Ensemble – Coeur de Pirate / French Lyrics and English Translation

I love Coeur de pirate. I saw her perform last summer in Vancouver, and I was worried that she wouldn’t be as good live. Fortunately, she was AMAZING! She sounded great, was very sweet and engaging, and was all around a great entertainer. “Ensemble” (“Together” in English) is another single off her debut album. Lyrics, translation, and video after the jump!

Vocabulary and explanation of the translation and phrases will follow the video and translation. My apologies if the video doesn’t work – you can watch it on YouTube but unfortunately it has become very difficult to embed videos with copyrighted content.

Check our the full track list of all Coeur de Pirate’s songs, lyrics, and translations.

French	English
[Couplet 1]	[Verse 1]
Côte contre côte nos corps vibrent partant	One against the other, our bodies vibrate gamely
Et dans ces courses sans dérive	And in these races, without drifting
On tombe presque hors champ	We're nearly out of sight
Et dans tes rires qui défoncent plus que l'égo qui te prend	And your destructive laughter, even more than your giant ego
Tu nous réduis à l'impossible dans tes tourments	Reduces us to the impossible, with its tormenting
Et sans gêne tu te défonces, tu ne comprends pas	And shamelessly, you freak out, you don't understand
Car nous avions une belle histoire, tu le nieras pas	Because we had a beautiful story, you can't deny it
Par contre tes cris défoncent les murs de ton appartement	On the other hand, your shouting knocks down the walls of your apartment
Pour atteindre mon coeur qui meurt un peu plus à chaque instant	To reach my heart, which dies a little more with each passing moment
[Chorus]	[Chorus]
Car ensemble rime avec désordre,	Because "together" rhymes with "chaos"
Et l'homme que tu es n'est plus que discorde	And the man that you are, is nothing but strife
Car ce que tu es rime avec regret	Because what you are rhymes with "regret"
De ma part je n'ai que ceux qui restent à jamais	As for me, I'll only have those who will stay forever
[Couplet 2]	[Verse 2]
Tête contre tête tu m'as vaincu juste à temps	Head to head, you beat me just in time
Et quand tu es revenu	And when you came back
Tu n'étais plus comme avant	You weren't like before
Et tes mensonges tiennent le seul homme que tu pourrais être	And your lies tarnish the man that you could be
Mes plaies s'ouvrent un peu plus à chaque fois que tu t'entêtes	And my wounds open a little more each time you persist
Et sans gêne tu te défonces, tu ne comprends pas	And shamelessly you freak out, you don't understand
Que tu détruis une belle histoire, je le nierai pas	That you're destroying a beautiful story, I won't deny it
Par contre nos cris détruisent les murs de ton appartement	On the other hand our shouting knocks down the walls of your apartment
Pour atteindre l'amour qui meurt un peu plus à chaque instant	To reach the love that dies a bit more with each passing moment
[Chorus x2]	[Chorus x2]
Car ensemble rime avec désordre,	Because "together" rhymes with "chaos"
Et l'homme que tu es n'est plus que discorde	And the man that you are, is nothing more than strife
Car ce que tu es rime avec regret	Because what you are rhymes with "regret"
Pour ma part je n'ai que ceux qui restent à jamais	As for me, I'll only have those who will stay forever

Vocabulary:
The entire first verse is quite challenging so let’s go through it:

Côte contre côte: this is a play on words. “Côte à côte” means “side by side” but here she is using “contre” rather than “à”. So it directly translates as: “side against side” (contre = against). So I’ve translated it as “one against the other.”

les courses (fem.): races

dérive: drift
“à la dérive” translates as drifting.

“hors champ”: is a cinematic term that means “off-screen.” It literally means “outside the field” (as in the field of vision).

“Dans ces courses, sans dérive
On tombe presque hors champ”

This lyric is a bit complicated – let’s break it down.

What she is saying is that in their races they haven’t drifted (off the racecourse) but they have fallen out of view (off-screen). This is clearly metaphorical – what do you think she is referring to?

défoncer: This verb is used over and over again in this song. It has a few different translations, including:
to smash in
to demolish
to break (something) down
“tes rires qui défoncent”: Literally “your laughs which demolish”

réduire: to reduce
This verb can be used in French in many of the same ways that it is used in English, including: to reduce something to a pulp, or to reduce something to ashes.

“l’égo qui te prend”: l’égo = ego
The phrase “qu’est-ce qui te prend?” means “what’s wrong with you?”, so she is saying the this guy’s ego is what’s wrong with him. Literally I would translate this as: “the ego, which is what’s the matter with you.” I’ve chosen to translate it as “your giant ego” since I think it’s implicitly obvious that she considers his ego to be a problem. (Haven’t we all been there?)

Let’s look at this entire lyric since it’s pretty tough:

Et dans tes rires qui défoncent plus que l’égo qui te prend
Tu nous réduis à l’impossible dans tes tourments

I think it’s almost easier to read it as a sentence like this:
Et dans tes rires (qui défoncent plus que l’égo qui te prend) tu nous réduis à l’impossible dans tes tourments.

This translates as: “And in your laughs (which destroy more than your giant ego) you reduce us to the impossible in your torments.” That doesn’t really make sense, so let’s make it a bit more idiomatic:

“And your laughter (which is more destructive even than your ego) reduces us to the impossible with your tormenting.” I believe that in this context “tes tourments” refers to “torments” as jeers or harassment. In this case his laughter is tormenting the speaker.

If anyone has a better or clearer translation of these lines I am open to suggestions!

Don’t worry – the rest of the song is more straightforward!

gêne: shame – hence “sans gêne” = “without shame” or “shamelessly”

se défoncer: se défoncer means a few different things. In this context it means “to freak out” hence “tu te défonces” means “you freak out.” Se défoncer is also a slang term that can mean “to get high” (on drugs), but that is not how it is used in this song.

nier: to deny (tu ne le nieras pas = you will not deny it)

par contre: on the other hand, by contrast

désordre: mess, chaos

discorde: strife, discord

à jamais: forever, for life, forevermore

les mensonges (fem.): lies (untruths)

ternir: to tarnish

tes mensonges ternissent = “your lies tarnish”

tes mensonges ternissent l’homme que tu pourrais être = “your lies tarnish the man that you could be”

I think many of us have thought this about a man (or woman) in our lives, yes?

That’s all! Please feel free to ask questions in the comments. Let me know if there is a particular song that you would like to see translated!

More Coeur de Pirate Song Translations

Here is my translation and analysis of Coeur de Pirate’s hit single Comme des Enfants

Here’s my translation of Coeur de Pirate’s single Adieu (French lyrics and English translation).