This phrase - "L'Esclave Endormi" what does it mean? The slave is asleep?
Also this song appears to be about Marilyn Monroe and I'm dying to know what these lyrics mean:
Ils t'ont allongee
Ils t'ont maquillee
J'ai reve de toi (I dream of you?)
En peignoir de soie (in silk dressing gown?)
Mais que me dis-tu
Que balbuties-tu
Je n'etais plus un baby
Je ne pouvais plus me taire
Ils m'ont dit "du calme, baby
Juste une derniere affaire
Pour la belle des belles,
Un role d'immortel (I can easily guess what these two lines are saying)
Dans ce decor vaporeux
Tu sens tes larmes qui roulent
Le telephone est trop loin
Riviere sans retour (River of No Return - see that is a Marilyn Monroe film - also the chorus of the song says "Marilyn, Marilyn")
Anyway if anyone can translate these for me I'd appreciate it. I can look up some of the words on the internet, but I don't get the full effect.
Anyone want to translate some French for me?
Everything in parenthesis is added by me to help you understand the connotation of some of the verbs -- it definitely sounds like it is about Marilyn Monroe
“The Sleeping Slaveâ€
They stretched you out (as if on a bed)
They made you up (put on make-up)
I dreamed of you
In a silk dressing gown
But what do you say to me
What are you muttering (not a perfect translation )
I was no longer a baby
I could no longer keep quiet
They told me, “Be calm, baby.â€
Just a last affair.
For the beautiful of the beautiful
An immortal role
In this vaporous setting
You feel the tears that rise
The telephone is too far
River of no return (title of one of her movies)
“The Sleeping Slaveâ€
They stretched you out (as if on a bed)
They made you up (put on make-up)
I dreamed of you
In a silk dressing gown
But what do you say to me
What are you muttering (not a perfect translation )
I was no longer a baby
I could no longer keep quiet
They told me, “Be calm, baby.â€
Just a last affair.
For the beautiful of the beautiful
An immortal role
In this vaporous setting
You feel the tears that rise
The telephone is too far
River of no return (title of one of her movies)
Aw Sarah! That is so sweet of you (and your mom!).
Actually "L'Esclave Endormi" is the name of a different song than the rest of these lines I quote here, but I mentioned this phrase first because it was also the name of another song I know by a different artist, so I was especially curious about what it meant. The Sleeping Slave...strange. I wonder if there is some deeper meaning than that, though...if it is some French saying or something. Otherwise why would two different acts name songs that? Unless! Unless one was a cover of the other...wait a minute...must check the internet. Oh my god! It was! It was a cover! WOW! SHIT! Okay I digress but that amazes me. I don't even remember what the later version sounded like. Never mind, Marky's just made another connection in his musical encyclopediac brain. Big deal, carry on!
Anyway, the song about Marilyn is actually titled "Reve Sans Retour" which I believe means "Dream With No Return".
Those first two lines of "They stretched you out/they made you up" remind me a lot of Elton John's ode to Marilyn Monroe called "A Candle In The Wind" you know where he's all "they did this to you, they did that to you" etc. Hmm. That's interesting.
Ooh - and "the telephone is too far" - Marilyn died in bed, the phone by the bed. Thanks Sarah! (and your mom!)
Burnt Face Jake's interpretation is interesting as well and very cool. The song is credited as being written by "L. Newman/K. Darby" but adapted by Armade Altai. So I'm not sure if a woman or man wrote these lyrics, though I aim to find out more.
Thanks all of you though I really do appreciate it. I've ordered another record by this French woman Armande Altai, too. It is rare and was quite expensive. It's not produced by Martin Hannett this time but I don't care. I think she's really interesting. Here's a picture of her.
Actually "L'Esclave Endormi" is the name of a different song than the rest of these lines I quote here, but I mentioned this phrase first because it was also the name of another song I know by a different artist, so I was especially curious about what it meant. The Sleeping Slave...strange. I wonder if there is some deeper meaning than that, though...if it is some French saying or something. Otherwise why would two different acts name songs that? Unless! Unless one was a cover of the other...wait a minute...must check the internet. Oh my god! It was! It was a cover! WOW! SHIT! Okay I digress but that amazes me. I don't even remember what the later version sounded like. Never mind, Marky's just made another connection in his musical encyclopediac brain. Big deal, carry on!
