Verse one:
English french
* formerly the clercs naguere les concierges
Were in vogue etaient en vogue
From now on theyand've desormais on les a
Been replaced by (...) remplaces par des (...)
In my town there were dans ma ville il nand'y
No parking meters avait pas de parcmetre
I used to see je voyais des ouvriers
Workers eating manger des sandwichs a
Omelet sandwiches land'omelette
(is omelet = to beatten eggs ?)
The past comes back to my mind le passe me revient
Like a cup-and-ball game comme un bilboquet
The presence of an omnipresent la presence dand'un passe
Past hasnand't gone omnipresent nand'est pas passee
The halles, supplanted les halles, supplantees
By the (coste ?) par le (coste ?)
The allegory of the and'madeleinesand' land'allegorie des
* (of proust / which makes him remember scenes of the past)
Swifts away at the madeleines file a la
Speed of prost vitesse de prost
* (alainprost, formula 1 racing car world champion)
The air was pure there, land'air y etait pur,
Paris more beautiful paris plus beau
Now, the subway fare rises desormais le ticket de
Like the metro augmente comme le
Number of cars nombre dand'autos.
Oh shit, thereand's no more oh shit, a la tele
Speakerine on tv y a plus de speakrine
There are b-series movies y a des films de serie
That i estimate b que jand'estime a
At four cents quatre centimes
(...) gives me two, (...) me file deux,
Three little coins trois piecette
That i peep, and my intellect que je mate, et mon intellect
Find that they are obsolete constate quand'ils sont obsoletes
Verse two:
Obsolete, but with much style, obsolete, mais stylee,
The sentence that follows la phrase qui suivra
The man who picks up the land'homme qui capte le
(guy) and whose (mec) et dont le nom
Name has a double a possede un double a
The fence (...) crossbow la barriere (...) arbalete
Which (...) qui (...)
Which is (the approach) qui est (land'abord)
For decades depuis des decennies
It runs off with on my soul une main basse sur mon ame
So that he slows down pour quand'il avance au ralenti
But the great manitou, mais le grand manitou,
Handles everything, (...) manie tout, (...)
Of the masks, des masques la musique
The music has cloaked the place, a masque la place,
One mortgages then on hypotheque puis
* writes down in italics inscrit en italiques
* on his agenda sur son agenda
* the top list of the (stuffs) le top des (trucs ?)
He doesnand't like quand'il nand'aime pas
In brief, to be bref, pour etre clair
Clear-cut et net
* the belly-tail (????) le ventre-queue
* is accompanied by sand'accompagne
* an ear plug (used by tv hosts to get info) de land'oreillette
Exactly like, to my ears, tout comme a mes
and'my flyand' [of trousers] oreilles, and'ma braguetteand'
Teams up and rhymes sand'acoquine et rime
With and'obsoleteand' avec and'obsoleteand'
Verse three:
Obsolete is also obsolete est aussi
The teaser who land'allumeuse qui
Wore a hair-net and portait des bas resilles
* bas =pantyhose
Stenched patshleaf et empestait le patchouli
For done services pour des services
She says to me rendus elle me dit
and'and'i pay you in kindand'and' and'and'je te paye en natureand'and'
And i stay stoic et je reste stoique
When she holds out jams quand elle me tend
To me des confitures
This is forgotten when ceci est oublie quand
On the month of december au mois de decembre
She telephones and says elle me telephone et me
and'and'come pick me upand'and' dit and'and'passe me prendreand'and'
In brief, i abuse of her bref, jand'en abuse
With a delectable feeling avec delectation
(...) like some mead, (...) comme de land'hydromel,
I am in affection je suis en affection
* then i slide, intrude puis me glisse, mand'immisce
Between the smooth thighs entre les cuisses
Of the miss lisses de la miss
Her eyes wrinkle, ses yeux se plissent, et
And she says and'and'stop your viceand'and' elle dit and'and'stop ton viceand'and'
I am like a ball, je suis comme une balle,
She plays the role of elle joue le role
* the racket dand'une raquette
The luller [!], teaser, land'endormeuse, allumeuse,
Fancies herself for a starlette se prend pour une starlette
Message which, in the and'cinemathequesand' desuettes, sont classees
Fallen in disuse, are classified in dans les series b,
B-series, at the department and'obsoleteand' au rayon and'obsoleteand'
