On s’attache – Christophe Maé. French lyrics and English translation.

This song was the lead single off Mon Paradis by Christophe Maé. I find it incredibly catchy, and probably a bit insightful. Video, French lyrics, and English translation and explanation of phrases, after the jump.

An explanation of the vocabulary and phrases after the lyrics and translation.

French	English
[Couplet 1]	[Verse 1]
J’ai pas le style	I have no style
Pourtant pas hostile	But I'm not hostile
Mais c’est pas pour moi le costard uniforme	But a business suit is not for me
J’ai pas l’intégral	I don't have it in me
Du gendre idéal	To be the perfect son-in-law
J’aurai toujours l’impression qu’on m'espionne	I would always be under the impression that they're spying on me
Pourtant pas contre l'amour	However, I'm not against love
Je s’rais même plutôt pour	I would be all for it
Mais c'est pas pour autant qu'il faut	But it doesn't necessarily mean
[CHORUS]	[CHORUS]
Qu'on s'attache	That we become attached
Et qu'on s'empoisonne	And that we poison ourselves
Avec une flèche	With an arrow
Qui nous illusionne	Which deceives us
Faut pas qu’on s’attache	Musn't become attached
Et qu’on s’emprisonne	And imprison eachother
Mais rien n'empêche	But nothing prevents
Que l’on s’abandonne… NON	Us from abandoning one another
[Couplet 2]	[Verse 2]
D’un chef de file	I don't have the profile
J'en ai pas le profil	Of a leader
Mais sur l’oreiller j’aime pas qu’on me questionne	But during pillow talk I don't like to be asked about it
Je suis pas James Bond	I'm not James Bond
Entouré de belles blondes	Surrounded by pretty blondes
J’envie même pas les hommes qui papillonnent	I don't envy the men that play the field
Pourtant pas contre l'amour	But I'm not against love
J'attends plutôt mon tour	Rather, I'm waiting for my turn
Mais c'est pas pour autant qu'il faut	But it doesn't necessarily mean
[CHORUS]	[CHORUS]
On le sait bien	We know it well
Le quotidien, ça nous tue, ça nous tient	The status-quo, it kills us, it keeps us
Ça nous fait mal	It's not good for us
Rien de plus normal	Nothing could be more normal
Mais tu t’enfiles dans la file	But you gulp it down in the queue
Mais faut pas qu’tu dépasses	But you had better not overtake it
A chaque fois, qu’tu resquilles, mais t’es qui?	Each time you jump the queue
T'es pas normal	"But who are you?
	You're not normal"
CHORUS x 2
(In the background: C'est beau l'amour	CHORUS X2
J'attends mon tour)	(In the background: Love is beautiful
	I'm waiting for my turn)

Vocabulary:

le coustard uniforme: literally “the uniform suit,” this refers to a men’s business suit.

“j’ai pas l’intégrale”: This phrase is a bit tricky. Literally it means something like “I don’t have the full set.” But in the context of “J’ai pas l’intégrale du gendre idéal” it means “I don’t have everything that an ideal son-in-law has.” Hence I have chosen to translate this phrase as: “I don’t have it in me, to be the ideal son-in-law.”

le gendre: of course means “son-in-law.”

espionner: to spy
qu’on m’espionne: that they spy on me

c’est pas pour autant qu’il faut: This is another challenging phrase. “c’est pas pour autant” translates as “it is not provided” (provided as in “on the assumption that” or “on the condition that”). And “qu’il faut” of course means “need to.” So “mais c’est pas pour autant qu’il faut qu’on s’attache” means “it is not provided that we need to become attached to eachother.” I have chosen to translate this somewhat (I hope) more elegantly as: “But it doesn’t necessarily mean, that we become attached” in the hopes that this captures the meaning.

l’oreiller (masc.): pillow

“Mais sur l’oreiller j’aime pas qu’on me questionne”: Literally this translates as “but on the pillow I don’t like that they question me.” In this context I believe that he means “pillow talk” when he says “on the pillow.” Since “but” is a conjunction, we assume that he is referring to his earlier statement that he “doesn’t have the profile of a leader” and this is what he does not want to be questioned about.

papillonner: to flit from one thing, or one person, to another without ever fixing on one. The noun “papillon” means butterfly, so you can see that “papillonner” is to act like a butterfly, flitting from flower to flower. We don’t have a similar word in English (that I know of), so I chose the phrase “to play the field” as the translation.

le quotidien: the daily, the status-quo, the daily grind.

s’enfiler: To down, to swallow quickly. I will admit that I am a bit confused by the line “Mais tu t’enfiles dans le file.” It rhymes well obviously, but I think what he means is the “you gulp down the status-quo while you stand in line.”

dépasser: to pass, to overtake, to outstrip, to surpass

resquiller: to jump the queue.