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been replaced by (...)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 sent