A Une Passante
Little Nemo Lyrics


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La rue assourdissante autour de moi hurlait.
Longue, mince, en grand deuil, douleur majestueuse,
Une femme passa, d′une main fastueuse
Soulevant, balançant le feston et l'ourlet;

Agile et noble, avec sa jambe de statue.
Moi, je buvais, crispé comme un extravagant,
Dans son oeil, ciel livide où germe l′ouragan,
La douceur qui fascine et le plaisir qui tue.

Un éclair... puis la nuit! - Fugitive beauté
Dont le regard m'a fait soudainement renaître,
Ne te verrai-je plus que dans l'éternité?

Ailleurs, bien loin d′ici! trop tard! jamais peut-être!




Car j′ignore où tu fuis, tu ne sais où je vais,
Ô toi que j'eusse aimée, ô toi qui le savais!

Overall Meaning

The lyrics are from Little Nemo's song A Une Passante, which is based on the poem of the same name by French poet Charles Baudelaire. The lyrics describe the singer's encounter with a beautiful and sorrowful woman, who walks by him with majestic grief. She lifts her dress with a sumptuous hand, revealing the trim and hemline of her clothing, and moves with the agility and nobility of a statue.


The singer is captivated by the woman’s appearance, and he drinks in her beauty with intense fascination. He sees the storm brewing in her eyes, and is both drawn to the sweetness that fascinates him, and also the pleasure that could potentially kill him. An instant later, the woman disappears into the night, leaving the singer longing for her return.


The last stanza reveals the singer's hopelessness as he realizes that he may never see the woman again. He does not know where she is going, and she does not know where he is headed. The singer laments that he may never see her again, and wishes that they had loved each other when they had the chance.


Line by Line Meaning

La rue assourdissante autour de moi hurlait.
The loud, deafening street was screaming around me.


Longue, mince, en grand deuil, douleur majestueuse,
Tall, slim, mourning with majestic pain,


Une femme passa, d′une main fastueuse
A woman passed by, with a luxurious hand


Soulevant, balançant le feston et l'ourlet;
Lifting up, swaying the scalloped edge and hem;


Agile et noble, avec sa jambe de statue.
Agile and noble, with her statue-like leg.


Moi, je buvais, crispé comme un extravagant,
I drank, tense like an eccentric,


Dans son oeil, ciel livide où germe l′ouragan,
In her eye, a pale sky where the storm arises,


La douceur qui fascine et le plaisir qui tue.
The sweetness that fascinates and the pleasure that kills.


Un éclair... puis la nuit! - Fugitive beauté
A flash... and then the night! - Fugitive beauty


Dont le regard m'a fait soudainement renaître,
Whose gaze suddenly made me feel alive again,


Ne te verrai-je plus que dans l'éternité?
Will I see you only in eternity?


Ailleurs, bien loin d′ici! trop tard! jamais peut-être!
Elsewhere, far from here! Too late! Never maybe!


Car j′ignore où tu fuis, tu ne sais où je vais,
For I don't know where you're fleeing, you don't know where I'm going,


Ô toi que j'eusse aimée, ô toi qui le savais!
Oh you whom I might have loved, oh you who knew it!




Contributed by Thomas K. Suggest a correction in the comments below.
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Comments from YouTube:

@ledernierdesmohicans5123

j'ai jamais cesser d'aimer ce morceau! magnifique.

@pierregrandmonde7585

Superbe poème admirablement mis en musique

@phileduc6636

Tellement lointain et tellement intemporel ......interprétation somptueuse de la douceur baudelairienne......

@DELOSTE4374

super morceaux

@arnaudstephan-doukrou9342

Oh merci !

@clairelenoir

l'une vers dieu l'autre vers satan / lis Baudelaire, caresse ceux que tu aimes, fume des trucs, pense l'infini et fous la paix aux autres : culture française

@jeankuldieu5551

L' Une vers la Lune va , quand l' Autre vers son Là - bas . Avis à Tout tueur de cygnes ! _ Sur ce , mes lus humbles Respects ! ...

@jesaispas4320

4•c en force like si tu y appartiens

@lucasdepique2189

Coucou madame Donis

@clairelenoir

'une vers dieu l'autre vers satan / lis Baudelaire, caresse ceux que tu aimes, fume des trucs, pense l'infini et fous la paix aux autres : culture française

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