Where Do You Go / Comme en songe
Where Do You Go: in each verse, a question followed by an answer; it seemed to me that these were questions addressed to oneself, to the most intimate part of oneself, and that the whole song was an ode to this intimate part, a place of liberation from what weighs down, of blessed silence, a crucible of the imagination.
Comme en songe (as in a dream) : I reproduced the same game of questions and answers; it quickly became apparent to me that I could not, while respecting the prosody, stick closely to Lhasa de Sela's writing, which is so vivid, so succinct. I had to find other images to express these back-and-forths between the social self and the intimate self, these transitions between the experience of the world and what we recreate in ourselves; to also express what is so necessary, so beneficial, about these back-and-forths.
Where Do You Go
Written by
Lhasa de Sela
Where do you go / When your tides get low / In the summer dress / Of your drunkenness?
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I go far from here / Where the silence sleeps / In the very deeps / Of the holy blue
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And I dream of you / And I dream of you / Dream of you / Dream of you
What do you say / When the rotten day / Is around your feet / In the noisy street ?
And your eyes fall rain / From pain to pain / I say never again / Never again / Never again
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Why do you wander / So light though falling / In the underwater / Calling ?
I skate like a bird / Drunk on a word / Almost in love / If I only knew
But the best will drive / Through me and you / Me and you / Me and you
Comme en songe
French kiss by
François Godin
Dis, où es-tu ? / Tu es là sans l’être / Où t’évades-tu ? / Par quelle fenêtre ?
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Je vais là où l’âme / Fais des ronds dans l’eau / Là où tout est calme / Si calme et beau
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Au plus près de moi / Au plus près de moi / Près de moi / Près de moi
Perds-tu la foi / Quand de jour en jour / Rien ne se dessine / Que tout tombe à plat ?
C’est parfois si lourd / L’à quoi bon me mine / Je dis : c’est bien la peine / C’est bien la peine / C’est bien la peine
Fais-tu le pitre / Pour briser, faire que vole / En éclats une vitre / Qui t’i-sole ?
Je danse sur un fil / Ivre et lucide / Battements de cils / Au-dessus du vide
Si parfois je plonge / C’est comme en songe / Comme en songe / Comme en songe
As In a Dream
Translation of the
French adaptation
Tell me, where are you? / You are here without being here / Where do you escape? / Through which window?
I go where the soul / Makes ripples in the water / Where everything is calm / So calm and beautiful
Deep within me / Deep within me / Within me / Within me
Do you lose faith / When day to day / Nothing takes shape / When everything falls flat?
Things are sometimes so heavy / I tell myself "What's the point?" / I say: is it really worth it? / Is it really worth it? / Is it really worth it?
Are you playing the fool / To break, to shatter / Into pieces a window / That is isolating you?
I dance on a thread / Drunk and lucid / Blinking my eyelashes / Above the void
If sometimes I sink / It's as in a dream / As in a dream / As in a dream
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.