69 EROTIC YEAR

(69 Année Érotique)
Translated by Mick Harvey & Katy Beale

Gainsbourg and his Gainsborough have taken the ferry boat
From their bed through the port hole they watch the passing coast
They're in love and they're sailing free for one whole year at sea
Misfortune's an oddity till 1970

69 Year of Love

Gainsbourg and his Gainsborough return to Paris
They have behind them both the Thames and Chelsea
They're in love and they're sailing free for one whole year at sea
They are blessed by deities till 1970

69 Year of Love
69 Annee Erotique

They're in love and they're sailing free for one whole year at sea
He will pardon her caprice till 1970

69 Year of Love

HARLEY DAVIDSON

Translation by Mick Harvey

I don't need anyone on my Harley Davidson
I recognise no one on my Harley Davidson
I press the starter down
And it's as if I leave the ground
On my way to Paradise
But on a great Hell-hound

I don't need anyone on my Harley Davidson
I recognise no one on my Harley Davidson
And if I die tonight
It's my destiny and my right
I think less well of life
Than of my motorbike

And when I hit the road
The throbbing engine starting to explode
Sending the desires
In my thighs to overload

I don't need anyone on my Harley Davidson
I recognise no one on my Harley Davidson
I go over the ton
And I sense destruction
I don't care if I die
On my Harley Davidson

I don't care if I die
On my Harley Davidson

INTOXICATED MAN

Translation by Mick Harvey

I try to fit too strong a drink in
I spy elephants of pink in
The pattern on the left lapel of my dressing-gown
Creatures on the carousel of my living-room

You sigh and tell me what you're thinking
You're like a violet that is shrinking
Into the patterned left lapel of my dressing-gown.
Spinning on the carousel of my living-room.

Love tells me of bigger thinking
As well as elephants of pink in
These patterns on the left lapel of my dressing-gown
These creatures on the carousel of my living-room

THE SUN DIRECTLY OVERHEAD

(Sous le Soleil Exactement)
Translation by Alan Chamberlain & Mick Harvey

A precise point on the Tropic
Of Cancer or of Capricorn
I have since forgotten quite which

The sun directly overhead
No place it doesn't matter where
Under the sun under the sun
Right overhead
Just hanging there

Some distant land in some district
It was always by the seashore
I have since forgotten quite which

Was it perhaps on the Baltic
Toward Cap verde toward Cape Horn
Could it have been an island triste?

It was a dream most erotic
Which I had there avec mon amour
What if it did really exist?

The sun directly overhead
No place it doesn't matter where
Under the sun under the sun
Right overhead
Just hanging there

SEX SHOP

Translated by Mick Harvey

Come, you little harlot
Tell to me
How it was between his sheets
Was it better than with me?

Tell me, you little pervert
All your woes
How many times, how many blows
Not till the end, though

No, you little harlot
You lied to me
He hasn't given you as many
As you told me

But, you little fool
Just let that rest
Make up again for me your best
His hand on your breast

Come on
Just tell me you didn't do it
That it's a lie
Tell me it's not true
Liar
Liar

Come, you little harlot
Tell to me
How it was between his sheets
Was it better than with me?

But, you little bitch
You're waiting still
For me to swallow this bitter pill
I swear I never will

THE BARREL OF MY 45

(Quand mon 6,35 me fait les yeux doux)
Translation by Alan Chamberlain & Mick Harvey

Looking down the barrel of my hand gun
There's a desire
I often have
To finish this
Bang!Bang!

This idea came to me God knows where from
Just a desire
I love more than
This earthly bliss
Bang!Bang!

Aye, for me to die
Blow myself sky high
To finish the story
One good shot

Aye, for me to die
Blow myself sky high
To finish the story
With Out You

This idea came to me God knows where from
Just a desire
I often have
I find it tempting

FORD MUSTANG

Translation by Mick Harvey

Your mind goes BLANK
In a FORD MUSTANG
And BANG
You're embracing the petrol tank
MUS on the left, TANG on the right
And all over the site

A windscreen-wiper
A packet of KOOL
A BADGE with the inscription
KEEP COOL
A bar of CHOCOLAT
A COCA-COLA

A bottle of
FLUID MAKE-UP
A FLASH
A BROWNING
A guitar PICK-UP
The collected works
Of EDGAR ALLAN POE
A plain brass ZIPPO

An edition of
SUPERMAN
Stuff from the house of
PACO RABANNE
A photo of MARILYN
A pack of ASPIRIN

Your mind goes BLANK
In a FORD MUSTANG
And BANG
You're embracing the petrol tank
MUS on the left, TANG on the right
And to the left and the right

OVERSEAS TELEGRAM

Translation by Mick Harvey & Sarah Owen

I hope that this telegram is the most beautiful telegram
Of all the telegrams you'll receive in your life
And when you read my Telegram you will begin to cry

I know that this telegram is the last telegram
Of all the telegrams that I will ever send
You will get this telegram at the Post Office in England

You will get this telegram like all the telegrams
By Overseas Telegram at the Post Office Anglais

NEW YORK U.S.A.

Translation by Alan Chamberlain

I've seen New York
New York U.S.A.
I've seen New York
New York U.S.A.
Have you ever seen it ?
Every time I see it I get high
Oh so high
So high New York
New York U.S.A.

