Laisse Tomber Les Filles

"laisse tomber!" occurs sometimes in everyday French as an interjection. Literally it means: "let to fall". As an interjection, on it's own, it's somewhat equivalent to English "Drop it!", "Skip it!", "Forget it!"

But here it's not just an interjection, so the sense is changed a bit. I don't think "Forget" works very well in the context of the song's story and there's a perfectly good word for forget in French, so I think the sense of the phrase here is either "drop", or "leave". I like "drop", personally, just because it's closer to the meaning of tomber. But "leave" works in the story, maybe even better.

It's hard to translate well, of course, as lyrics are, after all, poetry. Several idioms are used, too, which makes it somewhat hard to get the exact feeling across. But it seems to be about a girl scolding a boy who's left her for some other girl/girls about what will happen to him in the future.

I tried my own hand at another translation:

Laisse tomber les filles Leave all those easy girls Laisse tomber les filles Leave all those easy girls Un jour c'est toi qu'on laissera One day it's you who they'll be leaving Laisse tomber les filles Leave all those easy girls Laisse tomber les filles Leave all those easy girls Un jour c'est toi qui pleureras One day it's you who'll be crying Oui j'ai pleuré mais ce jour-là Yes I was crying but that day Non je ne pleurerai pas No I won't be crying then Non je ne pleurerai pas No I won't be crying then Je dirai c'est bien fait pour toi I'll say it serves you right Je dirai ça t'apprendra I'll say that teaches you Je dirai ça t'apprendra I'll say that teaches you Laisse tomber les filles Leave all those easy girls Laisse tomber les filles Leave all those easy girls Ça te jouera un mauvais tour That'll play a dirty trick on you Laisse tomber les filles Leave all those easy girls Laisse tomber les filles Leave all those easy girls Tu le paieras un de ces jours One of these days you will pay On ne joue pas impunément You can't play fast and loose Avec un cœur innocent With an innocent heart Avec un cœur innocent With an innocent heart Tu verras ce que je ressens You'll see what I feel Avant qu'il ne soit longtemps It won't be long before then Avant qu'il ne soit longtemps It won't be long before then La chance abandonne Abandoned by luck Celui qui ne sait He who knows nothing Que laisser les cœurs blessés Who leaves hearts broken Tu n'auras personne You won't have anyone Pour te consoler To comfort you Tu ne l'auras pas volé You won't have stolen anything Laisse tomber les filles Leave all those easy girls Laisse tomber les filles Leave all those easy girls Un jour c'est toi qu'on laissera One day it's you who they'll be leaving Laisse tomber les filles Leave all those easy girls Laisse tomber les filles Leave all those easy girls Un jour c'est toi qui pleureras One day it's you who'll be crying Non pour te plaindre il n'y aura No for your whining there'll be nothing Personne d'autre que toi There'll be nobody else but you Personne d'autre que toi There'll be nobody else but you Alors tu te rappelleras Then you'll remember Tout ce que je te dis là Everything I'm telling you now Tout ce que je te dis là Everything I'm telling you now