Translation of Et Mon Pere from French to English
And my father
1. When you danced, back then
No need for a wah-wah pedal
It wasn't the bossa nova
But it was already moving well
The caves were deep
And the round
Did not stop
An old rickety piano
And the crazies
Were already spinning
But Juliette still had her nose
Aragon was not a kitten
Sartre was already well engaged
At the Café de Flore, there were already crazies
And my father had just arrived
He was already haunting the shopkeepers
In his room, we were crunching coffee
He didn't know that one day I would talk about it
2. When you flirted, back then
You touched each other with your fingertips
The pill did not exist
You shouldn't play these games
You said to each other "I love you"
Sometimes even
You made love
Today two salads
Three tirades
And it's the affair that runs
Uncle Adolph had already shot himself
His Eva had accompanied him
In case he wanted to flirt
Who knows if, up there, there are no crazies
And my father was about to plant
This seed that would give him
This idiot who tries to sing
He didn't know that my younger siblings would come
3. When you sang, back then,
Money did not rule.
The hit parades did not exist,
At least, they were not of weight.
You would spend weeks
And weeks,
Sometimes years.
If you didn't have guts,
Your shop, them,
Could close it
And Trenet had taken years,
Brassens was starting to pack
And Bécaud was polishing his keyboard.
Mr. Brel was not yet talking about the crazies
And my father had just arrived
Where some humanity remained,
Where people still knew how to talk
About the future... even if they are tired.
And Juliette still had her nose,
Aragon was not a kitten.
Sartre was already well engaged.
At the Café de Flore, there were already crazies
And my father had just arrived
Where some humanity remained,
Where people still knew how to talk
About the future... even if they are tired.