Jacques Brel - Jaures
Ils taient uss quinze ans
Ils finissaient en dbutant
Les douze mois s'appelaient dcembre
Quelle vie ont eu nos grands-parents
Entre l'absinthe et les grand-messes
Ils taient vieux avant que d'tre
Quinze heures par jour le corps en laisse
Laisse au visage un teint de cendre
Oui, notre Monsieur oui notre bon Matre
Pourquoi ont-ils tu Jaurs?
Pourquoi ont-ils tu Jaurs?
On ne peut pas dire qu'ils furent esclaves
De l dire qu'ils ont vcu
Lorsque l'on part aussi vaincu
C'est dur de sortir de l'enclave
Et pourtant l'espoir fleurissait
Dans les rves qui montaient aux yeux
Des quelques ceux qui refusaient
De ramper jusqu' la vieillesseJacques Brel - Jaures - http://motolyrics.com/jacques-brel/jaures-lyrics-english-translation.html
Oui notre bon Matre oui notre Monsieur
Pourquoi ont-ils tu Jaurs?
Pourquoi ont-ils tu Jaurs?
Si par malheur ils survivaient
C'tait pour partir la guerre
C'tait pour finir la guerre
Aux ordres de quelques sabreurs
Qui exigeaient du bout des lvres
Qu'ils aillent ouvrir au champ d'horreur
Leurs vingt ans qui n'avaient pu natre
Et ils mouraient pleine peur
Tout misreux oui notre bon Matre
Couvert de prtres oui notre Monsieur
Demandez-vous belle jeunesse
Le temps de l'ombre d'un souvenir
Le temps du souffle d'un soupir
Pourquoi ont-ils tu Jaurs?
Pourquoi ont-ils tu Jaurs?
Jacques Brel - Jaures (English translation)
At 15, they were already tired as old men
Their lives were over from the very start
Each month was like december
What a life our grandparents had
Drinking absinthe and attending high masses...
They were old before being borne
When your body's leashed 15 hours a day
It leaves your face grey as ash
Yes our Sir, yes our good Master
Why did they kill Jaurès?
Why did they kill Jaurès?
They were not exactly slaves
But I wouldn't venture to say they were free
Because they were so weak when dying
It's hard to go out of such a prison
Yet hope was blooming
In the dreams that were growing in the eyes
Of the some who refusedJacques Brel - Jaures - http://motolyrics.com/jacques-brel/jaures-lyrics-english-translation.html
To be servants until being old
Yes our Sir, yes our good Master
Why did they kill Jaurès?
Why did they kill Jaurès?
If unfortunately they survived to their job
They had to go to war
They had to die during the war
Under the orders of some swordsman
Who would relunctantly demand
They open a bloody battlefield
Before being over 20 years old
And they would die all scared
All wretched, yes, our good Master
Covered with horsetails*, yes our Sir
Ask yourselves, you nice youth
Within the shadow of a memory
Within the heaving of a sigh
Why did they kill Jaurès?
Why did they kill Jaurès?