Serge Gainsbourg was undoubtedly the most original and ingenious musical creator that France knew during the 20th century. The lyrics of his songs are no less important than their unforgettable melodies, but, as far as I know, his most famous songs, including Je t'aime… Moi non plus, have not been translated, which is a shame. Fortunately for us, Michal Barkai picked up the gauntlet and the charming result is what you are about to read now. Permission to speak to Michal…
Je t'aime... Moi non plus/ Serge Gainsbourg
When they were in love, Brigitte Bardot asked Serge to write her the most beautiful love song he could. In one night, Serge wrote “Je t'aime… Moi non plus,” a duet that depicts two lovers making love, and in the process, love runs out. For Serge, it is the greatest love song, perhaps because it captures love at its most sincere moment, when absolute union reveals separation. Male and female, spirit and body, love and non-love; two who can never be one, but forever nourish each other. And love, like a cold mother, contains the opposites but never overwhelms, and the two go back and forth in vain:
I love you I love you Oh yes, I love you Je t'aime, Je t'aime, oh oui Je t'aime
-Me neither Moi non plus
-Oh my love, oh my love
– Like the wave, doubtful comme la vague, irrésolu
I come and go.
Between your thighs, inside you, entre tes reins
And I hold back. et Je me retiens
-I love you I love you Oh yes, I love you Je t'aime, Je t'aime, oh oui Je t'aime
-Me neither Moi non plus
-Oh my love, you are the wave, I am the bare island.
You come and go above me. You come, you go and you come.
In my lap, between my thighs entre mes reins
And I join in the rhythm of the body. et Je te rejoins
I love you I love you, oh yes I love you Je t'aime, Je t'aime, oh oui Je t'aime
-Me neither Moi non plus
-Oh my love, oh my love
-Physical love does not give birth to a bastard.
I come and go.
Between your thighs, inside you entre tes reins
I come and go.
Between your thighs, inside you entre tes reins
-No, now it's over! non, maintenant viens !
*The song became world famous in its later version with Jane Birkin
La Décadance/ Serge Gainsbourg
https://youtu.be/NJxj8hNamb0
One of the most erotic duets that Serge wrote is La Décadanse, which plays with the words decadence and dance (danse). The combination of the words turns the table upside down and changes everything. Even the dance is reversed and people dance back to back, and the process of decay is described as a slow, pleasant, and erotic act. And it is no wonder that eroticism is at its peak back to back, when you don't look face to face, when the beloved disappears, then kisses and longings and sighs, ecstasy, arise. And when the disappeared beloved is God, all the more so.
-Turn around Tourne-toi
-No. non
-With your back to me
-No. Not like that. non. pas comme ça
-And dance the dance of decadence. et danse La décadanse
So slowly, move your hips.
Close to my thighs behind you. lentement devant les miens
-Stay there, move behind me reste là, derrière moi, balance, la décadanse
When your hands caress my breasts
And my heart, which is yours.
-My eternal love, learn to hold back, my eternal love, the decadence
My fingers will lift you beyond, far away. sous mes doigts t'emmènera vers de lointains au delà
-Turbulent waters suddenly appear out of nowhere, disturbing my senses, the decadence
My senses are clouded, do you still love me? You lost me, ah you kill me, my love, do you still love me?
-I already loved you, despite the nuance, the decadence
Our common bond is more than our death
Bind our souls and bodies from now on. lie nos âmes et nos corps
-God, forgive us our offenses, the decadence
Decadence cradled our exhausted bodies.
and our wandering souls. et nos âmes égarées
Lulu/ Serge Gainsbourg. Par: Bamboo
https://youtu.be/dYg3rmzKA9o
“Even if not now, you will still return the love you owe him.”
Five years before his death, Serge had a son with his half-Chinese partner, Bamboo. He gave the child his name - Lucien (Serge's real name was Lucien), thus "obliging" the child to be his successor; that, as if by destiny, the child would grow up to be devoted to him and enslaved to him. But Serge put the paternal command into Bamboo's mouth, perhaps writing her a lament for her son.
Child of love Enfant de l'amour
Gainsbourg is distinct portrait de Gainsbourg
270 days ago exactly two hundred and seventy days ago
In your velvet eyes Lulu, J'ai lu
I read with love. in your big velvet eyes, so much love.
In his thin limbs Entends sous ses doigts
The Yamaha vibrates the strings
Of a favorite American musician, it's Cole Porter.
Or actually his father's. ou du papa
You came out half Chinese, like your mother.
But your soul is in slavery to your father. mais tu as l'âme slave de papa
Even if not now, give it to your dad.
You will still return to him the love you owe him.
You can count it on your ten fingers.
Manon/ Serge Gainsbourg
Manon, you probably don't think so.
How disgusting I am at this point.
All that you are, ce que tu es
otherwise, sinon, Manon
I would have lost you a long time ago, Manon.
You – the treacherous, perverse Manon, perfide Manon
I should have loved you with another man. il me faut t'aimer avec un autre
It's clear and obvious. I know it, Manon.
Cruel Manon, cruelle Manon
You wouldn't think so, Manon, you would never know.
How disgusting I am at this point
Everything you are, at heart. ce que tu es au fond
I must have lost my mind.
