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[hamlet]

Can someone in France tell me what this song is about? I have a French translation project and can't understand it at all though I'm pretty good in French. Just summary, I don't need a full translation.
Merci d'avance

Yves Montand
Idylle Philomènale

Paroles et Musique: René Rivedoux

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Yves Montand - Sensationnel 1949-1953, Vol. 2...
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Quand j'ai croisé la martine,
C'était par un beau matin
J'allais ach'ter des bottines
Et lui trouvais très beau teint.
Nous partîmes en limousine,
Visiter le Limousin
Après comme on le devine
Ma p'tite femme elle devint.

Ma concierge qui est amène
Tous les matins m'serr' la main
Mêm' qu'au moment des étrennes
Dans ses bras elle m'étreint
Cela m'attire des scènes
Que je suppose à dessein
Pour ne pas qu'ma Philomène
Un beau jour ne m'file aux mains.

Son manteau de ballerine
Gentiment lui bat les reins,
Sa robe de percaline
Lui vient de son père câlin.
Pendant que je me surmène
Dans un travail surhumain
Elle arpente l'av'nue du Maine
En t'nant son fichu d'une main.

Comm' j'ai un chien et une chienne
Qui me vienn'nt d'un autrichien
Ma p'tit femm' qui est vosgienne
Me dit : "Pour él'ver vos chiens
Vous aurez beaucoup de peine
Car au pays transalpin
J'ai connu un' helvétienne
Qu'a jamais pu él'ver l'sien "
Et voilà!

[15839] http://www.paroles.net - Texte soumis aux Droits d'Auteur - Réservé à un usage privé ou éducatif.

[Dav]

héhé i'll let Ema translate it for you cos she's better than me
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[Dav]

I easiky can understand why you have problem with it, it's mostly old french slang, Ema will translate the whole thing for you.
The first verse is about a guy metting a woman in the street and marry her.
The second is about the guy's concierge who is over friendly.
The third one is about the same girl who is walking down the street in a nice coat her father baught her.
The last one is about a girl giving tips to the guy about the way to raise his dog.

This are the basic lines, the full translation will be done tomorrow by Ema, the person who gives you this text to study is pityless !
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[hamlet]

Thanks for the reply. It still makes less sense than Bob Dylan on speed.

[Dav]

Most of old french songs are more about playing with the words than really making sense, it's mostly about how it sounds here, i got to admit that those lyrics are pretty bad, but there's work about the sounding
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[hamlet]

So I'll get by with "it's an old song with a lot of wordplay."
Thanks again.

[Dav]

yep, that's the spirit
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[Will Oldham]

It sounds like that song tells the most bizarre tale!
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[ema]

woaw!!! that's not that easy to translate, you know, i mean literally, it uses old french slang, it's "argot" in french and poetry at the same time to make it rhymed, btw the lines reminds me Boris Vian in a way, you should check about him if you have time......... oh and plus the grammar conjugation is mostly in "imparfait du subjonctif" and simple past i think and it's not that common nowadays, but i'll try to translate it, let's say that you'll get the context of the song!but you still have got shitloads of work to do after that !
when did you learn to speak french?
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[hamlet]

Thanks ema. I learned to read and write French better than I learned to speak it because I learned in school. I have been to France for a few weeks but never really used the language to get by in life. I am interested in French chanson, mainly from the '60's ( e.g. Brel, Brassens, Barbara) and have done many translations. I'm working on an Yves Montand CD now where that song about Philomenale appears and I felt like a hit a wall,. Sometimes I can't understand Brassens either, because of the argot. Now that we are so international a songwriter should be careful to talk to all of us.

[ema]

[ema]

[hamlet]

That's great ema. Thanks a lot! Still the song doesn't hang together. Like, what does one verse have to do with the others? How does this generation in France today feel about Yves Montand?

[ema]

well, the first verse is about the meeting, he thinks she's pretty, then they decide to travel a bit in Limousine s'il vous plaît, hehe...then he marry her!

the second verse is about hmm married men with other women i guess, heh !
he thinks that the janitor is pretty, and she kinda likes him too.... in fact,nothing serious....but the wife is not ok with that and uses it to have a "fake" argument with her husband... ..... already knowing the fact that he will loose the fight if he doesn't wanna loose her!

the third verse is about Philomène wearing hmmm expensive and lovely dress, coat, scarf.. *cough* spoiled lass! "thank you daddy!"....walkin' down the Maine venue, doin' shopping i guess, while he's workin' like a walrus!!

the last lines talk about raisin' dogs, Philomène explains to him that it's gonna be hard to get his dogs bred hmmm...and maybe it works for her too... that he won't make her toe the line! who knows...


well, i think he was a good actor, he played with a bunch of great ones, as for the songs, honestly, i know "à bicyclette" and other few classics, but that's all ! but if you need any information about him, let me know, i can make some research!
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[Kieron]