The nature of Love and 'Parole, Parole' in English

Near the end of June, I posted a video of 'Parole, Parole', one of my favourite songs, a popular duet by Alain Delon and Dalida. I only posted the original French lyrics. Today I realised I should have posted an English translation as well. It is such a wonderful, cynical and yet poignant love song. It is cleverly expressed as well.

There is always a problem in love. There are those who are compelled to speak their feelings, to attempt to describe them, to capture them in words. If not, there would be no great love poems or songs. On the other hand, there are those who fall in love with the idea of love and for whom, the expression of emotion in words is worth more than the actual reality of love.

Ultimately, the words of love are simple: 'I love you'. Nothing more, nothing less, and those words are meaningless if they are not founded on intention and action.

The woman in the song is weary of the dramatic expression of love without any real intention or action. The man glories in his depiction of romance and love without having any idea of what his 'beloved' actually feels. 'If you didn't exist, I'd have to invent you,' he declares.

No wonder she rejects his protestations... If only he simply had taken her in his arms and whispered his love while demonstrating the reality.

Nonetheless, being Alain Delon and Dalida, 'Paroles, Paroles' remains a very appealing 'love song'.

He: It's strange. I don't know what has come over me this evening. I look at you as for the first time.'

She: Words again, always words, the same words, nothing but words.

He: I don't know how to tell you but you are this beautiful story of love that I never stop reading:

You are yesterday and tomorrow,
Always my sole Truth.

She: Easy words, fragile words, too beautiful, Yes, very much too beautiful!
But the time of dreams is finished, the memories have withered also when one forgets them.

He: You are like the wind that makes the violins sing, and carries from far the perfume of roses.

She: Caramels, bonbons and chocolate.

He: At this moment, I do not understand you...

She: No thanks for me, but you can well offer them to another who loves the wind and the parfume of roses, For me, tender words enrobed in gentleness are placed next to my mouth but never my heart.

He: 'One more word'

She: Words, words, words

He: One more word

She: 'Words, words, words

He: Listen to me

She: Words, words, words

He: I beg you

She: Words, words, words

He: I swear to you

She: Words, words, words, again words that you cast on the winds.

He: Here is my destiny: to speak to you, to speak to you as for the first time.

She: Again words, always words, the same words, nothing but words

He: How I would love that you would understand me, that you would listen to me at least one time.

She: Magical words, tactical words, that sound false, yes, so false...

He: You are my forbidden dream, My only torment and my unique hope.

She: Nothing stops you once you start. If you only knew how I envy a little silence!

He: You are for me the only music that makes the stars dance on the dunes.

She: Caramels, bonbons and chocolates

He: If you did not exist, I would invent you!

She: No thanks for me, but you can well offer them to another who loves the stars on the dunes. For me tender words enrobed in sweetness, I place them on my mouth but never on my heart.

Words, words, words

He: One more word, only one word

She: Words, words, words

He: Listen to me

She: Words, words, words

He: I beg you

She: Words, words, words

He: I swear to you:

Oh how beautiful you are!

She: Words, words, words

He: Oh how beautiful you are!

She: Words, words, words, again words that you cast on the winds.

N.B. The actual song with lyrics in French is posted below.

'Parole parole' by Dalida and Alain Delon

'Parole, Parole' by Alain Delon and Dalida

I always considered this one of the greatest love songs of all time, mainly because of the combination of Alain Delon and Dalida. The song is in the form of a dialogue or rather two monologues between a man and a woman. He is obsessed with the need to communicate his emotions in poetic words, but she really has had enough of pretty words...



Photographic tribute to Dalida set to 'Paroles, paroles'

'Parole Parole'

Here is the text. It is in the form of a dialogue between a man and a woman:

Lui: C'est etrange. Je n'sais pas ce que m'arrive ce soir,
Je te regarde comme pour la premiere fois.

Elle: Encore des mots, toujours des mots, les memes mots,
Rien que des mots.

Lui: Je n'sais plus comme te dire
Mais tu es cette belle histoire d'amour que je ne cesserai jamais de lire.
Tu es d'hier et de demain
De toujours ma seule verite.

Elle: Des mot faciles, des mots fragiles,
C'etait trop beau, Oui, bien bien trop beau.
Mais c'est fini le temps des reves,
Les souvenir se fanent aussi quand on les oublie.

Lui: Tu es comme le vent
qui fait chanter les violins,
Et emporte au loin le parfum des roses.

Elle: Caramels bonbons et chocolats,

Lui: Par moment je ne te comprends pas,

Elle: Merci pas pour moi,
Mais tu peux bien les offrir a une autre
Qui aime le vent et le parfum des roses.
Moi les mots tendres enrobes de douceur
se posent sur my bouche mais jamais sur mon coeur.

Lui: Par moment je ne te comprends pas:

Une parole encore

Elle: Parole parole parole

Lui: Une parole encore

Elle: Parole parole parole

Lui: Ecoute moi

Elle: Parole parole parole

Lui: Je t'en pris

Elle: Parole parole parole

Lui: Je te jure

Elle: Parole parole parole
encore des paroles que tu semes au vent.

