L'Elephant
Tom Tom Club Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
corrections, notes and English translation by Tina Weymouth]
L'éléphant et l'hippopotame
(Se) Sont déguisés en hommes.
(Ils) Ont marché au beau village,
Marché, marché, marché, marché.
Des enfants des hommes,
Et des femmes qui courraient
Courraient, courraient, courraient, courraient.
Tout en courrant, les femmes pleuraient
Pleuraient des grosses larmes
Grosses gouttes, grosses larmes
Tombaient, tombaient, tombaient, tombaient.
L'éléphant et l'hippopotame
Voulaient savoir ce qu'elles avaient
Voulaient savoir la raison qu'elles
Pleuraient, pleuraient, pleuraient, pleuraient.
Un enfant, tout terrifié,
S'est arrêté pour leur parler.
Sa bouche ouvrait, mais il est resté
Muet, muet, muet, muet.
*Enlevez vos costumes bêtes,
Leur chantaient les oiseaux.
**Gobe-mouches pipits, chouettes et hiboux
Chantaient, chantaient, chantaient, chantaient:
C'est la guerre, la guerre des hommes.
Ils se sont disputés.
Tout autour, ils veulent tuer,
Tuer, tuer, tuer, tuer.
Tuer, tuer, tuer, tuer.
Tuer, tuer, tuer, tuer.
Tuer, tuer, tuer, tuer.
Tuer, tuer, tuer, tuer.
**************************************************
*Bêtes is plural for bête, which means beast, animal,
or dumb creature. It also means silly, stupid, dumb,
or idiotic. Since the animals are dressed as men,
this is a play on words.
**In ornithology, gobe-mouches pipits are fly-catching
tit-larks, or pipits, a species of bird. In botany,
un gobe-mouches is defined as a fly-trap. Gobe-mouches
also translates into simpleton, fool, gull, dupe, sap
or, in slang, as sucker. This is another play on words.
**************************************************
THE ELEPHANT (translation into English)
The elephant and the hippopotamus
Disguised themselves as men.
They walked to the beautiful village,
Walked, walked, walked, walked
On the path, they met
The children of men
And women, who were running,
Running, running, running, running
As they ran, the women were crying,
Crying fat tears.
Large drops, big fat tears, were
Falling, falling, falling, falling
The elephant and the hippopotamus
Wanted to know what was the matter,
Wanted to know the reason they were
Crying, crying, crying, crying.
A terrified child
Stopped to speak with them.
His mouth opened, but he remained
Mute, mute, mute, mute.
*"Take off your foolish/beastly costumes,"
Sang to them the birds.
**Pipits, screech owls, and owls were
Singing, singing, singing, singing:
"It is war, the war of men.
They have quarreled among themselves.
All around, they want to kill,
Kill, kill, kill, kill"
Kill, kill, kill, kill
Kill, kill, kill, kill
Kill, kill, kill, kill
Kill, kill, kill, kill
The lyrics to Tom Tom Club's song L'Elephant are a commentary on war and the destructive nature of violence. The song tells the story of two animals, an elephant and a hippopotamus, who disguise themselves as humans and enter a village only to find that the air is thick with fear and sadness. When they encounter a child who is too scared to speak, they turn to the birds for answers. The birds sing to them that there is a war going on between men, who have quarreled among themselves, and that killing is rampant. The theme is one of empathy, the animals are not understood when they try to communicate with the humans, and the birds offer them an explanation they could not find on their own.
The use of animals as the main characters is a clever metaphor for the situation. The animals are outsiders who do not belong, but they are also capable of seeing the situation clearly, so they are valuable observers. The lyrics reveal the way people often don't see what is happening around them until it's too late. The crying women and the silent child show this. Through this song, Tina Weymouth and Chris Frantz illustrate how war is foolish and destructive, and shows how it is the innocent who are the ones who suffer.
Line by Line Meaning
The elephant and the hippopotamus disguised themselves as men.
The animals wore human clothes and tried to blend in with humans.
They walked to the beautiful village.
They traveled to a nice village.
On the path, they met the children of men and women, who were running.
On the way, they met men, women, and children who were in a hurry.
