Cheap Songs

Song Cycle by Louise-Marie Simon (1903 - 1990), as Claude Arrieu

View original-language texts alone: Chansons bas

1. Le savetier  [sung text not yet checked]
Language: French (Français) 
Hors de la poix rien à faire,
Le lys naît blanc, comme odeur
Simplement je le préfère
À ce bon raccommodeur.
 
Il va de cuir à ma paire
Adjoindre plus que je n'eus
Jamais, cela désespère
Un besoin de talons nus.
 
Son marteau qui ne dévie
Fixe de clous gouailleurs
Sur la semelle l'envie
Toujours conduisant ailleurs.
 
Il recréerait des souliers,
O pieds! si vous le vouliez!

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Confirmed with La revue blanche. Nouvelle Série - Tome II, 19, rue des Martyrs, Paris, 1891, p. 288


by Stéphane Mallarmé (1842 - 1898)
1. The cobbler
Language: English 
Without the pine tar there is nothing to do,
The lily is white from birth, as a scent
To me it is simply preferable
To this good cobbler. 

He is going to add leather to my pair,
To add more than I ever had before,
Driving to despair
My need for naked feet.

His hammer that never deviates
Attaches with bantering nails
To each sole a yearning
Always to be somewhere else.

He would recreate shoes,
O feet! -- if you wanted it!

Text Authorship:

  • Translation from French (Français) to English copyright © 2020 by Emily Ezust

    Emily Ezust permits her translations to be reproduced without prior permission for printed (not online) programs to free-admission concerts only, provided the following credit is given:

    Translation copyright © by Emily Ezust,
    from the LiederNet Archive

    For any other purpose, please write to the e-mail address below to request permission and discuss possible fees.


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This text was added to the website: 2020-02-17
Line count: 14
Word count: 82

Translation © by Emily Ezust
2. La marchande d'herbes aromatiques  [sung text not yet checked]
Language: French (Français) 
Ta paille azur de lavandes,
Ne crois pas avec ce cil
Osé que tu me la vendes
Comme a l'hypocrite s'il
 
En tapisse la muraille
De lieux les absolus lieux
Pour le ventre qui se raille
Renaître aux sentiments bleus.
 
Mieux entre une envahissante
Chevelure ici mets-la
Que le brin salubre y sente
Zéphirine, Paméla
 
Ou conduise vers l'époux
Les prémices de tes poux.

Text Authorship:

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Confirmed with La revue blanche. Nouvelle Série - Tome II, 19, rue des Martyrs, Paris, 1891, p. 289


by Stéphane Mallarmé (1842 - 1898)
2. The seller of aromatic herbs
Language: English 
Your blue straw of lavender,
don't believe with those eyelashes
you might dare to sell it to me,
as a hypocrite who might

hang it on the wall,
moving it from place to place of importance,
for the stomach that jeers
to be reborn to blue sentiments.

Better to place it here among this
mass of intrusive hair
so that the wholesome sprig may waft its scent
like a breeze, Paméla,

Or drive toward your husband
the first signs of your lice.

Text Authorship:

  • Translation from French (Français) to English copyright © 2020 by Emily Ezust

    Emily Ezust permits her translations to be reproduced without prior permission for printed (not online) programs to free-admission concerts only, provided the following credit is given:

    Translation copyright © by Emily Ezust,
    from the LiederNet Archive

    For any other purpose, please write to the e-mail address below to request permission and discuss possible fees.


Based on:

Go to the general single-text view


This text was added to the website: 2020-02-17
Line count: 14
Word count: 82

Translation © by Emily Ezust
3. Le cantonnier  [sung text not yet checked]
Language: French (Français) 
Ces cailloux, tu les nivelles
Et c'est, comme troubadour,
Un cube aussi de cervelles
Qu'il me faut ouvrir par jour.

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by Stéphane Mallarmé (1842 - 1898)
3. The Roadside Construction Worker
Language: English 
These pebbles, you spread them out flat
And they're also just like, for me a – a troubadour,
A cube of brains
I have to open every day.