Anyway, the song about Marilyn is actually titled "Reve Sans Retour" which I believe means "Dream With No Return".
Those first two lines of "They stretched you out/they made you up" remind me a lot of Elton John's ode to Marilyn Monroe called "A Candle In The Wind" you know where he's all "they did this to you, they did that to you" etc. Hmm. That's interesting.
Ooh - and "the telephone is too far" - Marilyn died in bed, the phone by the bed. Thanks Sarah! (and your mom!)
Burnt Face Jake's interpretation is interesting as well and very cool. The song is credited as being written by "L. Newman/K. Darby" but adapted by Armade Altai. So I'm not sure if a woman or man wrote these lyrics, though I aim to find out more.
Thanks all of you though I really do appreciate it. I've ordered another record by this French woman Armande Altai, too. It is rare and was quite expensive. It's not produced by Martin Hannett this time but I don't care. I think she's really interesting. Here's a picture of her.
Last edited by marky on Sat May 27, 2006 5:34 am, edited 1 time in total.
Nice on Burnt. But maybe its you with the baby batter on the brain.
If anyone out there likes French singers, I highly recommned Alain Souchon. He is a very funny pop singer and his French is very simple to understand for people like me who love everything French but otherwise suck at languages.
My Swedish is so bad the only person I can understand is Linda and the only one who understands my Swedish is Linda. I have basically invented a new language somehwere between English, Swedish, and French.
If anyone out there likes French singers, I highly recommned Alain Souchon. He is a very funny pop singer and his French is very simple to understand for people like me who love everything French but otherwise suck at languages.
My Swedish is so bad the only person I can understand is Linda and the only one who understands my Swedish is Linda. I have basically invented a new language somehwere between English, Swedish, and French.
I will check out the Alain Souchon. I am also curious about this guy named Jacques Higelin that did at least one song with Armade Altai. His records are much easier to get ahold of than hers.
One last thing I wanted to say about Armande, she has a deep voice and opera-like vocal style, there is nothing lightweight about it, she puts a lot of weight behind it. A real professional. I think she has been in musicals, Godspell being one.
One last thing I wanted to say about Armande, she has a deep voice and opera-like vocal style, there is nothing lightweight about it, she puts a lot of weight behind it. A real professional. I think she has been in musicals, Godspell being one.
my mom's pleasure, really, there are only a few things that she loves more then the french and france, one of them is people who are curious about any and all things french and france. 
that's interesting though that the title was to a different song. it seemed to fit well with the lyrics you posted . . . and then you said the one is the cover of the other? that would make sense with the title.
i will have to recommend these artists to her so that she can play them for her students. she has some really terrible stuff that she's played for me before that she also plays for them. we've told her it's terrible, but she won't listen to us. stubborn! the only thing i can think of right now though that she has is edith piaf, and everyone knows edith piaf is not terrible, but there were these rap bands she had. . . oh, god, they were bad! perhaps she's gotten rid of them now.
this is all making me think about this album she used to have at home, i think it was from a french composer?? not sure. it had this naked woman with the most beautiful body paint of flowers all over her so that she didn't really look naked. it was very sensual sexy, not really erotic or anything . . . she also had an andrew wyeth book of the helga paintings. i was very confused about americans' thoughts on porno and body image when i was a kid, i was, like but she's naked and a little squishy and that's beautiful art!!
you digress, i digress, we all digress . . .
now i have this huge oil painting of a faceless naked woman in my living room. it disturbs this friend of mine because the woman has slouchy posture and a tummy; i'm like get over it . . . she's no helga!
that's interesting though that the title was to a different song. it seemed to fit well with the lyrics you posted . . . and then you said the one is the cover of the other? that would make sense with the title.
i will have to recommend these artists to her so that she can play them for her students. she has some really terrible stuff that she's played for me before that she also plays for them. we've told her it's terrible, but she won't listen to us. stubborn! the only thing i can think of right now though that she has is edith piaf, and everyone knows edith piaf is not terrible, but there were these rap bands she had. . . oh, god, they were bad! perhaps she's gotten rid of them now.
