99 Red Balloons

Today must have been 80's day at the gym because this video came on right after Relax, and right before We Are The World. What a triumvirate. Little known fact: Bob Dylan sings in We Are The World. It looks like he was coked up during the shoot, but he managed to mumble his way through it, like always. Anyway, he wrote one of the 100 greatest songs of all time, so I guess he's earned the right to do as much coke as he wants.

Anyway, this classic German dance hit was released in the US when I was 13 or 14 years old. All the kids at Desert Shadows Middle School enjoyed its fantastic beat and excellent lyrics, such as "Worry worry super skurry, call the troops out in a hurry." And it helped get us into the Scorpions, another German band who sang in English and had album covers showing dudes with forks their eyes. And why not Nena and the Scorpions? Those Germans are all the same, right? Seriously, how did we get through the 80's? I mean you've got to be kidding me.

If you prefer the German version, which probably has the same lyrics but uses 18 times more letters to say it, you can see it HERE.

By the way, we're going out tonight with our friends Pascaline and Nicholas to watch some movie about Bob Dylan. It's in English with French subtitles, but I hope I can understand it. All that guy does is mumble. He's like Stasha, mumbling all the time. Whenever she talks from across the room I'm like "WHAT? WHAT DID YOU SAY?" I need one of those long horns to stick in my ear. Maybe I'm going deaf. I am getting pretty old. I think I need to go lie down.

The Sultans of Swing

It's Dave. How's it going?

The Cote d'Azur is the sunniest, warmest part of France but it's still at about the same latitude as Boston. And while the weather during the day can be beautiful, as soon as the sun goes down the temperature plummets. And there aren't many streetlights here. When the sun is down, it's dark.

Tonight when I walked outside I was again hit by that darkness, and when I got in the car I could still see my breath. I felt really far from home. I pulled onto the narrow country road that leads away from the house and turned on the radio. Instead of another French song whose lyrics I can't understand, they were playing "Sultans of Swing" by Dire Straits. I felt closer to home.

It's amazing how language affects us. In Mougins, where most days I don't hear a word of English outside my own house, I'm much closer to the place where Mark Knopfler wrote Sultans of Swing (London, I assume) than anyone in the United States. But the culture and language of England has spread itself through much of the world the last 300 years, and I'm a product of that history. Chances are, if you're reading this blog, you are too. And I think that's mostly a good thing. At the very least, it makes it easier to appreciate certain simple pleasures no matter where you are. I was glad to enjoy one of them tonight.

Pretty Song for Christmas

I don't want anyone to get sick of us posting music, but I heard this song on the radio and it was so lovely and perfect for Christmastime. Enjoy "Le Manege" by Stanislas.

Là où je pars (Wherever I Go)

There are really quite a few of these random good songs that get a lot of play on the radio (along with a bunch of American and English songs, like "Rehab", by Amy Winehouse. That woman is a disaster, although her music is pretty good).

Lyrics below, in French. Sorry, it takes too much effort to translate this stuff. Maybe someone wants to take that on and post a comment? You can get a head start here.

Là où je pars (Wherever I Go) - Emmanuel Moire
J'ai sur moi en peu de terre
un soleil si jamais j'ai froid
j'ai aussi de quoi réver
si je ne m'endors pas

j'ai sur moi des rires des regards
de l'oubli pur ce qui fait mal
j'ai aussi pris un coffret ou ranger mon courage
pour tout recommencer

Là où je pars je veux du ciel pour un nouveau départ
Là où je pars
Là où je pars la vie est celle d'un nouveau monde à part
Là où je pars

j'ai sur moi deux ou trois secrets
un jardin pour mieux les cacher
j'ai enfin de quoi aimer un coeur resté ouvert
des yeux souvent fermés

CHORUS

j'ai sur moi nos rires, des voix
un endroit ou tout découvrir
j'ai sur moi l'envie de croire au bonheur

CHORUS

j'ai sur moi l'envie de voir
un endroit où tout découvrir
j'ai sur moi l'envie de croire au bonheur
au bonnheur

CHORUS

La Lettre

This is the next great French song. And the video is good too. I'm starting to like this stuff. They could just speak in English and then what they say would make a lot more sense, but I guess it's easier for them not to speak English or something. Seems nutty.

You can read the words in French here. The lyrics all make sense when you watch the video, which is very entertaining. The guy has very skinny arms. I've translated the lyrics below to the best of my ability, but I'll probably get some stuff wrong. Suggestions are welcome. Both the music and lyrics are great.

La Lettre - Renan Luce
I received a letter, it was perhaps a month old
It arrived by mistake, a blunder by the mailman.

It had spray perfume and red lips on it
I had the letter, but perhaps I wasn’t supposed to open it.

But I am a man who likes these kinds of games
and if she wants to call me Alphonse or Fred then so be it...so be it.

Some pretty daisies dotted all the “i”s
With handwritten curves, like at the abbeys
It had some spelling errors and showed a slight dyslexia
and was signed by a petite sexy blonde.

And I am a man who likes this kind of game
I don’t like nuns, and I had fallen in love…in love.

She wrote that Sunday she would be on the cliff
Where I had once held her by the hips
And that if I lacked the tact
To take responsibility for my frolicking
She would choose the impact
Of thirty meters below.

But I am a man who likes these kinds of challenges.
I didn’t want this senseless thing to happen
Because I had fallen in love…in love

Thanks to the letter’s postmark - a city at the English Channel;
I arrived in front of the post office on Sunday morning
The place was deserted, but I had to be patient.
There are not a lot of suicidal blondes.

And I am a man who likes these kind of challenges,
wanting to beat Newton (gravity)
Because I had fallen in love…in love.

She was looking over the English Channel.
When I saw her again I grabbed her by the sleeve
My little smart one
Who was not so much normal
In regards to her profile
There was a little someone living there…
under her navel.

And I am a man who likes this kind of challenge
And I’m happy to be called Papa if she wants…if she wants.

On s'attache

Dave and I joined a workout club about a month ago. It's not like the gyms in the US where you have a place to work out with racquetball and tennis courts, a big locker room for changing, a store to buy some clothes and T-shirts, and perhaps even a restaurant. It's basically a room on the street next to a fish factory with a bunch of machines with signs written in Italian that show you what muscle group each machine works. There's no water fountain so bring your own bottle. Any idea how to say "Tricep Pull-Down Bar" in French?

But they have cheap TVs that show videos of various popular French singers and over the last month I've become "attached" to a few songs, including this one by Christophe Mae, called "On s'attache". Which basically means "We're attached", or "I'm attached to you". It's great. You can read the lyrics in French here.

The song is basically about a man who loves a woman (what song isn't?) that is with someone else. But, he says, I'm just a regular guy, and the fact that you're with someone else doesn't change how I feel about you, so I'm just going to wait patiently until I can have you. I'll wait my turn, he says, because we're attached. We're meant to be together. It's a really good song. Have a listen.

You can sing Fernando all you want

The other day Dave and I were driving to the school for the 19th time that day and he said, "You know what I love about France? You can drive down the country lane with the windows down, passing horses and wild boars, all the while singing "Fernando" at the top of your lungs. And no one even thinks you're gay, because that's just how it is here."

I thought perhaps he was a little crazy, until he played it for me later that day (Enjoy it here). And I agree, if you sang it at the top of your lungs in Arizona you would risk being "labeled". And I also agree, you can hear it on the radio because they play it here, and you'll pass horses and wild boars while you're at it. But I still asked him not to sing it here anyway.