Monday, February 8, 2010

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