Verse One:



English French



* Formerly the clercs Naguere les concierges

were in vogue etaient en vogue

From now on they've Desormais on les a

been replaced by (...) remplaces par des (...)

In my town there were Dans ma ville il n'y

no parking meters avait pas de parcmetre

I used to see Je voyais des ouvriers

workers eating manger des sandwichs a

omelet sandwiches l'omelette

(is omelet = to beatten eggs ?)

The past comes back to my mind Le passe me revient

like a cup-and-ball game comme un bilboquet

The presence of an omnipresent La presence d'un passe

past hasn't gone omnipresent n'est pas passee

The Halles, supplanted Les Halles, supplantees

by the (Coste ?) par le (Coste ?)

The allegory of the 'madeleines' L'allegorie des

* (of Proust / which makes him remember scenes of the past)

swifts away at the madeleines file a la

speed of Prost vitesse de Prost

* (AlainProst, formula 1 racing car world champion)

The air was pure there, L'air y etait pur,

Paris more beautiful Paris plus beau

Now, the subway fare rises Desormais le ticket de

like the metro augmente comme le

number of cars nombre d'autos.

Oh shit, there's no more Oh shit, a la tele

speakerine on TV y a plus de speakrine

There are B-series movies Y a des films de serie

that I estimate B que j'estime a

at four cents quatre centimes

(...) gives me two, (...) me file deux,

three little coins trois piecette

That I peep, and my intellect Que je mate, et mon intellect

find that they are obsolete constate qu'ils sont obsoletes



Verse Two:



Obsolete, but with much style, Obsolete, mais stylee,

the sentence that follows la phrase qui suivra

The man who picks up the L'homme qui capte le

(guy) and whose (mec) et dont le nom

name has a double a possede un double a

The fence (...) crossbow La barriere (...) arbalete

Which (...) Qui (...)

Which is (the approach) Qui est (l'abord)

for decades depuis des decennies

It runs off with on my soul Une main basse sur mon ame

so that he slows down pour qu'il avance au ralenti

But the great manitou, Mais le grand manitou,

handles everything, (...) manie tout, (...)

Of the masks, Des masques la musique

the music has cloaked the place, a masque la place,

one mortgages then on hypotheque puis

* Writes down in italics Inscrit en italiques

* on his agenda sur son agenda

* The top list of the (stuffs) Le top des (trucs ?)

he doesn't like qu'il n'aime pas

In brief, to be Bref, pour etre clair

clear-cut et net

* the belly-tail (????) Le ventre-queue

* is accompanied by s'accompagne

* an ear plug (used by TV hosts to get info) de l'oreillette

Exactly like, to my ears, Tout comme a mes

'my fly' [of trousers] oreilles, 'ma braguette'

Teams up and rhymes S'acoquine et rime

with 'obsolete' avec 'obsolete'



Verse Three:



Obsolete is also Obsolete est aussi

the teaser who l'allumeuse qui

Wore a hair-net and Portait des bas resilles

* bas =pantyhose

stenched patshleaf et empestait le patchouli

For done services Pour des services

she says to me rendus elle me dit

''I pay you in kind'' ''Je te paye en nature''

And I stay stoic Et je reste stoique

when she holds out jams quand elle me tend

to me des confitures

This is forgotten when Ceci est oublie quand

on the month of december au mois de decembre

She telephones and says Elle me telephone et me

''Come pick me up'' dit ''Passe me prendre''

In brief, I abuse of her Bref, j'en abuse

with a delectable feeling avec delectation

(...) like some mead, (...) comme de l'hydromel,

I am in affection je suis en affection

* Then i slide, intrude Puis me glisse, m'immisce

between the smooth thighs entre les cuisses

of the miss lisses de la miss

Her eyes wrinkle, Ses yeux se plissent, et

and she says ''Stop your vice'' elle dit ''Stop ton vice''

I am like a ball, Je suis comme une balle,

she plays the role of elle joue le role

* the racket d'une raquette

The luller [!], teaser, L'endormeuse, allumeuse,

fancies herself for a starlette se prend pour une starlette

Message which, in the 'cinematheques' Desuettes, sont classees

Fallen in disuse, are classified in dans les series B,

B-series, at the department 'obsolete' au rayon 'obsolete