Le vin

Wine

Georges Brassens (1957)


1. Avant de chanter
Ma vie, de faire des
Harangues,
Dans ma gueule de bois
J'ai tourné sept fois
Ma langue...
Je suis issu de gens
Qui étaient pas du gen-
re sobre...
On conte que j'eus
La tétée au jus
D'octobre... [1]
 
2. Mes parents on dû
Me trouver au pied d'u-
ne souche,
Et non dans un chou, [2]
Comme ces gens plus ou
Moins louches...
En guise de sang,
Ô noblesse sans
Pareille!
Il coule en mon cœur
La chaude liqueur
De la treille...

3. Quand on est un sa-
ge, et qu'on a du sa-
voir-boire, [3]
On se garde à vue, [4]
En cas de soif, u-
ne poire... [5]
Une poire... ou deux,
Mais en forme de
Bonbonne,
Au ventre replet
Rempli du bon lait
De l'automne... [6]
 
4. Jadis, aux Enfers,
Certes, il a souffert,
Tantale,
Quand l'eau refusa
D'arroser ses a-
mygdales...
Être assoiffé d'eau
C'est triste, mais faut
Bien dire
Que, l'être de vin,
C'est encore vingt
Fois pire...

5. Hélas! il ne pleut
Jamais du gros bleu
Qui tache... [7]
Qu'elles donnent du vin,
J'irai traire enfin
Les vaches...
Que vienne le temps
Du vin coulant dans
La Seine! [8]
Les gens, par milliers,
Courront y noyer
Leur peine... [9]




1. Before I would sing,
I pondered the thing
Carefully.
Though a drunkard, I 
Can teach you from my
Life story:
My ancestors claimed
They never remained
Long sober ...
They say I was breast-
fed on juice that pressed 
October.

2. My parents, that's clear,
Must have found me near
A vine-stock,
For cabbages bring
But shady sheep in
A dark flock.
Instead of blood, my
Veins drain, - a true sign 
Of high birth!-
The warm liqueur of
The vine and the love-
liest on earth.

3. If you are a wise
man and if you prize
Wine science,
Keep always something
To drink, safely in
Abeyance.
Something in the form
Of a  demijohn,
Or barrel
Puffed up like a ball;
At milk drawn in fall,
You'll marvel!

4. Formerly, in Hell,
For sure, he did wail,
Tantalus,
When he wished in vain
That water would drain
His tonsils ...
For water to thirst
That's sad, but who durst
Deny it
That thirsting for wine,
Is a twenty time
Worse pligh(e)t ?

5. Rain is not, alas,
Wine by which your glass
Is stained ...
The day they give wine,
I'll milk cow and swine,
Unshamed.
O, may the time come
For wine to flow down
Our river.
In their thousands, there's
Where they'll be from cares
Delivered! [9]
 
Transl. Christian Souchon (c) 2022

NOTES

[1] “Avoir la gueule de bois” means “to have a hangover”, but is, litterally, “to have a wooden mouth”.
« Tourner sept fois sa langue dans sa bouche avant de parler» ( turn your tongue seven times in your mouth before speaking) conveys  the idea that you shouldn’t speak unless you are really sure about what you are going to say. Brassens mischievously combines the two expressions, ascribing the drunkard an illusory prudence: « Before telling my life story and making speeches, in my wooden mouth I turned seven times my tongue ».
More than ever, to this literal translation, a faithful rendering of the hesitations in a drunkard's speech, the main feature of the original song, seems preferable.
"Jus d'octobre" (juice of October) means "wine", of course.

[2] "Chou, souche": in the popular folk-tale babies are usually born from cabbages. "Souche" means "stock of a vine".
.
[3] "Savoir-boire" (science of wine) is here instead of "savoir-vivre", ability to live elegantly, observance of the usages of fashionable society.
.
[4] "Garde-à-vue" means "police custody". "On se garde à vue" means "One should keep a watchful eye " (on a spare bottle of wine).
.
[5] "En cas de soif une poire" alludes to a phrase meaning "to keep a pear for thirst" or "to keep something for a rainy day".

[6] "Lait de l'automne" (milk drawn in fall): again "wine".

[7] "Gros bleu qui tache" means "sturdy red wine that stains glasses, napkins and tableclothes".

[8] "La Seine", here translated as "Our river", refers to the river flowing throug Paris.
This song, along with four others ("Les Lilas", "Au bois de mon coeur", "Comme hier", "L'amandier") were sung by their composer, Georges Brassens, in René Clair's 1957 film. The title of this only film ever shot by Brassens, "Porte des Lilas", refers to a popular district of Paris. 		[1] à [7] explications de certains gallicismes difficiles à traduire.

[8] "La Seine" est traduit par "notre fleuve".
Cette chanson, ainsi que quatre autres ("Les Lilas", "Au bois de mon coeur", "Comme hier", "L'amandier") étaient chantées par leur compositeur, Georges Brassens, dans le film de René Clair de 1957. Le titre de ce seul film jamais tourné par Brassens, "Porte des Lilas", désigne un quartier populaire de Paris.

[9] Et voici le poème, récité par Georges Brassens, un traitement de faveur accordé à un texte particulièrment subtil (et rétif à la traduction):
And here is the poem, recited by Georges Brassens, a special treatment granted to a particularly subtle text (and reluctant to translation):



. Brassens récite "Le vin"





Brassens chante "Le vin"

Brassens chante "Le vin"



3 reprises du même chant: une expressivité toujours plus grande
3 records of the same song with ever greater expressiveness

Brassens chante "Le vin"



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