Text Authorship:

  • Translation from French (Français) to English copyright © 2023 by Laura Prichard and Qi Feng Wu, (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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This text was added to the website: 2023-08-21
Line count: 4
Word count: 28

Translation © by Laura Prichard, Qi Feng Wu
4. Le marchand d'ail et d'oignons  [sung text not yet checked]
Language: French (Français) 
L'ennui d'aller en visite
Avec l'ail nous l'éloignons
L'élégie au pleur hésite
Peu si je fends des oignons.

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by Stéphane Mallarmé (1842 - 1898)
4. The Seller of Garlic and Onions
Language: English 
The boredom of visiting others,
With garlic, we drive it away;
The weeping elegy hesitates
Little,  if I split onions.

Text Authorship:

  • Translation from French (Français) to English copyright © 2023 by Laura Prichard and Qi Feng Wu, (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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This text was added to the website: 2023-08-21
Line count: 4
Word count: 20

Translation © by Laura Prichard, Qi Feng Wu
5. La femme de l'ouvrier  [sung text not yet checked]
Language: French (Français) 
La femme, l'enfant, la soupe
En chemin pour le carrier
Le complimentent qu'il coupe
Dans l'us de se marier.

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by Stéphane Mallarmé (1842 - 1898)
5. The Wife of the Working Man
Language: English 
The woman, the child, the soup
On their way to the quarryman
Congratulate him as he cuts into
the purpose of getting married.

Text Authorship:

  • Translation from French (Français) to English copyright © 2023 by Laura Prichard and Qi Feng Wu, (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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This text was added to the website: 2023-08-21
Line count: 4
Word count: 23

Translation © by Laura Prichard, Qi Feng Wu
6. Le vitrier  [sung text not yet checked]
Language: French (Français) 
Le pur soleil qui remise
Trop d'éclat pour l'y trier
Ote ébloui sa chemise
Sur le dos du vitrier.

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by Stéphane Mallarmé (1842 - 1898)
6. The Glazier
Language: English 
The pure sun, who puts out
Too much sunshine to measure, 
Takes the shirt
From the back of the glazier.

Text Authorship:

  • Translation from French (Français) to English copyright © 2023 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.
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This text was added to the website: 2023-08-21
Line count: 4
Word count: 20

Translation © by Laura Prichard
7. Le crieur d'imprimés  [sung text not yet checked]
Language: French (Français) 
Toujours, n'importe le titre
Sans même s'enrhumer au
Dégel, ce gai siffle-litre
Crie un premier numéro.

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by Stéphane Mallarmé (1842 - 1898)
7. The Newsboy
Language: English 
Always, it’s not important what the headline is,
Without even catching a cold
When the snow thaws, this cheerful whippersnapper
Keeps calling out the first scandal.

Text Authorship:

  • Translation from French (Français) to English copyright © 2023 by Laura Prichard and Qi Feng Wu, (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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Translators' notes:
The title means literally: "the cry of the printed word".
Line 4 means literally, “the first number” of the articles on the front page.



This text was added to the website: 2023-08-22
Line count: 4
Word count: 26

Translation © by Laura Prichard, Qi Feng Wu
8. La marchande d'habits  [sung text not yet checked]
Language: French (Français) 
Le vif œil dont tu regardes
Jusques à leur contenu
Me sépare de mes hardes
Et comme un dieu je vais nu.

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by Stéphane Mallarmé (1842 - 1898)
8. The Seller of Clothes
Language: English 
The keen eye with which you size
up their contents
Separates me from my clothes
And like a god I go naked.

Text Authorship:

  • Translation from French (Français) to English copyright © 2023 by Laura Prichard and Qi Feng Wu, (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: 

Based on:

Go to the general single-text view


This text was added to the website: 2023-08-22
Line count: 4
Word count: 22

Translation © by Laura Prichard, Qi Feng Wu