Carpe Diem [English translation]

Before with francs I went and bought Picorettes [Picorettes: a brand of candies]

Now with euros what I'm asking for are Nicorettes

The streets of Paris are filled with scooters, ain't no mopeds anymore

Industrial darwinism, from the Minitel to the internet

The 118 618 replaced the 12 [phone numbers for directory enquiries]

And then Moreno's card wants to outshine the coins [Robert Moreno: patented the secure chip on smart cards in 1974; flouze: French slang for money, "dough"]

Time goes by, and it erases your Radiocom 2000 [first generation mobile phones, equipping cars]

Your Tam-Tam, your Bi-bop your Tatoo your Thermolactyl [Tam-tam: a pager service, now obsolete; Bi-bop: another precursor to modern GSM phones; Tatoo, yet another pager service; thermolactyl: a synthetic fiber invented by French brand Damart in 1959; especially warm.]

On tv, you had the 5 and TV6

At the movies it was Bebel, in nightclubs they played Genesis

Gore-tex replaces duffle-coats

And robots replace cosmonauts

Time goes by, there's plenty of philosophers, but no philosophy

Fuck the phony philosophy, long live philadelphia

Sometimes I think about SVP 11 11 [a phone service where people could call and ask just *any* question, now defunct]

About my old Simon game, and Folon's flying men

Time goes by

Alea jacta est

Wether you come from Budapest or from Gare de l'Est

So carpe diem

Because time is needed for people loving each other

Time goes by

Alea jacta est

Wether you come from Budapest or from Gare de l'Est

So carpe diem

At the time of Avon, Herbalife, Tupperware and Amway

You used to get orange grocery bags at Euromarché stores [Euromarché: a range of hypermarkets, closed since 1994]

And some Topset, Baraka chewing gums, Treets, [Topset: chocolate bars made in the 70s-80s, now dropped]

Gévéor, Préfontaine and Pschitt returnable bottles

Ironmongers and in the streets, grinders

Time has gone by since "the 24/24 girdle" [this is a guess]

Rear mirrors were available as extras on cars

And during winter, people used to throw bucketloads of water on door locks

Some names come back to my mind: Pierre Juquin, Anicet Le Pors [French politicians (communists)]

Desmond Tutu, Francoise Claustre and the TASS agency

Henry Kissinger, Bettino Craxi

Dulcie September on her quest for democracy

Anne Marie Peysson for "une minute pour les femmes" [Peysson was a famous TV anchor, and "une minute pour les femmes"(one minute for women) was one of her most famous shows]

Jacquou le Croquant, Cheri Bibi, Capitaine Flam [late 70s anime Capitaine Flam was "Captain Future" in the UK; the others are comics or book characters, famous in the 70s-80s]

Time goes by, from the pyramids to disc players

Revox tapes, cassettes and vinyl records, Compact Discs

Time goes by

Alea jacta est

Wether you come from Budapest or from Gare de l'Est

So carpe diem

Because time is needed for people loving each other

Time goes by

Alea jacta est

Wether you come from Budapest or from Gare de l'Est

So carpe diem

I am in a future where I'm hunted by synarchy

Majestic twelve executives who rule the world and live in autarky

They've captured our rights and have set up the false democracy

Accuses me of apostasy the conniving militia they talk about anarchy

But I've put up with the believer the cross the star and the crescent

The cross-less the crescent-less but agitation goes crescendo

They use faith for their own agenda, display posters of Christ

They teach false evangelists to make me worship the Antichrist

There are satellites I run if they grab me

It's either the stalag or the gulag, and false admissions in magazines

I enter in a classroom and sit near the radiators

The troops enter and I'm facing gladiators

You see the calico presto I hear the helicopters

I don't try to struggle they've got plenty of silicone bullets

They scan my retina, wrong suspect

I step on the stage and then I shout... FREEDOM!

So Carpe Diem

Time goes by

So Carpe Diem