SystemFreaks™
Για αρχή επέλεξα ένα τραγούδι που ακριβώς παίζει με τις λέξεις. Όπως θα διαβάσετε, απο τον τίτλο κι'όλας βρήκαν δυσκολία στην μετάφραση.
Το βίντεοκλιπ να σημειώσω θεωρείται στολίδι της τέχνης.
http://www.mf-international.com/viewtopic.php?t=1766L’âme-stram-gram - Mylène Farmer
Translating the title was our first problem.
« Am-stram-gram-pique-et-pique-et-colégram-bourre-et-bourre-et-ratatam-am-stram-gram-pique-dame » is the french version of the chant equivalent to the english song « eenie mynie moe… » sung by kids when they want to randomly choose a volunteer for some game.
Instead of “am”, which doesn’t make sense in itself, Mylène put “âme” which means “soul”.
So there is a pun : the title evokes the ideas of game, of randomness and the idea of soul. So it’s up to everybody to interpret it the way they want...
En moi, en moi toi que j'aime,
Dis-moi, dis-moi quand ça n'va pas,
Il n'y a que ça qui nous gouverne,
Dis-moi combien de fois ?
In me, (get) in me, you whom I love
Tell me, tell me when things aren't right,
It is only that which governs us,/There is only this which governs us
Tell me how many times...?
« That » or "this" on the third line refers to sex, obviously in french. But on another level, “Ca” also refers to the pyschic instance “id” from psychanalysis theory. Id, ego and superego are three parts of our psychism. Superego is the instance were rules and moral are integrated, it knows what things and acts are forbidden, id is the instance of impulses (want to have sex, want to kill, want to eat), and ego is the instance that helps superego and id to merge, so we are civilized people that know how to satisfy themselves.
So when mylene uses “Ca”, she makes a pun with sex, but also the “id” which is deeply related to sex. I know this is true, because she’s talking about psychoanalysis in this song, see the next lines.
“Tell me how many times” is also a problem : on a basic level, it’s “tell me how many times you want to have sex”, but then, I read some stuff about how many times do human beings repeat the same mistakes all over again, random sex being one of these mistakes. But just writing “tell me how many times” just sounds too vague for english, when vagueness is accepted in french and makes the text richer with meanings…
Partager mon ennui le plus Abyssal,
Au premier venu qui trouvera ça banal
J 'ouïs tout ce que tu confesses,
Et l'essaim scande l'ivresse
Sharing my most Abyssal boredom,
With the first who finds it banal
I pleasure in your asinine confessions
And the swarm chants drunken ecstasy
Comments of kiouty :
Lots of puns in this one : “j’ouïs” = I hear, but it sounds like “jouis” meaning “I have an orgasm”.
“Tu confesses” means you confess (to your psychanalist, I think that’s what she means), but “con” means stupid in french, AND also vagina in older slang. “Fesse” obviously means butt.
About “l’essaim” (the swarm : the bee figure in this song is absolutely disorientating for me : don’t have a clue what it stands for, so that’s one of the problems).
Also, “l’essaim” sounds like “les seins”, which means the boobs…
Last problem in this paragraph : ivresse. Drunkkeness rimes with confess in english, so it looks like a nie possibility, but ivresse, in french, is a lot deeper : you can be “ivre” with love, with “happiness”, it sorts of emphasize your feelings in a positive extreme way
Comments of H :
I tried to capture the idea of "j'ouis/jouis" by saying "I pleasure in," which expresses the notion both of receiving something (by ear) as well as sexual gratification. Note that saying "I pleasure in" is probably not correct English; you'd usually say something like "I take pleasure in...." (though saying "I pleasure in" will be understood as a contracted form of the latter, and if anything else, it is stylistically richer). Saying "I delight in" is correct English, but it doesn't carry the heavier sexual connotation.
J'ouïs tous ceux que tu condamnes
T'éreintent, te font du charme :
C'est « l'âme-stram-gram »
I pleasure in all those you condemn
Exhausting you, seducing you:
It's the "ame-stram-gram"
Again, pun with “jouis”
“Faire du charme a quelqu’un” means trying to seduce someone, using your own charm.
“turning the charm on” is just blah !!
T’éreintent = exhausting you. But again, sexual reference : “tes reins” means your hips…
En moi, en moi toi que j'aime,
Dis-moi, dis-moi quand ça n ' va pas,
Il n'y a que ça qui nous gouverne,
Dis-moi combien de fois
In me, (get) in me, you whom I love
Tell me, tell me when things aren't right,
It is only that which governs us,
Tell me how many times...?
En moi, en moi, toi que j'aime,
Dis-moi, dis-moi quand ça ne vas pas,
Immisce et glisse l'abdomen
Dans l'orifice à moi
In me, (get) in me, you whom I love
Tell me, tell me when things aren't right,
Engage and ease/slide in the abdomen
Into my orifice
Des absents, un bourdon, une oreille amie,
Confidence sur divan, on se psychanalyse
J'ouïs tout ce que tu susurres,
Et l'essaim bat la mesure,
The absent ones, a bumblebee, a friendly ear,
Confidences on a couch, we psychoanalyze each other
I pleasure in all you whisper,
And the swarm throbs in time,
“one friendly ear”, in french means someone who’s willing to listen to you in a friendly way. This kind of figure is often used in french : pointing out some object, person or animal or anything just by mentioning one of its components. Relate it to "lend an ear in english".
Couch = couch on which one lies when going to a psychanalysis session…
Puns, more puns : j’ouïs, of course, and in "susurres”, one pervert guy like me might hear “suce” which means tu suck, like sucking you know what. Especially the way she says it during the sound makes this particularly sexual.
J 'ouïs tes oedipes complexes,
Et l'essaim se manifeste :
C'est " l ' âme-stram-gram "
I pleasure in your Oedipus complexes,
and the swarm exposes itself:
It's the "ame-stram-gram"
“Oedipes” refers to this period in the childhood, when kids, especially boys, realize they aren’t in total fusion with their mothers, and realize they have to compete with their father who’s a rival between the kid and his mother. Does that notion exist in english, I mean of course it exists, but is it well known enough for people to understand “I hear your complex oedipuses” (which doesn’t makes sens in french either, like some typical Mylene homemade line)
L'âme-stram-gram
Pique et pique et colégram,
Bourre et bourre et ratatam,
L ' âme-stram-gram ,
Pique dame,
L ' âme-stram-gram , pique-moi dans l'âme,
Bourrée bourrée de nœuds mâles,
L ' âme-stram-gram pique dames.
This is not translatable...
At first, she sings the regular kid’s chant, BUT also, “bourre” means having wild sex, like “humping”, so there is still a sexual connotation, which becomes obvious in the second part, where Mylene is turning the song in an obviously sexual way, too obvious for me, it’s almost vulgar : “noeuds” is an old slang for dick, and she emphasizes it by joining “mâles”. Also, Bourrée de noeuds males means she’s full with dicks…
For a video analysis (the Mylène twins in the chinese video), please fell free to check this topic, very interesting !!!
http://mf-international.com/viewtopic.php?t=1722