With much love. .Je t'aime, Manon
*The original was written for a woman, I translated for a man
Des Laids Des Laids/ Sege Gainsbourg
"When people tell me I'm ugly, I laugh quietly so as not to wake you up."
Serge had a bull terrier (Nana) that everyone said was ugly. They also said he was ugly, that he had a Jewish nose and big ears, and for half his life he walked around feeling inferior. This ugliness somehow connected him and Nana, he drank and she got sick. But he was wise enough to say that “the hidden beauty of the ugly is revealed without question” and wrote a reggae song for her. In my case, too, beauty will eventually be revealed without question. La beauté cachée des laids des laids, se voit'sans délai delai'
"When they tell me I'm ugly, I laugh quietly so as not to wake you up."
You are my little Merlin, I am your Miller.
Huh? Not Arthur, but Henry, the hardcore expert.
-The hidden beauty of the ugly is revealed without question-
Any music, even reggae, for my dog
Everyone claims she's a face.
A dangerous woman, it's me who drinks, it's she who breathed her last
From liver poisoning, maybe my poison is seeping through my organs.
She drinks my words so much.
-The hidden beauty of the ugly is revealed without question-
In the end, you have to work with what you have:
This is dirty, nothing to be ashamed of.
What's more, they're scared of us,
I am sure that God is on high.
May he grant us a little of his mercy.
-The hidden beauty of the ugly is revealed without question-
Quand on m'dit que j'suis moche
J'me marre doucement pour n'pas te réveiller
You are my little Marylin.
And I am your Miller.
Huh? Non pas Arthur rather Henry
The hardcore specialist
The hidden beauty
From ugly to ugly
Sees without
Delay delay
Même musique même reggae pour mon chien
Que tout l'monde found si villain
Pauv' toutou c'est moi qui boit
Et c'est lui qu'est mort d'une cirrhosis
Peut-être était-ce par osmose
Tellement qu'il buvait mes paroles
Enfin faut faire avec c'qu'on a
La sale gueule mais on n'y peut rien
Besides, we are the terrible ones
J'suis sûr que Dieu nous accorde
A little of his mercy
Car
Ballade de Johnny Jane/ Serge Gainsbourg. Par : Jane Birkin
https://youtu.be/0MQ79-1M8lc
The Ballad of Johnny Jane was written by Serge for a film he directed starring Jane. The song describes an androgynous character, as its name suggests, who wanders somewhere in nowhere, among garbage and trash. The title of the song contains a double meaning (balade in French also means a trip) that emphasizes the dreamy wandering that weaves through the wasteland and the mud, which seems to be treading in place. But it is precisely from the march in the garbage, thanks to the endless wandering down there, that the mud will ultimately carry and lift her to another place. For if we do not walk in the sewers in which we stand, we will never fly.
Hey Johnny Jane, do you remember Gainsbourg’s film “I Love You… Me Too”? That’s a nice idea…
Hey Johnny Jane, Te souviens-tu du film de Gainsbourg Je
Je t'aime moi non plus? un joli theme
Hey Johnny Jane, you dragging your shoes and your eyes wide open
To low places on debauched roads
Hey Johnny Jane, Toi qui traînes tes baskets et tes yeux candides Dans les no man's land et les lieux sordides
Public landfills are miraculous places
With flies and beetles hovering above them
Hey Johnny Jane, Les déchargements publiques sont des atlantides
Que survolent les mouches cantharides
Hey Johnny Gain, this is where the garbage trucks are unloading.
The painful murderers of children and babies.
Hey Johnny Jane Tous les camions à benne
Viennent y déverser bien des peines infanticides
Your hair is short, your skin is pale, you are dreamy.
Looking for your suicidal love
Hey Johnny Jane, Tu balades tes cheveux courts ton teint livide
À la recherche de ton amour suicide
You would like to cut your throat for memories.
And kick empty cans down the sidewalk
Hey Johnny Jane, Du souvenir veux-tu trancher la carotide
À coups de pieds dans les conserves vides
Hey Johnny Jane, it's a garbage truck that will eventually bring
Your beautiful hour, in a spring climate
Oh Johnny Jane, Un autre camion à benne
Te transportera de bonheur en bonheur sous les cieux limpides
Don't act stupid like a child.
See things as they are, be sharp.
Hey Johnny Jane, Ne fais pas l'enfant ne sois pas si stupide
Regarde les choses en face sois lucid
Start over, erase what the days have brought.
Empty yourself of memories that still burn inside you sometimes.
Hey Johnny Jane, Efface tout ça, recommence, liquide
De ta mémoire ces brefs instants torrides
Hey Johnny Jane, another truck will come to pick up.
Lift you to another continent, from coast to coast
Hey Johnny Jane, Un autre camion à benne
Viendra te prendre pour t'emmener vers d'autres Florides
Wipe your wet cheek with your hand, the jumper.
Time eats away at love like acid.
Hey Johnny Jane, Écrase d'un poing rageur ton oeil humide Le temps ronge l'amour comme l'acide.
Want to read more about Serge Gainsbourg?
- what do you think Embark on a musical journey following Serge Gainsbourg and his poems?
- Want to read more about Serge Gainsbourg and Brigitte Bardot? You are welcome to read the article The ugly and beautiful Jew of the imperial age.