|
$1.75 US
$1.95 CAN
|
|
Jeff Lewis message board
|
View previous topic :: View next topic |
Author |
Message |
ema
Joined: 31 Oct 2005 Posts: 1074 Location: france
|
Posted: Tue May 23, 2006 8:32 pm Post subject: |
|
|
hamlet wrote: | 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. |
hehhe, me too! it's easier to write in english than to speak in english, fact!!!writting something is always easier than telling it in front of someone anyway, imo!!....so usually, i don't say anything.....except when i feel at ease with the peeps, i think i talk a little bit more than if i'm in front of someone i don't know or worse that i really appreciate! butterfly in the stomach and lump in the throat are not a good combination with the foreign languages!
anyway, i guess we need to live in the country for a while to learn how to spell words,recognize accents... discovering different social, historic culture, patterns...blah blah bleugh!!it's quite true tho..... the best way to learn french if you're still a student or just poor like me and can't afford any big trip is "get a french chick or bf, (i dunno if you're a girl or boy) and she/he will learn you the essential!
and yes, Brassens can be hard to understand, i imagine, if you need any help tho, bring the song over here and we'll see what we can do! the board is full of frooonch!
well, the songs been written in the sixties, so you can't blame 'em using slang, we were not that international at that time and this kind of poetrysong was the "hype" of the moment, was fresh, well written ...buuut i see what you mean _________________
|
|
Back to top |
|
|
ema
Joined: 31 Oct 2005 Posts: 1074 Location: france
|
Posted: Tue May 23, 2006 8:52 pm Post subject: |
|
|
Kieron wrote: | ema wrote: | while he's workin' like a walrus!! |
Nice |
hehe....well..i know my classics! _________________
|
|
Back to top |
|
|
ema
Joined: 31 Oct 2005 Posts: 1074 Location: france
|
Posted: Tue May 23, 2006 10:19 pm Post subject: |
|
|
here's one of my fav Barbara songs, a gem for me...cuz of the lyrics... i thought you might like to read it, hamlet ! you may know this song?!
Les insomnies
A voir tant de gens qui dorment et s'endorment à la nuit,
Je finirai, c'est fatal, par pouvoir m'endormir aussi.
A voir tant d'yeux qui se ferment, couchés dans leur lit,
Je finirai par comprendre qu'il faut que je m'endorme aussi.
J'en ai connu des grands, des beaux, des bien bâtis, des gentils
Qui venaient pour me bercer et combattre mes insomnies
Mais au matin, je les retrouvais, endormis dans mon lit
Pendant que je veillais seule, en combattant mes insomnies.
A force de compter les moutons qui sautent dans mon lit,
J'ai un immense troupeau qui se promène dans mes nuits.
Qu'ils aillent brouter ailleurs, par exemple, dans vos prairies.
Labourage et pâturage ne sont pas mes travaux de nuit,
Sans compter les absents qui me reviennent dans mes nuits.
J'ai quelquefois des vivants qui me donnent des insomnies
Et je gravis mon calvaire, sur les escaliers de la nuit.
J'ai déjà connu l'enfer, connaîtrai-je le paradis ?
Le paradis, ce serait, pour moi, de m'endormir la nuit
Mais je rêve que je rêve qu'on a tué mes insomnies
Et que, pâles, en robe blanche, on les a couchées dans un lit
A tant rêver que j'en rêve, les revoilà, mes insomnies.
Je rôde comme les chats, je glisse comme les souris
Et Dieu, lui-même, ne sait pas ce que je peux faire de mes nuits.
Mourir ou s'endormir, ce n'est pas du tout la même chose.
Pourtant, c'est pareillement se coucher les paupières closes.
Une longue nuit, où je les avais tous deux confondus,
Peu s'en fallut, au matin, que je ne me réveille plus.
Mais au ciel de mon lit, y avait les pompiers de Paris.
Au pied de mon lit, les adjudants de la gendarmerie.
Ô Messieurs dites-moi, ce que vous faites là, je vous prie.
Madame, nous sommes là pour veiller sur vos insomnies.
En un cortège chagrin, viennent mes parents, mes amis.
Gravement, au nom du Père, du Fils et puis du Saint-Esprit,
Si après l'heure, c'est plus l'heure, avant, ce ne l'est pas non plus,
Ce n'est pas l'heure en tout cas, mais grand merci d'être venus.
Je les vois déjà rire de leurs fines plaisanteries,
Ceux qui prétendent connaître un remède à mes insomnies.
