Charles Aznavour
Les Chercheurs d’or lyrics with English translation
- Language
- French
- Level
- Intermediate
- Released
- 1955
- Genre
- French Pop, Ballad
- Length
- 3:08
La longue horde de charriots
The long horde of wagons
Trace des sillons dans la terre
Leaves deep furrows in the ground
Et le galop de ces cheveaux
And the gallop of these horses
Dans un grand bruit de sabots
Makes a great sound of hooves
Fait tourbillonner la poussière
Whirls up the dust
Ya, ya hue
Ya, ya hue
Les hommes de tous les pays
The men from every land
Qui conduisent ces attelages
Who drive these teams
Ont quitté familles et amis
Have left family and friends
Et d'un élan sont partis
And with one impulse, they set off
Courant au devant d'un mirage
Running towards a mirage
Hi, han, hue
Hi, han, hue
Claque ton fouet, frappe ta bête
Crack your whip, strike your beast
Marche ou crève mais non de non
Walk or die but no means no
Arrange-toi pour être en tête
Get yourself up front
Et tomber sur le bon filon
And hit upon the right vein
On a trouvé de l'or, disait les journaux
We found gold, said the newspapers
En première page et le cri se répercutait
On the front page and the cry echoed
Ricochait et s'élançait de ville en ville et en village
Bouncing and soaring from town to town and village
Hue, hue donc
Hue, hue then
Hommes simples ou aventuriers
Simple men or adventurers
Le coeur débordant d'espérence
With hearts overflowing with hope
Partirent en tête pour toucher, pour voir et pour posséder
They set off ahead to touch, to see, and to possess
Ce qu'ils croyaient être leur chance
What they believed to be their chance
Ya, ya hue
Ya, ya hue
Claque ton fouet, frappe ta bête
Crack your whip, strike your beast
Marche ou crève mais non de non
Walk or die, but not from no
Arrange-toi pour être en tête
Get yourself to the front
Et tomber sur le bon filon
And stumble upon the right vein
Marche forcée, course éperdue
Forced march, frantic race
Faut avancer coûte que coûte
We must move forward at any cost
Très peu arriverons au but
Very few will make it to the goal
Affaiblis, déçus et rompus
Weakened, disappointed, and broken
Beaucoup tomberont sur les routes
Many will fall along the way
Ya, ya hue
Ya, ya hue
Tous les traîneurs qui crèveront
All the laggards who will perish
Iront à la fosse commune
Will end up in a mass grave
Et très peu s'en retourneront
And very few will return
Riches et remplis d'illusions
Rich and filled with illusions
Après avoir trouvé fortune
After having found fortune
Ya, hue ya
Ya, hue ya
Claque ton fouet, frappe ta bête
Crack your whip, hit your beast
Marche ou crève mais non de non
Walk or die, but no way no
Arrange-toi pour être en tête
Get yourself to be in the lead
Et tomber sur le bon filon
And hit the right vein
Lyrics powered by www.musixmatch.com
Key vocabulary
- amis
- friendsA1
- avancer
- advanceA1
- charriots
- carts
- sillons
- furrowsB2
- galop
- gallopB2
- cheveaux
- horses
- sabots
- clogsB1
- tourbillonner
- swirl
- poussière
- dustA2
- ya
- alreadyC2
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About this song
Charles Aznavour was a French-Armenian singer and actor whose music blended French chanson with Eastern European folk, American jazz, tango, and Middle Eastern influences. He was known for a long-running career marked by thousands of recordings and his songwriting, composing or co-composing over a thousand songs for himself and other artists.