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C’est pour aller au bal, au bal, au bal, au baïkal allah! au bal allah à la balalaïka Rades du tyran terre du Levant Baron du devant tirades nomme azur ce que la dame mazurke je t’assure que cette danse est turque nomades Est-ce bal à bord Est-ce bu en bottes on chante un foxtrotte les phoques se trottent faux nègres et, fausses notes Escouade Pars à des requins que fait Arlequin Pars en rat, pas rare sequin repas rare Parade C’est pour aller au bal, au bal, au bal, au baïkal allah! au bal allah à la balalaïka
Text Authorship:
- by Max Jacob (1876 - 1944), appears in Ballades, first published 1938 [author's text not yet checked against a primary source]
Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive):
- by Francis Poulenc (1899 - 1963), "C'est pour aller au bal", FP. 22 no. 2 [ baritone and woodwinds ], from Quatre poèmes de Max Jacob, no. 2 [sung text checked 1 time]
Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):
- CAT Catalan (Català) (Salvador Pila) , "És per anar al ball", copyright © 2026, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
- ENG English (Laura Stanfield Prichard) , "It’s time to go to the ball", copyright © 2018, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
Researcher for this page: Laura Stanfield Prichard [Guest Editor]
This text was added to the website: 2018-01-04
Line count: 23
Word count: 99
It’s [time] to go to the ball, to the ball, to the ball, to [Lake] Baikal by God, let’s go! to the ball by God, let’s go to the balalaika Harbors of the tyrant land of the Levant Baron of the speeches in front called blue so that the lady mazurka I assure you that this dance is nomadic Turkish Is this ball on board Is it drunk in boots someone sings a foxtrot-song the seals dance a seal-trot false Negroes and false notes Squadron Go to the sharks what's Harlequin doing Go like a rat, not a rare sequin repast rare Parade It’s [time] to go to the ball, to the ball, to the ball, to [Lake] Baikal by God, let’s go! to the ball by God, let’s go to the balalaika!
Translator's notes:
This is Cubist poetry, playing with the sounds of the words and re-ordering syllables for comic effect. The sound of the French poetry is more important to the comic flavor of the poem than the literal meaning. Max Jacob was a roommate of Pablo Picasso in Montmartre.
Line 2, passim : "allah" is a comic portmanteau here: "Allah" with a capital A refers to the Arabic name of God, and "allons" is French for "Let’s go."
Text Authorship:
- Translation from French (Français) to English copyright © 2018 by Laura Stanfield 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.
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Based on:
This text was added to the website: 2018-01-04
Line count: 23
Word count: 133