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Parisiana
Translations © by Laura Prichard
Song Cycle by Francis Poulenc (1899 - 1963)
View original-language texts alone: Parisiana
Les trois dames qui jouaient du bugle Tard dans leur salle de bains Ont pour maître un certain mufle Qui n'est là que le matin. L'enfant blond qui prend des crabes Des crabes avec la main Ne dit pas une syllabe C'est un fils adultérin. Trois mères pour cet enfant chauve Une seule suffisait bien. Le père est nabab, mais pauvre. Il le traite comme un chien. Cœur des Muses, tu m'aveugles C'est moi qu'on voit jouer du bugle Au Pont d'Iéna le dimanche Un écriteau sur la manche.
Text Authorship:
- by Max Jacob (1876 - 1944), "Jouer du bugle", written 1920, appears in Le Laboratoire central, Paris, Éd. Au Sans Pareil, first published 1921
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The three ladies who played the bugle Late at night in their bathroom, Have for a master, a certain boor, Who is only there in the morning. The blond child who catches some crabs Some crabs with his hand Doesn’t speak a single syllable He is a bastard child. Three mothers for this bald child Just one would’ve been good enough. The father acts grandiose, but is poor. He treats the child like a dog. Heart of the Muses, you blind me, It’s me who can be seen playing the bugle At the Pont d'Iéna on Sunday, A notice attached to my sleeve.
Text Authorship:
- Translation from French (Français) to English copyright © 2019 by Laura Prichard, (re)printed on this website with kind permission. To reprint and distribute this author's work for concert programs, CD booklets, etc., you may ask the copyright-holder(s) directly or ask us; we are authorized to grant permission on their behalf. Please provide the translator's name when contacting us.
Contact: licenses@email.lieder.example.net
Based on:
- a text in French (Français) by Max Jacob (1876 - 1944), "Jouer du bugle", written 1920, appears in Le Laboratoire central, Paris, Éd. Au Sans Pareil, first published 1921
Go to the general single-text view
Translator's notes
Line 2-1: i.e., this child is suffering from crabs.
Line 3-3: “nabab” [English: nabob or nawab] may refer to an Indian ruler within the Mogul Empire, to someone of great wealth or importance, or simply someone with a grandiose manner.
Verse 4: The final verse of the poem in an envoi, and was preceded by the word SIGNATURE in the original poem. It places the poet in the character of the bugle player.
Line 4-3: Pont d'Iéna - an arched Parisian bridge over the Seine linking the Eiffel Tower area to the Trocadéro district; built in 1808-1814, it was very crowded and over-used during most of Jacob’s life
This text was added to the website: 2019-12-03
Line count: 16
Word count: 103
- M'as-tu connu marchand d'journaux à Barbès et sous le Métro Pour insister vers l'Institut il me faudrait de la vertu, mes romans n'ont ni rang ni ronds et je n'ai pas de caractère. - M'as-tu connu marchand d'marrons au coin de la rue Coquillère? tablier rendu, l'autre est vert. - M'as-tu connu marchand d'tickets balayeur de W.-C. je le dis sans fiel ni malice aide à la foire au Pain d'Épice défenseur au juge de Paix officier, comme on dit office au Richelieu et à la Paix.
Text Authorship:
- by Max Jacob (1876 - 1944), "Vous n'écrivez plus ?", written 1930, appears in Rivage, recueilli dans Ballades, Paris, Édition "Les Cahiers libres", first published 1931
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- Did’ya know me: newsie Along [Boulevard] Barbès and in the Metro To keep insisting for a position at the Institut [de France] I would’ve needed more virtue, My novels are neither reviewed nor lucrative and I lack character. - Did’ya know me: chesnut-seller on the corner of Coquillère Street? I turned in my apron, the other guy was green with envy. - Did’ya know me: ticket-seller toilet-sweeper I say this without bile or malice carny at the Gingerbread Fair defendant before the magistrate an official, in the so-called office9 at the Richelieu and the Café de la Paix.
Text Authorship:
- Translation from French (Français) to English copyright © 2019 by Laura Prichard, (re)printed on this website with kind permission. To reprint and distribute this author's work for concert programs, CD booklets, etc., you may ask the copyright-holder(s) directly or ask us; we are authorized to grant permission on their behalf. Please provide the translator's name when contacting us.
Contact: licenses@email.lieder.example.net
Based on:
- a text in French (Français) by Max Jacob (1876 - 1944), "Vous n'écrivez plus ?", written 1930, appears in Rivage, recueilli dans Ballades, Paris, Édition "Les Cahiers libres", first published 1931
Go to the general single-text view
Translator's notes
The title question is addressed ironically to a failed writer.
Line 1-5: literally “neither rows/ranks nor circles”
Line 2-3: mad?
Line 3-4 - Gingerbread Fair - The largest traveling fair in Europe, now called the Foire du Trône.
Line 3-6: This “office” is the scullery attached to the famous Café de la Paix restaurant. His job as “official” is that of dishwasher. This public recital of professional failure is typical of the defiance and bravado typical of popular French chanson.
This text was added to the website: 2019-12-03
Line count: 16
Word count: 97