D’Red / L’adieu
D’Red: the original song is written in Swiss German. The literal translation that I obtained via an online tool left me perplexed, I struggled to make any sense of it; I thought I detected a call for dialogue, for clarification between two people who love each other, but… an ambiguous call: the explanations could also be in vain, perhaps there is nothing left to save. I thought that the song was in some way backing away from the acknowledgment of a romantic breakup, impossible to accept; that it evoked a lack of understanding, if not an impasse.
L’adieu (the farewell) : for me there was something deeply desolate in this song – the weight of accepting within oneself what one desperately did not want to see happen, the pain of resignation. Furthermore, I sensed a sadness that was anything but plaintive: it wasn't the song of someone who was broken, but of someone who would bounce back, no matter what. These subjective impressions, which of course could not be based on a detailed understanding of the original text, gave birth to the text of L’adieu: an observation without bitterness of the inevitable end of a love affair, so gripping – so beautiful too – that it could not be a matter of continuing to see each other as friends. The word “sailor”, present in the text of D’Red, found its way into L’adieu. Otherwise, I can only hope to have identified the base note – as they say of a perfume – of this song, to have recreated it with my words.
D’Red
Written by
Sophie Hunger
I ha aui Prognose / U Kennä ke Affäkt / I bruche dini Rose / Aber ha so viu Respäkt
So Winki die Matrose / Sie si immer nöi / Wär o gärn nöi gebore / Gedankelos allei
I ha gar nüt z´säge hie / Drum frag etzt nüme na / I ha gar nüt z´sage hie / O wenn du meinsch das i das cha
Zwüsche hie u jetzt / liet aus wo nid isch worde / Zwüsche hie u jetzt / liet aus wo nid isch gsi / Frag nid nach mim wahre / La mir so viu würd / Aues het u het kei sinn
I wet Dir so viu sägä hie / Drum frag u la nid los / I wet dir so viu säg hie / Frag u la nid los
L’adieu
French kiss by
François Godin
Tu en as ta dose / Du tout ou rien / Du on fait quoi on ose / Ou on met les freins
L’amour est bien morose / D’être contraint / Collection d’ecchymoses / Pour peu de jours sereins
Écrivons le mot fin, puis / Cessons d’être amis / Écrivons le mot fin, on a / Chacun notre vie
Dernier geste, de loin / Tu m’envoies la main / Dernier geste, de loin / Comme font les marins / Du pont du navire / Quand il quitte le port / Le plus joyeux des adieux
Les amarres sont larguées / Rien qui soit renié / Les amarres sont larguées / Nous nous sommes aimés
The Farewell
Translation of the
French adaptation
You've had your fill / Of balancing between all or nothing / Of wondering if we should dare go on / Or put on the brakes
Love is rather gloomy / When it is constrained / A collection of bruises / For a few serene days
Let's write the word “end”, then / Let's stop being friends / Let's write the word “end”, we have / Both our own lives
Final gesture, from afar / You wave your hand at me / Final gesture, from afar / As sailors do / From the deck of the ship / When it leaves the port / The happiest of farewells
The mooring lines are cast off / Nothing to be denied / The mooring lines are cast off / We loved each other
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.
