Éblouie par la nuit

Blinded by the night's fatal strikes of light, whizzing cars go by like pinheads pupils 'came tight, I've been waiting a hundred years on black and white streets, you came whistling past.

Blinded by the night's fatal bolts of light, kicking around tin cans, as clueless as a ship, If I lost my head, I have loved you and even worse you came whistling past.

Blinded by the night's fatal flashes of light, Will you love life or just watch it go by? Of our nights smoking, almost nothing remains but your ashes in the morning.

In this subway filled with the dizziness of life, at the next station, European darling lay your hand, let it part the depths of my heart

Blinded by the night's fatal blows of light, One last hurrah with hand stretched out I've been waiting a hundred years on black and white streets, you came whistling past. [end]

Yes, I have hedged with the lyric, "coups de lumières mortelles", as I'm not enough of a poet to really translate it properly, but it's fatal blows of light, only in English I'm not sure that really translates. I've read someone elsewhere use "fatal flashes" but that doesn't seem to align with the punchiness of the French. But, hey, I'm not really enough of a poet OR a French translator to really say. So have at it.

But, I cannot believe this did not HAVE a translation.

I take it mean that she's been aimless her whole life that is a whirl of distractions and bright lights, waiting for that one somebody, that one perfect someone who would complete her, and she finally does find him, only he's gone by morning and she's deeply mourning the loss.

I also suspect the translation for, "De nos nuits de fumettes" is meant to be "our nights smouldering", a literary mixing of imagery, but... poet... translator... non... etc...

My introduction to the song was Luciano Rosso’s outstanding rendition of it. I was both mesmerized by the performer and the song. I looked up the original song and could not stop listening to it either…for days. I write, and I teach literature at a university. None of that is necessary to understand that this is an incredibly sad song. You don’t need to know French or use a translator. All you need is to listen to her tone, the lingering notes, her voice cracking, her screams of pain, and if that is not enough, just close your eyes and feel the final heart wrenching notes, no words, just hurt. This is not a love song: this is a song about love lost. To understand the song, you need to understand that the song is divided into two moments. The first, is the moment “she” meets him. The second talks of the aftermath of that encounter. When a song, a poem, repeats a line multiple times, it is because the message contained in it is important. The initial verse “Éblouie par la nuit à coup de lumière mortelle” (“mortal” as in flickering) speaks of how casually love can find you…on any given night, while walking under the flickering streetlights (or car lights). The constant repetition of the line indicates that when love finds you out of nowhere, it should last forever. But in the song, it doesn’t. The second line that repeats itself in the song “Tu es venu en sifflant” starts out as a description. This is just how “he” came into her life that night…whistling. “The person whistling” is a locus amoenous, or common image, that represents a free-spirited person. In the visuals the image is paired with that of a homeless man. But the idea is the same: free sprits can’t be contained. It that sense, that first “Tu es venu en sifflant” is not just a description, is a remainder to her that she should have known from the start that it would not last…he was a free spirit, and the signs were there from the first moment they met. That is why, reflecting on lost love, she cries: “ j't'ai aimé et même pire / Tu es venu en sifflant” / I loved you, and what is worst…you came to me whistling (I loved you, but I should have noticed that you came to me “whistling” -as a free spirit). What comes next is the second moment in the song: the aftermath. In it, she lets us know that too late she understood the signs (of this love destined not to last), and asks herself “Faut-il aimé la vie ou la regarder juste passer?” (Should you stop living life because happiness will not last or is it better to love while you can even if it hurts in the end?). And so, it comes to be, her love only lasts a few nights (nos nuits / our nights), and just like the cigarette ashes left behind in the morning, so did love passed her by, leaving just fragile memories (ashes) of beautiful times gone forever. To understanding how this hurts her so much (she leaves no doubts in her voice of the profound pain this brief encounter left in her life) you have to consider her last image of him she had: the train station, just another stop, his hand in her heart, he walks away, she stretches her hand as if to beg for him to take it, to stay with her, but he simply walks away anyways, and out of her life forever. At this point in the second moment of the song she fully knew he would walk away…hence the pain. And thus, she says the third line that repeats itself in the song: “J't'ai attendu 100 ans dans les rues en noir et blanc” (I waited 100 years for you in black and white). For him, it was just an encounter, for her it was the love of her life…that just walked away. And all along, the pain of a song that is the reflection of love lost, and the devastation that she feels when she remembers the events and repeats to herself: how could you not see the end coming, how could you fall in love even after you understood it, how you let the love you waited for a 100 years walk away, how could you not listen to the warning that “Tu es venu en sifflant”…he was a free spirit…kicking cans down the road while whistling…never destined to stay. Should you let life pass you by for fear of getting hurt, or should you embrace life and endure the pain later? She chose to love.