Les Barbares
Bernard Lavilliers Lyrics

Les Barbares habitaient dans les angles tranchants
In the secluded cities, where businesses did not exist, lived a group of people known as The Barbarians, who seemed to inhabit the sharp corners and edges of the place.

Des cités exilées au large des business
These cities were nowhere near the bustling corporate world, and seemed to exist in isolation.

Ils rivaient leurs blousons d'étranges firmaments
The Barbarians had unique clothing adorned with a strange, imaginative sky.

Où luisaient la folie, la mort et la jeunesse
This bizarre sky symbolized youth, death, and madness.

La nuit, le haut fourneau mijotait ses dollars
At night, the furnaces would produce money among the city.

La fumée ruisselait sur nos casques rouillés
This caused a smoky atmosphere that would cover everything with rust and dust.

Dans le vestiaire cradingue, cinq minutes volées
In the locker room five minutes were snatched quickly, to escape from the smoke, fire, noise, despair.

À la fumée, au feu, au bruit, au désespoir
This escape was due to the smoke, fire, thudding noise, and despair that surrounded them.

Ils rêvaient de tropiques, des tropiques tropicaux
The Barbarians dreamed of tropical places, with warm waters and dangerous forests.

Pleins d'eau à trente degrés, pleins de forêts sanglantes
These places had water that was 30 degrees warm, and dark, bloody forests.

Ils rêvaient de corail, d'amour, de sable chaud
Their dreams were of coral beaches, love, and hot sands.

Épinal leur fourguait ses images en partance
However, reality was far from these dreamy aspirations.

Le fils du patron venait nous visiter
The son of the boss would visit them occasionally.

Au sortir du night-club avec de jolies femmes
He would leave nightclubs with beautiful women and stare at The Barbarians.

Il nous regardait faire, essayait d'estimer
His gaze tried to estimate their rise, maturity, and warmth.

La montée de la courbe, la chaleur de la flamme
He tried to understand their progress, and the warmth of their passion.

Bourgeois adolescents aux mythes ouvriers
The story of these young men was both bourgeois and of labor.

Militants acharnés de ce rêve qui bouge
These young men worked assiduously for a dream that wouldn’t stand still.

Qui seraient un beau jour de gauche ou bien rangés (bien rangés, ouais)
They would one day become a part of the Left or fit in a regular society.

Tricolores et tranquilles, la zone, c'était rouge
Yet in the harsh, unforgiving city, their jackets shone brightly among the red alleys.

La noirceur des blousons nous faisait des étés
The darkness of their jackets made their summers gloomy.

Sombres comme les fleurs de nos arbres acryliques
Their flowers, covered with acrylic resin, seemed dark like the rest of the city.

Nous déroulions nos chaînes, essayant de décrocher
These young men tried to free themselves from their chains but struggled.

La montée de l'amour, de la paix, de la musique
Their rise was into love, peace, and music.

Quand le car avalait sa ration de six heures
When they returned home for their six-hour break.

De mains brulées, de silicoses et de gros rouge
Their hands burnt, diseased caused by dust, they sat and drank the cheap, red wine.

Nous rentrions vidés dans nos cuisines, seuls
They go back home washed out and empty, with nobody to share their feelings.

Un sourire, un café, la douche, rien ne bouge
After a smiling face, a coffee, and a shower, nothing changes.

La radio tapinait à l'étage inférieur
The music downstairs wasn't good or ethical.

On dormait dans l'enzyme et dans le carrefour
They slept in the midst of destruction and confusion.

Puis nos têtes plongeaient vers des mondes meilleurs
Their minds would drift into better, more peaceful, and joyful places.

Nos mamans affairées voyaient baisser le jour
Their busy mothers would witness the day fade into darkness.

Oh, mon amour, emporte-moi
Oh, my love, take me away

Emporte-moi loin de la zone
Take me far away from the city

Vers des pays chagrins, vers des pays faciles
Towards countries with pain, or towards more comfortable countries.

Vers des pays dociles
Towards more obedient countries.