Lui: Voila mon destin: te parler, te parler comme pour la premiere fois.

Elle: Encore des mots, toujours des mots, les memes mots,
Rien que des mois.

Lui: Comme j'aimerais que tu comprennes
Que tu m'ecoutes au moins une fois.

Elle: De mots magiques des mots tactiques
qui sonnent faux, oui tellement faux.

Lui: Tu es mon reve defendu
Mon seul tourment et mon unique esperance.

Elle: Rien ne t'arrete quand tu commences
Si tu savais comme j'ai envie d'un peu de silence.

Lui: Tu es pour moi la seule musique
qui fait danser les etoiles sur les dunes.

Elle: Caramels, bonbons et chocolats

Lui: Si tu n'existais pas deja je t'inventerais

Elle: Merci pas pour moi
Mais tu peux bien less offrir a une autre
qui aime les etoiles sur les dunes
Moi les mot tendres enrobes de douceur
se posent sur my bouche mais jamais sur mon coeur.

Elle: Parole parole parole

Lui: Encore un mot juste une parole

Elle: Parole parole parole

Lui: Ecoute-moi

Parole parole parole

Lui: Je t'en pris

Elle: Parole parole parole

Lui: Je te jure

Lui: Que tu es belle

Elle: Parole parole parole

Lui: Que tu es belle

Elle: Parole parole parole
encore des paroles que tu semes au vent.

N.B. I don't know how to add the accents in French using the keyboard.

Francoise Hardy

'Tous les garcons et les filles'

Tous les garcons et les fille de mon age
Se promenant dans la rue deux par deux;
Tous les garcons et les filles de mon age
savent bien ce que c'est d'etre heureux.

Et les yeux dans les yeux et la main dans la main
Its s'en vont amoureux sans peur du lendemain
Oui, mais moi, je vais seule par les rues, l'en peine,
Oui, mais moi, je vais seule, car personne ne m'aime.'





'All Over the World' by Francoise Hardy

'All over the world, people must meet and part,
There's some one like me feeling the pain in their heart.
Some may meet again under that same bright star
If maybe some night you come back from afar,
Who cares if tonight I don't know where you are.

Are you thinking of me now,
Missing having me around?
If you have forgotten me,
My world will come tumbling down.

All over the world, others are sad tonight,
There's some one like me watching the sun's fading light.
All over the sky, there is the same warm glow
Here under that star I'm wanting you to know
Wherever you are, that I still love you so.'

(To my first love... you know who you are, in whatever world you inhabit now. I remember sitting in an attic window in Paris one Easter, listening to this song and thinking about you... so far away. Innocent, innocent days... So far away now both in time and space that we could never touch that place again.)



'Ton Meilleur Ami'

All these songs are about first love, young love...

Dalida

Dalida sings 'O Sole Mio'

Dalida was an extraordinary woman. Born in Cairo of Italian heritage, she grew up in a musical family. Her father was a violinist with the Cairo Opera. The future diva suffered from very poor vision but determined that she would rather see the world as a blur than allow eyeglasses to mar her appearance. (This was long before the advent of contact lenses!) To her conservative family's dismay, she became 'Miss Egypt' at the age of 19. She went to Paris against the wishes of her family, determined to make a name for herself. The entire world knows how this tale ends. Dalida became one of the great stars of the European music scene. Her headstrong nature, coupled with a deep longing for romance, kept her from true happiness, however, despite her extraordinary musical success throughout her life. On 3 May 1987, Dalida committed suicide. 'Saint Dalida' remains rather a cult figure.



'Pour te dire je t'aime' sung by Dalida

Ghita: Love in Romania

I created this webpage after watching a Romanian video featuring a three year old girl named Cleopatra Stratan. Her father is a popular singer in Romania. The little girl's performance became an international sensation. The song is 'Ghita', and is in the form of a traditional folksong. It prompted me to think about love in all its manifestations, especially as described in folk art throughout the world.




'My jacket hangs on the hook,
There is no sun outside
And nothing good in the field.
I'm thinking of Ghita.
I was asking about you,
But it seems you left
To find food to live.
It's hard for me, so very hard.
It's hard...
But I don't know what I want.
I know you like me too.
Ghita, tell me what you're doing.

Either come to me,
Say yes or no,
I beg you, don't make me mad.
Ghita, what's going on in your life?

Refrain:
Ghita,
I'm waiting for you at the little gate
Next to the gate of the school.
Come, but not the way you did before,
Empty-handed.
Who
Would wait for you the way I do?
The whole night only for you,
Ghita.
Show me a girl
Who would love you as much as I do.'

I am not certain why I found this little song so appealing, even touching. Perhaps it reminds me of the plight of refugees everywhere, the universal pain of separation and the undefined longing of innocence. The video, although it is quite good, has a rather homespun quality to it that reinforces its genuine appeal.