by
Max Jacob (1876 - 1944)
C'est pour aller au bal
Language: French (Français)
Available translation(s): ENG
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
Authorship:
Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive):
Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):
- ENG English (Laura Prichard) , "It’s time to go to the ball", copyright © 2018, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
Researcher for this page: Laura 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
Language: English  after the French (Français)
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 go1!
to the ball by God, let’s go* to the balalaika
View original text (without footnotes)
Translator's note: 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.
1 "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.”
Authorship:
- Translation from French (Français) to English copyright © 2018 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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Based on:
- a text in French (Français) by Max Jacob (1876 - 1944), appears in Ballades, first published 1938
This text was added to the website: 2018-01-04
Line count: 23
Word count: 133