La Ruda – Eddie voit rouge

September 3, 2009 at 8:09 pm

Print This Post

Stand up, ladies and gentlemen I’m sure you’ll love his new song This man is a wonderful composer Combined to a talented singer He sang for you Water Mint Colour For me it’s a really great honour Stand up ‘cos he is with us tonight Please welcome Mr Eddy Mitchell…

That’s the opening to this song by La Ruda, the rest of which is indeed in French. I guess we know that the above verse was not penned by a native English speaker due to the oddness of the phrase “combined to a talented singer”. Even the slightly more correct “combined with” sounds a bit strange, but it’s interesting to note how little phrases of our native language get embedded within our brains to the point where only a poet or a non-native speaker would consider deviating in such a way from the expected phrase “a wonderful composer as well as a talented singer”.

Eddy Mitchell was a French actor and singer, originally called Claude Moine who took his new name, according to Wikipedia, due to his admiration for American-born French actor Eddie Constantine. The song includes several references to songs by the singer which include songs such as Johnny B Goode which he covered with French lyrics (which, out of interest started Mon ami Chuck Berry chante depuis toujours, de drôles d’aventures dans des histoires d’amour) as he did with other famous Rock ‘n’ Roll tracks such as “Riding along in my automobile” (which became À credit et en stéreeo).

The first “verse” of this song is in English and references one of Eddy’s famous songs “couleur menthe a l’eau” which is translated by La Ruda as Water Mint Colour, a title which never existed as far as I can tell. This song is also referenced in the main body of the song.

The song is about a guy who is forever reminded that he has the same first name as Eddy Mitchell, a name not so common in France! This would be the equivalent of being called Elvis I guess.

Les Chaussettes Noires mentioned in the song was the name of Eddy Mitchell’s first group. I’ve highlighted very few items of vocabulary below, I’m not sure if this is because I am being lazy or because the song is a lot more straightforward than most.

Verbs

Remuer	To stir
Attention maintenant Eddie voit rouge, quand on lui parle d'Eddy Mitchell, ça remue sa mémoire
Look out now Eddie sees red, when asked about Eddy Mitchell, it stirs his memory

Vocabulary

Les bancs de l'école	School in general
Difficult to translate this perfectly - "to be on the school benches" is used in situations such as "Il était sur les bancs de l'école de théologie". School desks, perhaps?
Si on ne supporte plus le rock'n'roll et qu'on vous chante le boogie woogie depuis les bancs de l'école
If you can't stand rock'n'roll and you've had people sing boogie woogie at you ever since you were at school

Expressions

Voir rouge	To see red
Attention maintenant Eddie voit rouge, quand on lui parle d'Eddy Mitchell, ça remue sa mémoire
Look out now Eddie sees red, when asked about Eddy Mitchell, it stirs his memory

Certes	Of course
Eddie sois bon ce n'est rien, certes, curieux est le destin
Eddie be good, it's nothing, of course, fate is strange

Le rêve américain	The American Dream
à la fois	At the same time
Tu portes à la fois un joli prénom et le rêve américain
You have both a great name and The American Dream

Eddie Voit Rouge - La Ruda

Eddie Sees Red (translation of Eddie Voit Rouge by La Ruda)

Stand up, ladies and gentlemen I'm sure you'll love his new song This man is a wonderful composer, combined to a talented singer He sang for you Water Mint Colour For me it's a really great honour Stand up 'cos he is with us tonight Please welcome mister Eddy Mitchell La vie n'est pas, la vie n'est pas drôle Quand on a pour prénom Eddie Si on ne supporte plus le rock'n'roll et qu'on vous chante le boogie woogie Depuis les bancs de l'école Eddie sois bon Eddie sois bon, par tous les saints Il en a bouffé de cette chanson, la connaissez-vous, non ? Eddie sois bon, et ta soeur ? Il connait ça par coeur Dans son sommeil ça revient… Eddie réveille-toi ; tu dors depuis des heures Attention maintenant Eddie voit rouge, Quand on lui parle d'Eddy Mitchell, ça remue sa mémoire Attention maintenant Eddie voit rouge, Parlez-lui des chaussettes noires, il y a toujours un coin qui lui rappelle... La vie n'est pas, la vie n'est pas drôle, quand on a pour prénom Eddie Si on vous a chanté depuis l'enfance qu'elle a des "yeux menthe à l'eau" ou "la dernière séance". Oh Eddie Allons, Eddie quand on y pense bien Tu portes à la fois un joli prénom et le rêve américain Eddie sois bon ce n'est rien, certes, curieux est le destin Je sais tes parents étaient fans d'Eddie Cochran, d'Eddie Cochran Attention maintenant Eddie voit rouge, Quand on lui parle d'Eddy Mitchell, ça remue sa mémoire Attention maintenant Eddie voit rouge, Parlez-lui des chaussettes noires, il y a toujours un coin qui lui rappelle... Attention maintenant Eddie voit rouge, Quand on lui parle d'Eddy Mitchell, ça remue sa mémoire Attention maintenant Eddie voit rouge, Parlez-lui des chaussettes noires, il y a toujours un coin qui lui ra... Attention maintenant Eddie voit rouge, Quand on lui parle d'Eddy Mitchell, ça remue sa mémoire Attention maintenant Eddie voit rouge, Comme est curieux le hasard, lui il aurait voulu s'appeler Johnny. Eddie Yeahh !

Stand up, ladies and gentlemen I'm sure you'll love his new song This man is a wonderful composer, combined to a talented singer He sang for you Water Mint Colour For me it's a really great honour Stand up 'cos he is with us tonight Please welcome Mr Eddy Mitchell Life is not, life is not funny When your first name is Eddie If you can't stand rock'n'roll and you've had people sing boogie woogie at you Ever since you were at your school desk. Eddie be good, Eddie be good, for heaven's sake He's had enough of that damn song, you know it, right? Eddie be good, and your sister? He knows it off by heart In his sleep it comes back ... Eddie wake up, you've been asleep for hours Look out now, Eddie sees red When asked about Eddy Mitchell, it stirs his memory Look out now, Eddie sees red Talk about the "chaussettes noires", there is always something to remind him... Life is not, life is not funny when your first name is Eddie If you've been sung at since childhood that she has "water mint eyes" or "the last meeting". Oh come on Eddie, Eddie when you think about it You have both a great name and The American Dream Eddie be good, it's nothing, of course, fate is strange I know your parents were fans of Eddie Cochran, of Eddie Cochran Look out now Eddie sees red When asked about Eddy Mitchell, it stirs his memory Look out now Eddie sees red Talk about the "chaussettes noires", there is always something to remind him... Look out now, Eddie sees red When asked about Eddy Mitchell, it stirs his memory Look out now, Eddie sees red Talk about the "chaussettes noires", there is always something to rem... Look out now, Eddie sees red When asked about Eddy Mitchell, it stirs his memory Look out now, Eddie sees red The strange thing, as it happens, is that he would have liked to have been called Johnny! Eddie Yeahh!