le sot,
Silly Leander,
Pierrot qui d'un saut
Pierrot who with one
De puce
Flea-like jump
Franchit le buisson,
Springs over the bush
Cassandre sous son
Cassander neath his
Capuce,
Deep monk’s cowl,


Arlequin aussi,
Harlequin also,
Cet aigrefin si
That cheating rogue so
Fantasque,
Full of guile
Aux costumes fous,
In crazy costume,
Les yeux luisant sous
His keen eyes glinting
Son masque,
Neath his mask

Do, mi, sol, mi, fa,
Do, mi, so, mi, fa,
Tout ce monde va,
All these go along
Rit, chante
Laugh and sing
Et danse devant
They dance in front of
Une frêle enfant

A skinny girl who
Méchante
Means trouble
Dont les yeux pervers
Whose eyes of menace
Comme les yeux verts
Like the bright green eyes
Des chattes
Of felines
Gardent ses appas (2)
Guard her body’s charms
Et disent :
As they say
"A bas les pattes ! "
Wand’ring hands, keep off!

A verse with no words is played next and then Brassens sings the following as his last verse:

L'implacable enfant,
The child, hard to please
Preste et relevant
Spry and with her skirts
Ses jupes,
Lifted high
La rose au chapeau,
The rose in her hat
Conduit son troupeau
Leads on her flock of
De dupes !
Those she fools!

From the poem of Paul Verlaine
Song by Georges Brassens -1955 - Chanson pour l'auvergnat


NOTES
1)The Commedia dell'arte - The poem gives a glimpse of the “Commedia dell'arte”, the Italian theatre which was popular to French audiences during three centuries. Molière knew it well and its influence is seen in his comedies. Two hundred years later, Balzac, in “Le Père Goriot” shows the members of Parisian high society making a weekly visit to the Italian theatre.
The noble and distinguished people who attended this theatre were enjoying boisterous knockabout comedy, which could be very racy. There was comic portrayal of sex and the plot was often based on sexual infidelity and promiscuity. Situations which enacted shipwrecks and fires allowed the actresses to cast off their clothes.
The admirable skill of these players was to go onstage to perform an unwritten drama which, to a great extent, they improvised on the spot.
The theatre had stock characters and we meet some of them in this poem.
• The young lovers- often naïve. In this poem Leander is the young hero, foolishly besotted (with Colombine).
• The easily deceived old man. In this poem it is Cassander, who is wearing a hood to hide his lustful pursuit of the young girl temptress, Colombine.
• The cheeky young serving girl was very often called Colombine as here. She was usually completely amoral and although she had a lover, she shared her favours as she liked.
• The rascally servants. There were usually several of these. They were usually lazy scoundrels and sometimes cruel and cunning. Although they deceived others, they were often so stupid that they were themselves open to deception. Verlaine gives us here the two most well-known:
a. Pierrot was the white faced clown – hence the acrobatics.
b. Harlequin was one of the characters who traditionally wore a mask. He was deeply in love with Colombine, who caused him great jealousy.
(2) Gardent ses appas – « Les appas » mean charms or charming features. A plural noun with the same sound would be « Les appâts » - the bait used to catch your prey. Both could apply to the armoury of the predatory female.

Labels: Verlaine's poem