Empire State Building
Oh so high
Rockerfeller Centre
Oh so high
UNO Building
Oh so high
Iriquois Hotel?
Oh so high
Pan American Building
Oh so high
Bank of Manhattan
Oh so high

Time Warner Building
Oh so high
Lexington Hotel
Oh so high
Chrysler Building
Oh so high
NBC Building
Oh so high
World Trade Centre
Oh so high
First National City Bank
Oh so high

BONNIE & CLYDE

Translation by Alan Chamberlain & Mick Harvey

You've heard the story of Jesse James
Of how he lived and how he died
If you're still in need of something to read
Then fine, here's the story of Bonnie & Clyde

Here 'tis, Clyde had a petite amie
She was beautiful and her name was Bonnie
Together they had left the straight and narrow
A gang of two B. Parker and C. Barrow

Bonnie & Clyde

I'd known Clyde since we were young and carefree
He was always loyal, upright and clean
For you must see that it was society
That drove me to a life of crime & misery

Bonnie & Clyde

The newspapers think they have our measure
They say we kill for cold-blooded pleasure
Well that's not true but sure it's in our nature
To shoot first and ask the questions later

Bonnie & Clyde

If a Dallas cop is killed or maimed
And they have no suspect they can blame
For the police there's nothing mysterious
They hang it on Clyde Barrow And his mistress

Bonnie & Clyde

There's no point in trying to settle down
To find a little house, a quiet town
By the third day there's a tak-tak-tak-tak
Of machine guns making a sneak attack on

Bonnie & Clyde

One of these days they will take my life
But I just hope that Bonnie will survive
Well I don't mind at all how they make me pay
Bonnie here, just hopes her Clyde can get away

Bonnie & Clyde

Ambushed on a road their end was nigh
The only way out for them was to die
But more than one of them went down below
When they died Bonnie Parker & Clyde Barrow

Bonnie & Clyde

CHATTERTON

Translation by Alan Chamberlain

Chatterton suicide
Hannibal suicide
Judas suicide
Nietzsche certified
How 'bout me
Frankly I don't feel good inside

Hemingway suicide
Cleopatra suicide
Socrates suicide
Goya certified
How 'bout me
Frankly I don't feel good inside

Chatterton suicide
Mark Antony suicide
Van Gogh suicide
Schumann certified
How 'bout me
Frankly I don't feel good inside

THE SONG OF SLURS

(Le Chanson de Slogan)
Translation by Mick Harvey & Katy Beale

You are vile, you are vague, you are vain
You're devious and envious, you're insane
Evelyn don't say that, Evelyn I pray to thee
Evelyn you (once) loved me, don't you see

You are cruel, you are crass, you don't care
You are coy, you are cold, you're unfair
Evelyn you're unjust, Evelyn it's not true
Evelyn you see, you love me too

You are foul, you are false, you're a fink
You are frail, you are fey, you're nothing
Evelyn don't say that, Evelyn it's not true
Evelyn you see, you love me too

JAZZ IN THE RAVINE

(Du Jazz Dans Le Ravin)
Translation by Alan Chamberlain & Mick Harvey

Listen
Who's driving you or me?
It's me
So shut-up and let me be
There's a Whisky bottle in the glove-box
And Camel plains you have to tap them on the top

Listen
Listen to that baby-doll
Hear that
My favourite part of all
So turn the music up full blast
And don't worry honey I always drive this fast

And then just before Monte Carlo
It happened, well that's the final blow
The Jaguar left the bitumen
And somersaulted into a ditch with them

And while they lay there racked with pain
The radio kept on blaring out this refrain

At dawn
They'll use a spoon
To scrape up their remains

I HAVE COME TO TELL YOU THAT IT`S GOODBYE

(Je Suis Venu Te Dire Que Je M’en Vais)
Translation by Mick Harvey & Alan Chamberlain

I have come to tell you that it's goodbye
And all your tears couldn't change the reason why
As Verlaine's evil wind blows up on high
I have come to tell you that it's goodbye
You remember the old days and tears roll
You choke and grow pale at the moment you know the bell will toll
Now the hour is nigh
Yeah I regret
To tell you it's goodbye
Yes I loved you, yes, but....

I have come to tell you that it's goodbye
Your sobbing cannot change the reason why
As Verlaine's evil wind blows up on high
I have come to tell you that it's goodbye
You remember the good times and your tears flow
You sob and you groan when you realise I'll really go
Now the hour is nigh
Yeah I regret
To tell you it's goodbye
But I can't bear to hear you cry

Lemon Incest

Translation by Mick Harvey

Incest de Citron
Lemon Incest
I love you, I love you above all else
Papapapa
Naive as the art of sseaurou Henri
You're kisses are honey sweet

Inceste de citron
Lemon Incest
I love you, I love you above all else
Papapapa
The love we will never make together is
Heaven sent
The most potent
The pure essence
The most intense
Exquisite child
Delicious infant
My flesh and my blood
My baby-doll
My soul

INITIALS BB

Translated by Alan Chamberlain & Mick Harvey

One night as I was
Just moping around
In some English pub
In the heart of London Town
Leafing through Monstrous Love by Paul Wells
A vision hovered above
The Whisky Soda bubbles

The Initials BB

While the decorations
Of her conquerors
Glittered to her gyrations
Bronze and golden orbs
The platinum engraved
Cold circles that linger
As marks of the slave
Upon each finger

The Initials BB

Almost to her hips
She is booted
Brimming like a chalice
With her beauty
She wears nothing at all
But a perfumed air
Of Essence de Guerlain
In her long hair

The Initials BB

With each little quiver
One could detect
Little bells of silver
Around her neck
Ringing could be heard
As she came near
And spoke the word
"Almeria"

The Initials BB