this is all making me think about this album she used to have at home, i think it was from a french composer?? not sure. it had this naked woman with the most beautiful body paint of flowers all over her so that she didn't really look naked. it was very sensual sexy, not really erotic or anything . . . she also had an andrew wyeth book of the helga paintings. i was very confused about americans' thoughts on porno and body image when i was a kid, i was, like but she's naked and a little squishy and that's beautiful art!!
you digress, i digress, we all digress . . .
now i have this huge oil painting of a faceless naked woman in my living room. it disturbs this friend of mine because the woman has slouchy posture and a tummy; i'm like get over it . . . she's no helga!
my mom's pleasure, really, there are only a few things that she loves more then the french and france, one of them is people who are curious about any and all things french and france. Smile
Well I don't think you understand the danger here, Sarah. I mean I have come very close to posting the lyrics for another Armande Altai song that is the very spare piano one, just her and a piano and she does this thing with her voice that will literally feel like needles of ice in your spine, it is so spooky, horror movie-like. So I was going to post the lyrics to that but I thought "I don't want to overdo this thread and Sarah's mother etc" I don't want to overburden anyone with my "please translate French for me" etc. So in encouraging me, you are taking a risk that I will bore every living soul who visits Paxacidus.
that's interesting though that the title was to a different song. it seemed to fit well with the lyrics you posted . . . and then you said the one is the cover of the other? that would make sense with the title.
Well it's interesting you mention this because (and I wanted to say this earlier but I didn't quite know how)
I really wanted to qualify my earlier stupor of disbelief regarding the fact that the song by Armande Altai "L'esclave Endormi" was covered by Richenel. I mean, there is a huge meaning to that for me that lurks beneath the surface. The reason is this: there were two British indie labels that meant the most to me in my life. They were 4AD and Factory. This song "L'esclave Endormi" had proven to be the offical bridge between them. You see, when I was in high school, 4AD meant a lot more to me than Factory records, but now it is all the opposite. So that song represents the place where the two labels met. To be clear though, the Armande Altai LP produced by Martin Hannett was NOT actually on Factory records, but somehow the connection between a Martin Hannett produced record and this 12" on 4AD records that appeared in the late 80's is enough to connect the two labels for me in a concrete way. I feel a sense of peace about it, really.
I'm obviously too pissed to attend to the rest of your post, Sarah but there is always tomorrow. God bless Lou Reed in the interim.
Well I don't think you understand the danger here, Sarah. I mean I have come very close to posting the lyrics for another Armande Altai song that is the very spare piano one, just her and a piano and she does this thing with her voice that will literally feel like needles of ice in your spine, it is so spooky, horror movie-like. So I was going to post the lyrics to that but I thought "I don't want to overdo this thread and Sarah's mother etc" I don't want to overburden anyone with my "please translate French for me" etc. So in encouraging me, you are taking a risk that I will bore every living soul who visits Paxacidus.
that's interesting though that the title was to a different song. it seemed to fit well with the lyrics you posted . . . and then you said the one is the cover of the other? that would make sense with the title.
Well it's interesting you mention this because (and I wanted to say this earlier but I didn't quite know how)
I really wanted to qualify my earlier stupor of disbelief regarding the fact that the song by Armande Altai "L'esclave Endormi" was covered by Richenel. I mean, there is a huge meaning to that for me that lurks beneath the surface. The reason is this: there were two British indie labels that meant the most to me in my life. They were 4AD and Factory. This song "L'esclave Endormi" had proven to be the offical bridge between them. You see, when I was in high school, 4AD meant a lot more to me than Factory records, but now it is all the opposite. So that song represents the place where the two labels met. To be clear though, the Armande Altai LP produced by Martin Hannett was NOT actually on Factory records, but somehow the connection between a Martin Hannett produced record and this 12" on 4AD records that appeared in the late 80's is enough to connect the two labels for me in a concrete way. I feel a sense of peace about it, really.
I'm obviously too pissed to attend to the rest of your post, Sarah but there is always tomorrow. God bless Lou Reed in the interim.