Je l'aime a mourir

I've been working on a personal history lately (a Sunday project) and have been looking through some of my old journal entries, files and emails.

I came across one of my favorite songs and some of the things I wrote about it a while back. It's always meant a lot to me, but I spent about a full month last year listening to it on my daily drive down to Provo, trying to figure out what every word meant. I'm like a kid in some ways. I can listen to the same thing over and over again without getting sick of it. The meaning is rich. I like the kind of art you can really sink your teeth into and keep getting meat. This is one of those songs.

I looked all over the internet for anything the artist had written about its meaning, but I didn't find anything. I was glad I didn't. Have you ever thought about how deep some song, book or poem was only to later hear the artist give some lame account of what was really going on? My analysis is usually so much better.

Anyway, here is the song. It is by the French artist Francis Cabrel and is called "Je l'aime a mourir." I threw in a translation I knocked off a while ago for any anglophones willing to dive into the depths of Cabrel's soul. My translation isn't as beautiful as the original. I tried to stay as close to the actual words and meaning as possible, with the exception of the title, which literally means "I love her to death."

I know what I think the song is about. What do you think?

By the way, I love listening to the crowd sing along at the beginning.

Je l’aime a mourir

By Francis Cabrel

Me, I was nothing

But here I am today

I am the guardian of the sleep of her nights

Oh, how I love her

You can destroy anything you please

But she only needs to open the space of her arms

To rebuild everything

To rebuild everything

Oh, how I love her

She erased the numbers off the clocks of my world

She made of my life paper animals and outbursts of laughter

She built bridges between us and heaven

And we make their passage each time

She doesn’t want to sleep

She doesn’t want to sleep

Oh, how I love her

She had to go through all the wars

To be so strong today

She had to go through all the wars of life

And love too

She gives her best to live her opaline dream

She dances through the forests she draws

Oh, how I love her

She carries ribbons and then lets them go

And sings to me often how I’m wrong

To hold them back

To hold them back

Oh, how I love her

To enter her cave, hidden under the roof

I nail some notes to my old wooden shoes

Oh, how I love her

I just sit myself down

I must not speak

I must not want anything

But to try to belong to her

Belong to her

Oh, how I love her

She went through all the wars

To be so strong today

She went through all the wars of life

And love too

Me, I was nothing

But, here I am today

I am the guardian of the sleep of her nights

Oh, how I love her

You can destroy anything you please

She will only have to open the space of her arms

To rebuild everything

To rebuild everything

Oh, how I love her

Translated into English from French

*****

For the lovers of the French language:

Je l'aime a mourir

Moi je n'étais rien


Et voilà qu'aujourd'hui


Je suis le gardien du sommeil de ses nuits


Je l'aime à mourir


Vous pouvez détruire tout ce qu'il vous plaira


Elle n'a qu'à ouvrir l'espace de ses bras


Pour tout reconstruire


Pour tout reconstruire


Je l'aime à mourir



Elle a gommé les chiffres des horloges du quartier


Elle a fait de ma vie des cocottes en papier


Des éclats de rire


Elle a bâti des ponts entre nous et le ciel


Et nous les traversons à chaque fois qu'elle


Ne veut pas dormir


Ne veut pas dormir


Je l'aime à mourir



Elle a dû faire toutes les guerres


Pour être si forte aujourd'hui


Elle a dû faire toutes les guerres


De la vie,

et l'amour aussi


Elle vit de son mieux son rêve d'opaline


Elle danse au milieu des forêts qu'elle dessine


Je l'aime à mourir



Elle porte des rubans qu'elle laisse s'envoler


Elle me chante souvent que j'ai tort d'essayer


De les retenir


De les retenir


Je l'aime à mourir


Pour monter dans sa grotte cachée sous les toits


Je dois clouer des notes à mes sabots de bois


Je l'aime à mourir



Je dois juste m'asseoir


Je ne dois pas parler


Je ne dois rien vouloir


Je dois juste essayer


De lui appartenir


De lui appartenir


Je l'aime à mourir



Elle a dû faire toutes les guerres


Pour être si forte aujourd'hui


Elle a dû faire toutes les guerres


De la vie,

et l'amour aussi



Moi je n'étais rien


Et voilà qu'aujourd'hui


Je suis le gardien du sommeil de ses nuits


Je l'aime à mourir


Vous pouvez détruire tout ce qu'il vous plaira


Elle n'aura qu'à ouvrir l'espace de ses bras


Pour tout reconstruire


Pour tout reconstruire


Je l'aime à mourir