Wednesday, July 16, 2008

Jacques A Dit - the English translation

While "Double Je" was the runaway success of Christophe’s album Inventaire, the follow-up single "Jacques A Dit" is in many ways the heart of the album.

Written specifically for Christophe by singer-songwriter Zazie, the song captures the disillusionment that we feel when we grow up and realize that adults aren’t perfect… and that they can cause us just as much pain as the children who bullied us in the schoolyard. The title refers to a children’s game similar to the English "Simon Says". Zazie uses this game as a metaphor, since 'Jacques' tells children that it’s easy to fly or to run, but when they grow up, they realize this was just a dream.



I’ve added English subtitles to the music video above. Unfortunately, it is very difficult to capture all the nuances of the original text. Zazie’s lyrics contain many double meanings and plays on words. Still, it’s a beautiful song even on a literal level.

1 comment:

Unknown said...

I live here in the USA and I love all of the songs that Chris Willem sings. I first layed my eyes and ears when I was on youtube and was watching Eurovison. Here was a great new young singer and he caugth my heart. You are the best, Chris Willem.