Un médecin pour mes nuits, j'y avais pensé, moi aussi.
C'est contre lui que je couche mes plus belles insomnies.
A voir tant de gens qui dorment et s'endorment à la nuit,
J'aurais fini, c'est fatal, par pouvoir m'endormir aussi
Mais si s'endormir c'est mourir, ah laissez-moi mes insomnies.
J'aime mieux vivre en enfer que dormir en paradis.
Si s'endormir c'est mourir, ah laissez-moi mes insomnies.
J'aime mieux vivre en enfer que de mourir en paradis... _________________
|
|
Back to top |
|
|
hamlet
Joined: 05 Jan 2006 Posts: 456
|
Posted: Wed May 24, 2006 3:02 am Post subject: |
|
|
à bicyclette is the first song on the CD I'm working on. Is it still being played on the radio or are there any other Montand songs that have survived the ages? Feuille Mortes ? |
|
Back to top |
|
|
ema
Joined: 31 Oct 2005 Posts: 1074 Location: france
|
Posted: Wed May 24, 2006 1:37 pm Post subject: |
|
|
yep! feuilles mortes and la bicyclette are still on the air......not on every stations tho...only on the old nostagia stations. _________________
|
|
Back to top |
|
|
hamlet
Joined: 05 Jan 2006 Posts: 456
|
Posted: Wed May 24, 2006 2:57 pm Post subject: |
|
|
Yes ema-- I know the Barbara song Les Insomnies. I love the last line especially, better to live in hell than die in paradise. Le Bel Age is my favorite of her songs and her performance of Pauvre Martin.. Do you think Jeffrey compares to France's chansonniers which might account for his popularity there? I've heard Adam Green compared to Brel but I couldn't see that at all. |
|
Back to top |
|
|
Will Oldham Site Admin
Joined: 14 Dec 2005 Posts: 1782 Location: Kent, England
|
Posted: Wed May 24, 2006 5:18 pm Post subject: |
|
|
[quote="ema
the best way to learn french if you're still a student or just poor like me and can't afford any big trip is "get a french chick or bf, (i dunno if you're a girl or boy) and she/he will learn you the essential! [/quote]
Is this a dating service you're offering??
sign me up for one french girl ! _________________
www.myspace.com/will_oldham_horror |
|
Back to top |
|
|
ema
Joined: 31 Oct 2005 Posts: 1074 Location: france
|
Posted: Thu May 25, 2006 2:59 pm Post subject: |
|
|
hamlet wrote: | Yes ema-- I know the Barbara song Les Insomnies. I love the last line especially, better to live in hell than die in paradise. Le Bel Age is my favorite of her songs and her performance of Pauvre Martin.. Do you think Jeffrey compares to France's chansonniers which might account for his popularity there? I've heard Adam Green compared to Brel but I couldn't see that at all. |
yes, this woman wrote beautiful lyrics, she was ghostly special, was good friend with Brel and Brassens..........as for the comparaison about jeff and french chansonniers, i dunno really.....i guess we always appreciated good texts....the substance and form are different tho...i can't think about one french singer i could compare to jeff......but yeah, jeff is deffo a chansonnier...but i couldn't say why or if he's popular over there....i just talk to myself and say that i simply like gifted persons.....and i'm prolly not the only one...sometimes artists are more successful in Europe than in their own country.... it's not brand new actually.....it's all about mass population products and errrr argh i don't like that word buuut ...elitism or something like that......you know, our continents are very different in a lot of points of view, meanings, when we talk about art.
and Green/Brel ??? huh??....mmmm...point of view...but i really don't see it _________________
|
|
Back to top |
|
|
ema
Joined: 31 Oct 2005 Posts: 1074 Location: france
|
Posted: Thu May 25, 2006 3:06 pm Post subject: |
|
|
Will Oldham wrote: | [quote="ema
the best way to learn french if you're still a student or just poor like me and can't afford any big trip is "get a french chick or bf, (i dunno if you're a girl or boy) and she/he will learn you the essential! |
Is this a dating service you're offering??
sign me up for one french girl ! [/quote]
why?? are you interested in learning french??since when?
_________________
|
|
Back to top |
|
|
All times are GMT + 1 Hour |
|
You cannot post new topics in this forum You cannot reply to topics in this forum You cannot edit your posts in this forum You cannot delete your posts in this forum You cannot vote in polls in this forum
|
Powered by phpBB © 2001, 2002 phpBB Group
|