Last September, I started taking an accelerated French class for people who've never taken French but want to be able study abroad somewhere that speaks it by their junior year. I actually have no intention of studying abroad anywhere French-speaking, though. I'm just insane enough to take the intense class for the hell of it. Anyway, one day while I was procrastinating I decided it would be kind of like studying if I looked up every French and Québécois band I had any memory of ever hearing. There were quite a few, weirdly enough. I took Spanish for all four years of high school and I only know two Spanish-speaking bands, and that's because I specifically looked for them. I should probably look for more. Anyway, one of the songs I looked up was by Lio, and I got addicted fast. She's Portuguese, but she's from Belgium, and she was a French pop star in the eighties. Her songs are catchy and very eighties-sounding and I like them a lot.
When I first thought of posting this song, I hunted around for an English translation of the lyrics to link to because I figured surely someone out there had done one. But I didn't find one, so I decided to try it myself. So here you are, everyone- after the jump is my first attempt at translating something out of French. Behold what eight months of truly insane college language classes can do for you. If you think something in this is wrong, please tell me in the comments. The French lyrics are here.
That's no but don't think
That I'm not old enough yet
It's nothing but
A question of makeup
You would risk taking
The lipstick from my mouth
I don't touch anyone and no one touches me
I don't touch anyone and no one touches me
I am picture-perfect*
Picture-perfect
Brilliant on the page
But not at your disposal
Lying in my bedroom
Absent-minded, I contemplate
The telephone that rings
And yet it seems to me
You were well warned
I never answer
It's very nice to have thought of me
It's very nice to have thought of me, but
I am picture-perfect
Picture-perfect
Brilliant on the page
But not at your disposal
If sometimes I get bored
It doesn't really matter
Modern little girls
Don't cry because they know
They don't wait for anyone
They prefer to play alone
And to learn to conduct the game
As they like
All the records I love
Speak to me and protect me
One only has to play them
For the nights to shorten
Their sleeves parade past
And I would almost love
To be able to be like them, made of glossy paper
To be able to be like them, made of glossy paper
* "Sage comme une image" is a French idiom. The literal translation is "wise as an image" and the closest English equivalent is "as good as gold," as in complimenting a quiet, well-behaved kid. I found this as an alternative translation in one place and used it instead because I think it fits the rest of the lyrics better.
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