Analyse / Code barre
I saw in Analyse a song about the loss of meaning in a world that makes one believe in an infinity of possibilities, yet no longer allows for the most essential thing: the encounter with oneself. The lyrics “You’re just playing a part” express precisely this absence from oneself. They also pinpoint the impossibility of truly connecting with the other in such a world: because the one who no longer engages with their inner self cannot truly connect with another; the one who has lost access to their singularity no longer recognizes anything but the same in front of them, and what once made human relationships rich vanishes. The title Code-barres (barcode) announces what remains in French the essential theme of the song: the dreaded erasure of individuality, of the part of humanity within each of us – « Y a mon âme / Y a ton âme / Qui s’évaporent »/“My soul / Your soul / They dissolve”.
I looked for new words in French that would echo the anxious questioning of modern society, which seemed to me to be the creative impulse behind Analyse, giving it its particular tone, woven with fatalism, sadness, and despair.
Analyse
Written by
Thom Yorke
A self-fullfilling prophecy / Of endless possibility / In rolling reams across the screen / In algebra, in algebra
The fences that you cannot climb / The sentences that do not rhyme / In all that you can ever change / I’m the one you’re looking for
It gets you down / It gets you down / There’s no spark / You’ve no light in the dark
It gets you down / It gets you down / You traveled far / What have you found
That there’s no time / There’s no time / To analyse / To think things through / To make sense
Like candles in the city / They never looked so pretty / By power cuts and blackouts / Sleeping like babies
It gets you down / It gets you down / You’re just playing a part / You’re just playing a part
You’re playing a part / Playing a part / And there’s no time / There’s no time / To analyse / Analyse / Analyse / Analyse
Code-barre
French kiss by
François Godin
Des algorithmes qui se mêlent / De lire les lignes de ma main / Ma vie entière en quelques chiffres / En quelques lignes sur un écran
Mon téléphone qui m’enchaîne / Le Big data qui en sait plus / Sur moi que je n’en sais moi-même / La toile qui se resserre
Ça fout l’cafard / Ça fout l’cafard / Un code barre / J’ai un foutu code barre
Ça fout l’cafard / Ça fout l’cafard / La marque au front / La marque au fer
Le poids de l’âme / Quelques grammes / Sur quel support / Est-il stocké ? / Dans quel cloud ?
Voyage, va de par le monde / Ça forme la jeunesse / Je t’aime dans ta différence / Je ne la vois plus
Ça fout l’cafard / Ça fout l’cafard / J’ai un foutu code barre / T’as un foutu code barre
Et y a mon âme / Y a mon âme / Et y a ton âme / Y a ton âme / Qui s’évaporent / S’évaporent / S’évaporent / S’évaporent
Barcode
Translation of the
French adaptation
Algorithms that claim / To read the lines of my hand / My entire life coded in a series of numbers / Of lines on a screen
My phone that chains me / Big data that knows more / About me than I know myself / The web that tightens around me
It gets me down / It gets me down / A bar code / I have a damn bar code
It gets me down / It gets me down / The mark on the forehead / The iron branding
The weight of the soul / A few grams / On what medium / Is it stored? / In which cloud?
Travel, go around the world / It forms youth, they say / I like what’s different about you / I don't see it anymore
It gets me down / It gets me down / I have a damn bar code / You have a damn bar code
And my soul / And my soul / And your soul / And your soul / They dissolve / Dissolve / Dissolve / Dissolve
The voice/piano demos of the French versions were recorded for the strict purpose of presenting my adaptation work. No broadcasting or public sharing on social networks, media or any other platform is authorized.
Any recording or public presentation by third parties of the songs in their French version is subject to my authorization as well as that of the rights holders of the original song.
