Formerly the clercs Naguere les concierges were in vogue etaient en vogue From now on they've Desormais on les a been replaced by (...) remplaces par des (...) In my town there were Dans ma ville il n'y no parking meters avait pas de parcmetre I used to see Je voyais des ouvriers workers eating manger des sandwichs a omelet sandwiches l'omelette (is omelet = to beatten eggs ?) The past comes back to my mind Le passe me revient like a cup-and-ball game comme un bilboquet The presence of an omnipresent La presence d'un passe past hasn't gone omnipresent n'est pas passee The Halles, supplanted Les Halles, supplantees by the (Coste ?) par le (Coste ?) The allegory of the 'madeleines' L'allegorie des * (of Proust / which makes him remember scenes of the past) swifts away at the madeleines file a la speed of Prost vitesse de Prost * (AlainProst, formula 1 racing car world champion) The air was pure there, L'air y etait pur, Paris more beautiful Paris plus beau Now, the subway fare rises Desormais le ticket de like the metro augmente comme le number of cars nombre d'autos. Oh shit, there's no more Oh shit, a la tele speakerine on TV y a plus de speakrine There are B-series movies Y a des films de serie that I estimate B que j'estime a at four cents quatre centimes (...) gives me two, (...) me file deux, three little coins trois piecette That I peep, and my intellect Que je mate, et mon intellect find that they are obsolete constate qu'ils sont obsoletes
Verse Two:
Obsolete, but with much style, Obsolete, mais stylee, the sentence that follows la phrase qui suivra The man who picks up the L'homme qui capte le (guy) and whose (mec) et don't le nom name has a double a possede un double a The fence (...) crossbow La barriere (...) arbalete Which (...) Qui (...) Which is (the approach) Qui est (l'abord) for decades depuis des decennies It runs off with on my soul Une main basse sur mon ame so that he slows down pour qu'il avance au ralenti But the great manitou, Mais le grand manitou, handles everything, (...) manie tout, (...) Of the masks, Des masques la musique the music has cloaked the place, a masque la place, one mortgages then on hypotheque puis * Writes down in italics Inscrit en italiques * on his agenda sur son agenda * The top list of the (stuffs) Le top des (trucs ?) he doesn't like qu'il n'aime pas In brief, to be Bref, pour etre clair clear-cut et net * the belly-tail (????) Le ventre-queue * is accompanied by s'accompagne * an ear plug (used by TV hosts to get info) de l'oreillette Exactly like, to my ears, Tout comme a mes 'my fly' [of trousers] oreilles, 'ma braguette' Teams up and rhymes S'acoquine et rime with 'obsolete' avec 'obsolete'
Verse Three:
Obsolete is also Obsolete est aussi the teaser who l'allumeuse qui Wore a hair-net and Portait des bas resilles * bas =pantyhose stenched patshleaf et empestait le patchouli For done services Pour des services she says to me rendus elle me dit ''I pay you in kind'' ''Je te paye en nature'' And I stay stoic Et je reste stoique when she holds out jams quand elle me tend to me des confitures This is forgotten when Ceci est oublie quand on the month of december au mois de decembre She telephones and says Elle me telephone et me ''Come pick me up'' dit ''Passe me prendre'' In brief, I abuse of her Bref, j'en abuse with a delectable feeling avec delectation (...) like some mead, (...) comme de l'hydromel, I am in affection je suis en affection * Then i slide, intrude Puis me glisse, m'immisce between the smooth thighs