Apologies for the length of time since the last post – I’ve been away in France for a while.

As we’ve previously mentioned, La Ruda started life as a ska band before changing their style into a heavier, rock sound.  This song – Héros cherche aventures – “Hero seeks adventure”  is from the album Passager du réel and is one of the first songs where they are moving towards their new style.

This has been quite a tricky translation.  As always comments, corrections, critisicms are welcomed.

This is the second song I have posted from the album 24 Images / Second by La Ruda.  The title of this song comes from the expression Avec des si, on mettrait Paris en Bouteille “With ‘ifs’ you can put Paris in a bottle” – meaning that anything is possible if you create enough conditions (Ifs).  “If wishes were horses, then beggars would ride.”

The whole song is, by design, packed with little French expressions and this makes it interesting (I should really say here “impossible”) to translate.

Travers is the last song on one of my favourite French albums – 24 Images / Second by La Ruda.  This album is the first album by the band since they changed their name from the original La Ruda Salska and the first album on which the group changed to a much more rocky style than their previous albums which were more influenced by ska and salsa music.

Travers translates as fault or failing here as in “Malgré mes travers” – “Depsite my faults”.

Notes

• J’en ai monté des roues de secours – The “en” in this phrase emphasises that this is an action that has been performed many times.  This translates reasonably well as “I’ve put on my share of spare tyres” or simply “I’ve often put on spare tyres”.