Translation of Mon Pére Etait Tellement De Gauche by Les Fatals Picards

October 28, 2009 at 4:49 pm

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“So what is the award for?”

“For saving the council money. I happened to mention one day that I’d had the same broom for the last twenty years. They were very impressed and gave me a medal. Twenty years… that’s a long time, Dave.”

“Yeah, well it’s two decades.”

“Well, I wouldn’t go that far, but it’s a long time.”

“Hang on a minute Trig… if you’ve had that broom for twenty years, have you actually swept any roads with it?”

“Of course! But I look after it well. I’ve maintained it for twenty years. This old broom has had seventeen new heads and fourteen new handles in its time!”

Following the departure of Ivan Callot in 2007, Le Sens De La Gravité is the first studio album from Les Fatals Picards on which none of the original members of the band are present. Voilà pourqoui I can justify referencing that sketch from Only Fools and Horses (BBC TV).

Le Sens De La Gravité was released earlier this year. It’s not one of my favourites but it contains some fine tracks. It’s more serious than Les Fatals Picards’ previous studio album Pamplemousse Mécanique but still retains a fair dose of their humour which bears more than a passing similarity to that of Les Trois Accords.

Mon père était tellement de gauche, on a eu tout pleins d’accident, il refusait la priorité à droite systématiquement.

My father was so left-wing we had loads of accidents, he systematically refused to give way to the right.

Two of the better tracks on the album are re-recordings of songs from Pamplemousse Mécanique. The first, Seul Et Célibataire 2 is a reasonably heavy rock track which I intend to translate at some point, but for this post I have decided to go with the second Mon Pére Etait Tellement De Gauche, a light, very pleasant acoustic version of the previous recording. You can hear the versions from both albums using the MP3 widget above or by clicking the iTunes button to launch iTunes on your computer.

As you’ll see in a few paragraphs’ time, the translation has afforded me the delightful opportunity to pick up my fair share of left-wing general knowledge and vocabulary.

What would perhaps have been the best song on Le Sens De La Gravité is called Le jour de la mort de Johnny – a song about the death of Johnny Hallyday. Regrettably, Warner, with whom both Les Fatals Picards and Johnny Hallyday himself are signed, asked for the song not to be included on the album, apparently after Johnny Hallyday objected. I’m not sure how long it will remain on YouTube but this is the video of the song that was used to publicise the album.

You may have seen Les Fatals Picards representing France in the 2007 Eurovision Song Contest. I didn’t know this until today but then again I couldn’t name any of the acts that have represented the UK over the last twenty years either.

Things I now know

It took me a while to decipher the reference to “Chez Casto” – I believed for a moment it may have been “Chez Castro”, but no, it refers to these guys from whom you can indeed buy breeze blocks.

Mon père était tellement de gauche que quand est tombé le mur de Berlin Il est parti chez casto pour acheter des parpaings.

My father was so left-wing that when The Berlin Wall fell he went off to Casto to buy some breeze blocks.

Kolkoses, or kolkhozes, were collective farms in the old USSR. L’Internationale is a revolutionary poem written in 1871 and given here in eight languages. Silicosis is a nasty lung condition and Andrei Tupolev was honoured three times as a Hero of Socialist Labour by The Russian Academy of Sciences.

The election of François Mitterrand in 1981 brought in the first Socialist president of the Fifth Republic and the Socialist Party remained in power until being ousted in 2002.

Things I still don’t know

I still don’t know anything about Andrei Tupolev’s teeth, Brezhnev’s glasses, or why women would wear false eyelashes at a socialist church wedding.

UPDATE: Thank you Ariane for leaving the comment explaining that faux cils “false eyelashes” sounds like faucille “sickle”, and of course la faucille et le marteau “the hammer and sickle” is a communist symbol.

Verbs

Désherber	To weed
On achetait du coca Kolkose, approuvé par le comité, ça devait soigner la silicose, on s’en servait pour désherber
We bought Kolkose cola approved by The Committee, it must have treated silicosis, it was used for weed control

Vocabulary

Droitier	Right handed, Politically right-wing
On ne choisit pas son enfance, on m’a pas laissé être droitier
We don't choose our childhood, I was not allowed to be right wing

Nuance	Shade of colour
On a été en URSS l’hiver, les pays de l’est c’est mieux l’hiver, on voit bien mieux les bâtiments, les nuances de gris ça flashent sur le blanc
We'd been in the USSR for winter, eastern countries, it's a better winter, you can see the buildings more clearly, the shades of gray clash with the white

Frisson	Thrill
Une chapka	Fur hat
Devant la statue de Lenine, pour nous c’était le grand frisson, moins 24 c’était pas terrible et les chapkas étaient en option
In front of Lenin's statue, it was a big thrill for us, minus 24 was not so bad and fur hats were optional

Un cil	Eyelash
Mon père était tellement de gauche qu’à son mariage dans l’eglise on chantait l’internationale, les femmes portaient des faux cils
My father was so left-wing that at his church wedding they sang The Internationale, the women wore false eyelashes

