Jacques Brel
Vieillir lyrics with English translation
- Language
- French
- Level
- Intermediate
- Released
- 1977
- Genre
- Ballad, French Pop
- Length
- 3:44
Mourir en rougissant
Dying while blushing
Suivant la guerre qu'il fait
Following the war that he wages
Du fait des Allemands
Because of the Germans
À cause des Anglais
Because of the English
Mourir baiseur intègre
Dying an honest lover
Entre les seins d'une grosse
Between the breasts of a big one
Contre les os d'une maigre
Against the bones of a thin one
Dans un cul de basse-fosse
In a dungeon's rear-end
Mourir de frissonner
Dying from shivering
Mourir de se dissoudre
Dying from dissolving
De se racrapoter
Crouching down
Mourir de se découdre
Dying from unraveling
Ou terminer sa course
Or finishing its race
La nuit de ses cent ans
The night of its hundred years
Vieillard tonitruant
Thunderous old man
Soulevé pas quelques femmes
Lifted by a few women
Cloué à la Grande Ourse
Pinned to the Great Bear
Cracher sa dernière dent
Spitting out his last tooth
En chantant Amsterdam
While singing Amsterdam
Mourir cela n'est rien
Dying is nothing
Mourir la belle affaire
Dying, what a beautiful affair
Mais vieillir
But aging
Ô vieillir
Oh aging
Mourir, mourir de rire
Dying, dying of laughter
C'est possiblement vrai
It’s possibly true
D'ailleurs la preuve en est
Moreover, the proof is
Qu'ils n'osent plus trop rire
That they don’t dare laugh too much anymore
Mourir de faire le pitre
Dying from being a clown
Pour dérider le désert
To lighten up the desert
Mourir face au cancer
Dying in the face of cancer
Par arrêt de l'arbitre
By order of the referee
Mourir sous le manteau
To die under the cloak
Tellement anonyme
So anonymous
Tellement incognito
So incognito
Que meurt un synonyme
That a synonym dies
Ou terminer sa course
Or to end its course
La nuit de ses cent ans
On the night of his hundred years
Vieillard tonitruant
Thunderous old man
Soulevé par quelques femmes
Lifted by a few women
Cloué à la Grande Ourse
Pinned to the Great Bear
Cracher sa dernière dent
Spitting out your last tooth
En chantant Amsterdam
While singing Amsterdam
Mourir cela n'est rien
Dying, that's nothing
Mourir la belle affaire
Dying, what a grand affair
Mais vieillir
But getting old
Ô vieillir
Oh, getting old
Mourir couvert d'honneur
Dying covered in honor
Et ruisselant d'argent
And dripping with silver
Asphyxié sous les fleurs
Asphyxiated under the flowers
Mourir en monument
Dying as a monument
Mourir au bout d'une blonde
To die at the end of a blonde
Là où rien ne se passe
Where nothing happens
Où le temps nous dépasse
Where time surpasses us
Où le lit tombe en tombe
Where the bed falls into a grave
Mourir insignifiant
To die insignificant
Au fond d'une tisane
At the bottom of an herbal tea
Entre un médicament
Between a medicine
Et un fruit qui se fane
And a fruit that withers
Ou terminer sa course
Or to finish its course
La nuit de ses mille ans
On the night of its thousand years
Vieillard tonitruant
Thunderous old man
Soulevé par quelques femmes
Lifted by a few women
Cloué à la Grande Ourse
Pinned to the Great Bear
Cracher sa dernière dent
Spitting out his last tooth
En chantant Amsterdam
While singing Amsterdam
Mourir cela n'est rien
To die is nothing
Mourir la belle affaire
To die, what a fine matter
Mais vieillir
But to grow old
Ô vieillir
Oh, to grow old
Lyrics powered by www.musixmatch.com
Key vocabulary
- mourir
- dieA1
- cent
- hundredB1
- faire
- doB1
- frissonner
- shiverB1
- maigre
- thinB1
- manteau
- coatB1
- os
- boneB1
- preuve
- proofB1
- seins
- breastsB1
- soulevé
- raisedB1
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About this song
Jacques Brel was a Belgian singer, songwriter, and actor associated with lyric-driven French-language chanson. He was known for theatrical vocal delivery and character-driven songs, and his work influenced artists such as David Bowie, Scott Walker, and Marc Almond.