Translating "Protège Moi" (......... - Tsumibito n

yprbest · Post by **yprbest** » Fri Mar 11, 2005 6:20 pm

KaneDragon wrote:Question: "The party is over and we descend // the thoughts that freeze the mind". Something just isn't right about this sentence. We descend the thoughts? Or should the sentence be: "The party is over and we descend. Thoughts freeze our minds?"

Mmm, I've had difficulty with that section of the song also; I believe that the two lines should be distinct from one another, but it's really quite hard to say.

I'm thinking that they may have just been being 'arty', putting in two interrelated sentences but not giving away the relationships between them: perhaps "we descend with thoughts that freeze our minds" is close to what they had in mind.

If only we could ask Placebo, eh!

KaneDragon · Post by **KaneDragon** » Fri Mar 11, 2005 6:46 pm

But as you said before, they could be making all this up.

It's time to get creative on these lines!

Moonlight Soldier · Post by **Moonlight Soldier** » Fri Mar 11, 2005 7:12 pm

Ok, does anyone know if those are the lyrics from cd jacket?

I don't know, but when I listen to the song, I catch a lot of homonyms, that could change the entire meaning.

If someone wants to post lyrics directly from the source, je pourrais aider

yprbest · Post by **yprbest** » Fri Mar 11, 2005 7:30 pm

Aye, that's a good point: I have difficulty picking up the lyrics in the song (mainly thanks to the lead singer's... er, 'interesting' accent), so I'm somewhat relying on t'internet for this.

Question is, does the CD sleeve actually include the lyrics anyway?

Moonlight Soldier · Post by **Moonlight Soldier** » Fri Mar 11, 2005 7:47 pm

Possible homonyms aside, you need to realize that there's like...colloquialisms as well, as turns of phrase from the french language. When <i> I </i> look at this, *Canadian French here*, I'd read it this way:

It's the current malaise(1)
A spreading epidemic
The party's over, we leave
With mind-numbing thoughts

Eyes lowered, grey faced
Ghosts from our bed rise (2)
We flip the latch to the gate
Of the hellhole (3) that we call home

Are we fate’s playthings
Remember the divine moments
High, we burst upon the morning(4)

And now we're all alone
Dreams of loving each other gone
Time we pissed away (5)
We have our whole life to cry
And now we're all alone

1- Malaise is an english word, it fits.
2- Probably a turn of phrase, that'd be how I interpret the meaning
3- taudit = hovel, slum, I feel hellhole implied

4- I really don't get that line
5- Pissed too harsh? That's the meaning I get.

Meh, where's Willow when you need him? lol, I'd like to see some the opinions of the other French editors.

KaneDragon · Post by **KaneDragon** » Sat Mar 12, 2005 1:04 pm

Sooo... which do we go with?:

The time when we were innocent
or
Time we wasted away

Roccket · Post by **Roccket** » Sat Mar 12, 2005 2:32 pm

It's more like "The time when we were innocent" for me.

KaneDragon · Post by **KaneDragon** » Mon Mar 14, 2005 4:25 pm

"Remember the divine moments" shouldn't be translated so literally. In English, I think "divine moments" is better expressed as something along the lines of "happy times." A much better alternative would be "Remember the times of joy," which also has the whole 7 syllables thing going for it. I went over my translation again to fit each of the stanzas to the 7776 syllable pattern. It works.

It's the disease of the age,
An epidemic that spreads,
The party done, we descend
With thoughts that freeze our minds.

Lowered eyes and gray faces,
Ghosts of our past awaken;
We throw the latch on the gate
To the slum we call home.

Maybe we're victims of fate-- (playthings, victims, give me a break.

)
Remember the times of joy:
Laughing into the morning,
And now we're all alone.

Dreams of our happiness lost,
Dreams of our innocence gone; (It's close enough.

)
We're left a lifetime to cry,
And now we're all alone.

How's that?

I do prefer the "The party done, we descend" line regardless.