Les copains	Mates, Buddies
Le dentier	Set of teeth
Les copains se foutaient de moi tout le temps, car à l’école au premier rang j’avais mes lunettes de Brejnev et le dentier d’un Tupolev
My mates made fun of me all the time, because at school in the front row I had my Brezhnev glasses and the teeth of a Tupolev

Phrases / Idioms

Les couleurs qui flashent	Striking/clashing colours
On a été en URSS l’hiver, les pays de l’est c’est mieux l’hiver, on voit bien mieux les bâtiments, les nuances de gris ça flashent sur le blanc
We'd been in the USSR for winter, eastern countries, it's a better winter, you can see the buildings more clearly, the shades of gray clash with the white

En face	Opposite
Mon père était tellement de gauche qu'on habitait rue Jean Jaurès en face du square Maurice Thorez avant d’aller vivre à Montrouge
My father was so left-wing that we lived in the Rue Jean Jaurès opposite Maurice Thorez Square before going to live in Montrouge

En option	Optional
Devant la statue de Lenine, pour nous c’était le grand frisson, moins 24 c’était pas terrible et les chapkas étaient en option
In front of Lenin's statue, it was a big thrill for us, minus 24 was not so bad and fur hats were optional

Des parpaings	Breeze blocks, cinder blocks
Mon père était tellement de gauche que quand est tombé le mur de Berlin il est parti chez casto pour acheter des parpaings
My father was so left-wing that when The Berlin Wall fell he went to Chez Casto to buy some breeze blocks

Se foutre de (la gueule de)	To make fun of
Les copains se foutaient de moi tout le temps, car à l’école au premier rang j’avais mes lunettes de Brejnev et le dentier d’un Tupolev
My mates made fun of me all the time, because at school in the front row I had my Brezhnev glasses and the teeth of a Tupolev

Mon Pére Etait Tellement De Gauche - Les Fatals Picards

My Dad Was So Left Wing (translation of Mon Pére Etait Tellement De Gauche by Les Fatals Picards)

On ne choisit pas son enfance, on m’a pas laissé être droitier Mon père m’emmenait jamais au square mais au réunion de comité Mon père était tellement de gauche qu'on habitait rue Jean Jaurès En face du square Maurice Thorez avant d’aller vivre à Montrouge On a été en URSS l’hiver, les pays de l’est c’est mieux l’hiver On voit bien mieux les bâtiments, les nuances de gris ça flashent sur le blanc Devant la statue de Lenine, pour nous c’était le grand frisson Moins 24 c’était pas terrible et les chapkas étaient en option Mon père était tellement de gauche que quand est tombé le mur de Berlin Il est parti chez casto pour acheter des parpaings On mangeait des Lenin’s burger, fallait vraiment faire attention Il y avait du choux une pomme de terre, la viande elle était en option On achetait du coca Kolkose, approuvé par le comité Ça devait soigner la silicose, on s’en servait pour désherber On regardait pas la contrebande, on regardait pas la corruption La Sibérie c’était disneyland, le discernement en option. Mon père était tellement de gauche qu’à son mariage dans l’eglise On chantait l’internationale, les femmes portaient des faux cils Mon père était tellement de gauche, on a eu tout pleins d’accident Il refusait la priorité à droite systématiquement Les copains se foutaient de moi tout le temps, car à l’école au premier rang J’avais mes lunettes de Brejnev et le dentier d’un Tupolev Mon père était tellement de gauche, qu’en 81 il croyait que ça changerait Je crois même qu’il en rêvait en 2002 en allant voter Et même si tout ce que je raconte n’est pas tout à fait vrai Le socialisme comme paradis nous on y croyait Mon père était tellement de gauche, que lorsqu’il est parti La gauche est partie avec lui.

We don't choose our childhood, I was not allowed to be right-wing My father never took me to the square but to the committee meeting My father was so left-wing that we lived in the Rue Jean Jaurès Opposite Maurice Thorez Square before going to live in Montrouge We'd been in the USSR for winter, eastern countries, it's a better winter You can see the buildings more clearly, the shades of gray clash with the white In front of Lenin's statue, it was a big thrill for us Minus 24 was not so bad and fur hats were optional My father was so left-wing that when The Berlin Wall fell He went off to Casto to buy some breeze blocks We ate Lenin burgers, you really had to be careful There was cabbage, a potato, the meat was optional We bought Kolkose cola approved by the Committee It must have treated silicosis, it was used for weed control We didn't see the contraband, we didn't see the corruption Siberia was disneyland, judgement optional. My father was so left-wing that at his church wedding They sang The Internationale, the women wore false eyelashes My father was so left-wing, we had so many accidents He systematically refused to give way to the right My mates made fun of me all the time, because at school in the front row I had my Brezhnev glasses and the teeth of a Tupolev My father was so left-wing, that in '81 he thought it would all change I even reckon he was still dreaming of it in 2002 on his way to vote And even if everything I say is not entirely true The socialist paradise that we believed in My father was so left-wing that since he's been gone The left has gone with him