As they ran, the women were crying, crying fat tears.
The women were weeping tears of sadness as they rushed.
The elephant and the hippopotamus wanted to know what was the matter.
The animals were curious about why the people were upset.
A terrified child stopped to speak with them. His mouth opened, but he remained mute.
A frightened child talked to the animals but was too scared to say anything.
"Take off your foolish/beastly costumes," sang to them the birds.
The birds told the animals to take their clothes off, which made them look foolish, as they were animals.
"It is war, the war of men. They have quarreled among themselves. All around, they want to kill, kill, kill, kill."
The people were fighting, and they wanted to hurt and kill each other.
Kill, kill, kill, kill
The word 'kill' is repeated four times to emphasize the violence.
Contributed by Vivian P. Suggest a correction in the comments below.
@fossie32
MEKON91
THE ELEPHANT (translation into English)
The elephant and the hippopotamus
Disguised themselves as men.
They walked to the beautiful village,
Walked, walked, walked, walked
On the path, they met
The children of men
And women, who were running,
Running, running, running, running
As they ran, the women were crying,
Crying fat tears.
Large drops, big fat tears, were
Falling, falling, falling, falling
The elephant and the hippopotamus
Wanted to know what was the matter,
Wanted to know the reason they were
Crying, crying, crying, crying.
A terrified child
Stopped to speak with them.
His mouth opened, but he remained
Mute, mute, mute, mute.
*"Take off your foolish/beastly costumes,"
Sang to them the birds.
**Pipits, screech owls, and owls were
Singing, singing, singing, singing:
"It is war, the war of men.
They have quarreled among themselves.
All around, they want to kill,
Kill, kill, kill, kill"
Kill, kill, kill, kill
Kill, kill, kill, kill
Kill, kill, kill, kill
Kill, kill, kill, kill
@brianbeveridge6965
this album has been with me since i was 20 , i am now 53..never got sick of listening to it
@mrscorpio5967
+brian beveridge The same for me on both accounts. I used to tool around Detroit with this album blaring out of my tape deck. Later, I bought the CD and did the same.
@CheriCampbellnyc
Looks like I just joined the same club for 53 year old fans. Glad to be here.
-they performed while David Byrne took a 15 minute hiatus from the stage at Forest Hills in Queens NYC back in '83, I bribed an usher to sit on a straight bench for the show, but we didn't spend too much time sitting. It was an August night and we were sweating . Just perfect.
@daedrmr2dae
just translated the lyrics on google... what a shame this song doesn't have more views- it's great on many levels
@MEKON17
what are the lyrics about ?
@fossie32
MEKON91
THE ELEPHANT (translation into English)
The elephant and the hippopotamus
Disguised themselves as men.
They walked to the beautiful village,
Walked, walked, walked, walked
On the path, they met
The children of men
And women, who were running,
Running, running, running, running
As they ran, the women were crying,
Crying fat tears.
Large drops, big fat tears, were
Falling, falling, falling, falling
The elephant and the hippopotamus
Wanted to know what was the matter,
Wanted to know the reason they were
Crying, crying, crying, crying.
A terrified child
Stopped to speak with them.
His mouth opened, but he remained
Mute, mute, mute, mute.
*"Take off your foolish/beastly costumes,"
Sang to them the birds.
**Pipits, screech owls, and owls were
Singing, singing, singing, singing:
"It is war, the war of men.
They have quarreled among themselves.
All around, they want to kill,
Kill, kill, kill, kill"
Kill, kill, kill, kill
Kill, kill, kill, kill
Kill, kill, kill, kill
Kill, kill, kill, kill
@Hundred2
En avance sur leur temps, c'était génial ... et cela n'a pas pris une ride ... elles, un petit peu ... 30 ans après, c'est toujours aussi génial ... et elles sont toujours mignonnes ... ma K7 est complètement usée mais ma pupuce MP3 est là pour la remplacer et çà tourne encore ... bises les filles
@MrBryansseals
very underated band
@frooshante
According to the photograph in this video, Terence McKenna played keys for Tom Tom Club during the production of this album.
@RobertoGinsburg
They was part of the Funky side of Talking Heads.