Leave Me with The Monkeys /
Parquez-moi dans un enclos
Leave Me With the Monkeys: I saw in this song the post-concert blues of an artist tired of having to sell herself, of performing, and who almost wonders if she has lost the artist within her along the way – "My heart is nowhere”. In the phrase “leave me with the monkeys”, I perceived the expression of extreme fatigue, a “leave me, grant me this grace”. The monkeys could represent the artist’s original innocence, left behind in her creation, foreign to everything that happens afterwards: the fatigue of touring, a certain vulgarity she’s exposed to – “Take away your easy jokes”… But “leave me with the monkeys” could also be for Sophie Hunger a way of saying, in a moment of exhaustion: “I am no longer good for anything but aping myself if my heart is longer there, if all I do is respond to commands, sing the right words, the right notes, but feel cut off from myself…"
Parquez-moi dans un enclos (park me in an enclosure) : I wanted to capture, in my own way, that moment when an artist-creator has the impression of betraying something within themselves, when they feel like nothing more than a traveling salesman of their own work, when they experience a loss of momentum, intense fatigue, and feel the need to escape the pressures of people close to them as well as the demands of their career. Annoyance at the easy jokes in the English text becomes, in French, irritation at the exhortations of those around them to take the steps to become more well-known, and with all kinds of advice one would do well without. Different words for the same blues which remains that of the artist overwhelmed by the demands of their public persona, of self-representation.
Leave Me With the Monkeys
Written by
Sophie Hunger
Upstairs they have begun to sweep / The floors and night begins to speak of / Possibilities / Broken promises /
Cities full of story lines / Do I have to sing those rhymes / Possibilities / Broken promises
Take away your easy jokes / And leave me with the monkeys / I know every place to go but / Will not go for pennies
Talk to me on every screen / Someone’s always calling me / Is this a movie scene / A moving movie scene?
​
My back is turned against the car / I drop my keys and kiss the floor / Countless are the roads from here / But my heart is nowhere
Take away your easy jokes / And leave me with the monkeys / I know every place to go but / Will not go for pennies
My heart / My heart / My heart / Is nowhere / Is nowhere / Is nowhere / Is nowhere
Parquez-moi dans un enclos
French kiss by
François Godin
Un drone a pris contrôle / De la main avec laquelle j’écris / Alors, je fais quoi ? / Me trancher les doigts ?
Une puce implantée dans ma gorge / Filtre tout ce que je dis / Alors, je fais quoi ? / Je dis tout comme toi ?
À ce point de non retour / Parquez-moi dans un enclos / Que je m’y tourne les pouces / De qui suis-je le clone ?
« Google ton nom, cumule les clics / C’est peu, tu dois, tu peux faire mieux » / « Le talent n’est pas tout / L’image compte pour beaucoup »
« Pense à l’avenir, prévois le pire / On ne peut pas toujours choisir »… / Vos avenues en cul de sac / Comme j’en ai ma claque
À ce point de non retour / Parquez-moi dans un enclos / Que je m’y tourne les pouces / De qui suis-je le clone ?
Mon âme / Mon âme / Mon âme / En a sa claque / En a sa claque / En a sa claque / En a sa claque
Park Me in an Enclosure
Translation of the
French adaptation
A drone has taken control / Of the hand with which I write / So, what do I do? / Cut off my fingers?
A chip implanted in my throat / Filters everything I say / So what do I do? / Say the same as you?
At this point of no return / Park me in an enclosure / That I may twiddle my thumbs there / Whose clone am I?
“Google your name, accumulate the clicks / It’s not much, you have to do better, you can do better” / “Talent is not everything / Image counts for a lot”
“Think about the future, plan for the worst / We can’t always choose”… / Your dead-end avenues / I’m so sick of that
At this point of no return / Park me in an enclosure / That I may twiddle my thumbs there / Whose clone am I?
My soul / My soul / My soul / Can't take it anymore / Can't take it anymore / Can't take it anymore / Can't take it anymore
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.
