Nouveau Western Lyrics

Nouveau Western lyrics

(sl.) means the word is slang ('argot').
Unclear words are in curly
braces.

Verse One:

English French

The wind blows in
Arizona Le vent souffle en Arizona
a state of America in which Harry hung
out Un etat d'Amerique dans lequel
(wandered / strayed) Harry zona.
Cow
boy crazy about bang bang about guns C. dingue du bing bing du
(ie Harry)
flingue (sl.)
about weapons horses and about everything De l'arme, du cheval
et de
for having a party. quoi faire la bringue (sl.)
Pursued by Smith &
Wesson, Poursuivi par S. et W.
Colt, Berringer, Winchester, & Remington, C.
B. W. et R.
he wanders in the plains, proud, lonesome. Il erre dans les
plaines,
fier, solitaire
His horse is his partner. Son cheval est son
partenaire
Sometimes he meets Indians but Parfois il rencontre
des
Indiens mais
The gold rush is his only goal. La ruee vers l'or est
son
seul dessein
His life runs a course that we know by heart: Sa vie
suit un cours que
l'on connait par coeur
"The River of No Return" by Otto
Preminger. La riviere sans retour
d'Otto Preminger
While John Wayne is
dressed up like Lucky Luke Tandis que J. W. est looke a
(7) la Lucky Luke
(7)
Clean like an archduke, Propre comme un archiduc
uncle Sam tells me
'Hollywood fools us'. L'oncle Sam me dit
'H. nous berne'
Hollywood fools
us in everyday life, H. berne dans la vie de
tous les jours
like in the
New Westerns. Comme dans les nouveaux w.

Verse Two:

One says,
"beware of the gorilla", On dit 'gare au gorille'
(? don't know if it's a
litterary reference, can mean bouncer, muscular guy...)
but beware of Gary
Cooper. mais gare a G. C.
The modern Western is set up in this Le w. moderne
est installe
neighbourhood: dans le secteur
When the town's asleep, Quand
la ville dort
the train does not whistle, Le Train ne siffle
pas
(Allusion to "Le train sifflera 3 fois" movie: The train wistle 3
times,
don't know the name of the movie in english)
and the Magnificent 7
don't have a single Et sept mercenaires n'ont
fight in sight. pas l'once d'un
combat
(if ok in english translates literraly to: don't have an ounce of a
fight)
From now on Harry is near H. desormais est proche
the "Eastern
Station". de la gare de l'est (1)
He jumps through time and Il Saute les
epoques et
space for a new Far West: les lieux pour un nouveau f.
w.
Saloons are bars Les saloons sont des bistrots
where cigarettes are
sold, on y vend des clopes (sl.)
not chewing tobacco {?} Pas de la chique
{?}
(if {?} does not mean text is cut there, next line translates
to:)
like in the movies. du cinemascope
He enters the bar, Il entre dans
le bar
orders an "Indian", scalps commande un indien, scalpe
the foam, la
mousse
Drinks, lays the glass on boit, repose le verre sur
the counter le
zinc
{?} for futile reasons, {?} pour des motifs futiles
like in the New
Westerns. Comme dans les nouveaux w.

Verse Three:

The [United]
States is Les states sont une sorte
a kind of multinational. de
multinationale
It exports Westerns and Elle exporte le western et
its
feudal model, son modele feodal
dictates what's good and bad. Dicte le bien
le mal,
Lucky Luke & the Daltons (his ennemies) L. L. et les D.
Are
camouflaged in Paul Smith & Westons Sont camoufles en P. S. et W.
(Westons:
classy dress shoes 400$, loved by african show off "sapeurs" ie
"dressers",
P S may be some fancy brand clothing ?)
One says that what counts On dit que
ce qui compte
is the setting. c'est le decor
+/- = How you look doesn't
make who you are (2) L'habit ne fait pas le moine
(ie drug dealers may be
well dressed but ain't people of the world ?)
during the gold rush dans la
ruee vers l'or
(here it is the quest for drugs)
Ever since the techniques
Des lors les techniques
are perfected: se perfectionnent
Credit cards
replace the Remington. La carte a puce (3)
remplace le R.
(seems harry
paid the dope here, and now goes home)
But Harry in Paris didn't get any
luck. Mais H. a P. n'a pas
eu de chance
He gets stopped on the beltway On
le stoppe sure le
with his stage-coach, periph. (4) avec sa diligence
then
he's put in Fresnes Puis on le place a Fresnes (5)
to let Fresnes calm him
pour que Fresnes le freine
(ps: Freine = break Fresne = name of famous jail
-sounds alike)
A victim of the directives of what we call Victime des
directives de
ce que l'on appelle
(directives ie administrations current
orders ex: fine drivers speeding over
10mph above limit... or a drug user in
jail for possession even though not dealing)
"The New Western" Le nouveau
w.

Verse Four:

Tche tche Tche tche
Sometimes life is like a
stray bullet, Parfois la vie ressemble
a une balle perdue
in the modern
system where Dans le systeme moderne
is drowned the individual. ou se noie
l'individu
(ie: like a needle in a haystack or a person in a NY crowded
street)
To stay clear headed Pour rester lucide il
he used to drink
Brandy s'abreuvait de B.
(abreuver: used to say "cattle drink", can mean
drink a lot etc.)
From now on we bring forward TVs, Desormais on brandit
tele
pot (grass) and (crack) nuggets. shit et pepites
Where white is the
Ou blanche et la
magnificent ride, chevauchee fantastique
(another name
of a classic western movie)
always against the light, Toujours a
contre-jour
it's far less heroic. c'est bien moins heroique
In the world
of dreams, Dans le monde du reve
we end it up by a happy end... on termine
par un happy-end
Is it also the case in what Est-ce aussi le cas dans ce
que
we call l'on nomme
"The New Western" ? -- Le nouveau
w.

Outro:

Moderne (etc)
Sitting Bull, Cochese, Calamity Jane,
James West
Tchen
Squaws, scalps, tomahawk, the New Western,
Modern
Lucky Luke, Billy the Kid, Miguelito
Loveless

*notes*

(1) One of the 5 big train station in Paris
(North, East, Lyon, St Lazarre,
MontParnasse)
(2) This is a proverb for
which I know no English equivalent.
(3) i.e. credit card ('puce' = flea =
chip) No equivalent in the states yet
It is a credit card which has a chip
instead of magnetic strips (french
patent) used for phone cards (we don't
use coins no more) or VISA.
BTW: in France, credit cards don't give you
credit, they are more like
paying cards (plastic cash).
(4) 'periph' =
peripherique = circular highway that surrounds Paris (even more
that
delimitates Paris from the (close) suburbs.
(5) Fresnes: prison in Paris (as
famous as Alcatraz in the US)
(6) better translated as "head"? (NO, old 7
neither)
(7) Lucky luke is a comic cowboy caracter, "The man who soots
faster than his
shadow", famous in France and part of Europe. He is with his
horse "Joly
Jumper" and (both) smoke rolled cigarettes. He is always called
upon when
the 4 Daltons escape from the state prison (and they are very
stupid and
mean, and flunk everything they attempt), they are the public
enemies #1
and scare everybody with their reputation. At the end, Lucky luke
always
rides in the sunset singing "I'm a poor lonesome cow boy".