Mont-Saint-Michel
The Box Lyrics


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Spectacle sombre et mystérieux,
malgré le ciel d'or et d'acier,
s'élevant au milieu des sables
une montagne...étrange

Rocher d'un monde surnaturel
supportant la petite cité
dominée par la grande église,
l'abbaye du Mont-Saint-Michel.

Labyrinthe de ruelles
et d'escaliers tordus
de passerelles en clochers
qui lancent dans le ciel,
dans le ciel noir des nuits
tant de flèches hérissées
de chimères, de démons,
de diables et de bêtes infernales...

Le moine me raconta longtemps
toutes les vieilles histoires de ce lieu.
Des légendes bien sûr, des légendes
mais l'une d'elles me parut curieuse.

Les gens du pays, ceux du Mont
prétendent qu'on entend la nuit
bêler deux chèvres dans les sables,
ou seraient-ce des plaintes humaines...?

Les pêcheurs attardés
jurent avoir aperçu
un berger sans visage
conduisant devant lui
un bouc à figure d'homme
et une femme à tête de chèvre
se querellant sans cesse...
...dans une langue inconnue.

Y croyez-vous...?

Prenez le vent,
cette force invisible
qui renverse les arbres,
soulève les océans
et envoie par le fond
navires petits et grands,
l'avez-vous déjà vu ?
Il existe pourtant, il existe...

Mais s'il existait sur terre
d'autres êtres que nous,
ne les aurait-on pas vus déjà ?
Ne les connaîtrions-nous pas ?

Mais en ce monde
où l'on n'est sûr de rien jamais,
puisque la lumière elle-même
n'est qu'illusion,
nous ne comprendrons guère




plus que ce que l'on voit...
Le vieil homme lisait dans mes pensées...

Overall Meaning

The lyrics to The Box's song Mont-Saint-Michel describe the mysterious and dark spectacle of the Mont-Saint-Michel, despite the backdrop of a golden and steel sky. The song paints a picture of a world beyond the natural, with its supernatural rock formations that support the small town and the great church, the Abbey of Mont-Saint-Michel. The town is described as a labyrinth of alleys and twisted stairs, with bridges leading to towers that rise into the black sky of the night, adorned with spires of chimeras, demons, devils, and infernal beasts.


The song lyrically tells the tale of an old monk who tells the singer of the legends of Mont-Saint-Michel, including the one about the sounds of two goats or plaintive human cries at night. The fishers claim to have seen a faceless shepherd leading a goat with a human face and a woman with a goat's head arguing in an unknown language. The song ends with a poetic contemplation on the existence of creatures that we may not have seen or understood yet in the world we live in.


The lyrics to Mont-Saint-Michel are a poetic ode to the natural, supernatural and the reality of the world we live in. It highlights the beauty and mystery of Mont-Saint-Michel and its inhabitants, and points out the limits of human understanding of the world.


Line by Line Meaning

Spectacle sombre et mystérieux,
A dark and mysterious sight, despite the golden and steel sky, rising up in the middle of sands... a strange mountain.


Rocher d'un monde surnaturel
A rock from a supernatural world, supporting the small town dominated by the large church, the abbey of Mont-Saint-Michel.


Labyrinthe de ruelles
A maze of alleys and twisted stairs, of walkways and bell towers that send into the sky, into the black sky of nights, so many spikes bristling with chimeras, demons, devils and infernal beasts...


Le moine me raconta longtemps
The monk told me for a long time all the old stories of this place. Legends of course, legends, but one of them seemed curious to me.


Les gens du pays, ceux du Mont
The people from the area, those from Mont-Saint-Michel, claim that at night they hear two goats bleating in the sands, or could they be human moans...?


Les pêcheurs attardés
The lingering fishermen swear they have seen a faceless shepherd leading a goat with a human face and a woman with a goat's head, constantly bickering... in an unknown language.


Y croyez-vous...?
Do you believe it...?


Prenez le vent,
Take the wind, this invisible force that knocks down trees, lifts oceans, and sends ships small and large to the bottom. Have you seen it? Yet it exists, it exists...


Mais s'il existait sur terre
But if there were other beings than us on this earth, wouldn't we have seen them already? Wouldn't we know them?


Mais en ce monde
But in this world, where we are never sure of anything, since even light itself is but an illusion, we will understand little more than what we see... The old man read my thoughts.




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