My Top Ten Francophone Albums 2005 - 2010
 
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Translation of Coeur De Bombe by Diam’s

November 30, 2009 at 12:24 pm

A couple of weeks ago I bought Diam’s latest album S.O.S., released on November 13th this year.

I have only one other Diam’s album, the 2006 Dans ma bulle and essentially S.O.S. is pretty much more of the same, that’s to say, very solid hip hop with the occasional track that stands out.

In fairness, I think there are a few more stand out songs on this album than on Dans ma Bulle and I think Coeur De Bombe is one of those tracks.

Interestingly it is the only track that I put in my “favourite french songs” playlist while I was listening to the album for the first time although I certainly don’t think it is the strongest track on the album.

In any case, it’s the song I am going to translate in this post!


There is a usage of the verb tomber “to fall” which means “to bump into”, as in Je suis tombé sur mon ami. I’ve left the translation of tombé sur une bombe in the chorus as “fell on a bomb” as I think the image is preferable to any other translation.

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Translation of Gilles Ecoute Un Disque De Rap Et Fond En Larmes by Adb Al Malik

October 6, 2009 at 6:55 pm

“C’est vrai qu’on a les poètes qu’on mérite”, pensa-t-il, mais, après avoir écouté, quand la platine s’arrêta, il éclata en sanglots.
“It is true that we have the poets we deserve,” he thought, but after listening, when the turntable stopped, he burst into tears.

As promised, here is the full translation of Gilles Ecoute Un Disque De Rap Et Fond En Larmes by Abd Al Malik. Another monster translation of which I’m quite proud.

The lyrics to this rap track are so well written that they even the translation has come out sounding poetic and, as you know, I don’t usually treat poetry as the primary goal when I’m translating.

The French fondre en larmes “to melt into tears” translates as burst into tears or break down crying in English. The full title of the track translates as Gilles listens to a rap record and bursts into tears.

I have no MP3 clip widget for the site, but you can listen to extracts of the full album from Abd Al Malik’s official website and the physical CD can be bought from Amazon from the widget below.

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