Il est cinq heures, Paris s'éveille [English translation]

I'm the king's heir of Place Dauphine1

"Place Blanche"2 looks green around the gills 3

The dairy trucks are full of milk

The road menders already sweep

It's five o'clock

Paris wakes up

Paris wakes up

Transvestites are going to shave

The strippers go to dress again

The bolsters are totally crushed

The Lovers are very tired

It's five o'clock

Paris wakes up

Paris wakes up

The coffee is in the cups

The cafes clean their facade

And on boulevard Montparnasse4

Train station's5 no longer than a carcass

It's five o'clock

Paris wakes up

Paris wakes up

The suburbanites are in stations

At La Villette6, we slice bacon

"Paris by night" gets back to bus

The bakers are making bastards7

It's five o'clock

Paris wakes up

Paris wakes up

The Eiffel Tower8 has cold feet

The Arc de Triomphe9 is reviving

And Obelisk10is raised up

Between the night's end and the day

It's five o'clock

Paris wakes up

Paris wakes up

The newspapers are now printed

The workers, them, are quite depressed

The folks get up, they're oppressed

It's time for me to go to bed

It's five o'clock

Paris wakes up

It's five o'clock

And I'm not sleepy

1. Place Dauphine is a square located on "L'île de la Cité" in the 1st arrondissement of Paris.

Contrary to what its name suggests (The title of "Dauphin" was attributed at his birth to the eldest son of the reigning king of France. This title was the guaranty of his succession to the throne at the death of the king. "Dauphin" was originally the nickname, then the title, of the lords of the Dauphiné de Viennois, counts of Albon-Viennois) and popular belief, Place Dauphine isn't a royal square. Indeed, it was never designed to celebrate a king and, in fact, never housed a statue of a king of France during the latter's reign.2. (Literally "The White Square") Located in the heart of the ninth arrondissement of Paris, "La Place Blanche" is a square in Paris, close to the famous Parisian cabaret of the "Moulin-Rouge", whose mill dominates the square, in the neighboring 18th arrondissement. It takes its name from its location on the site of the old White barrier formerly called "barrier of the White Cross" (Paris had 57 barriers located at the limit, defined in 1674 and modified in 1724, beyond which it was forbidden by decree to build. These barriers partly corresponded to the tax limit - The barrier revolution:

By attacking the Parisian barriers of the grant in July 1789, the people of Paris damaged the wall of the Farmers General, showing their intention to suppress taxes at the gates of the city. More than a riot without a future, it's also for the population to affirm that it occupies an important place, hitherto ignored. The assault on the barriers is carried out jointly by the people and the main fraudsters. These barriers therefore no longer exist today).3. "Green around the gills" is an English expression that means: "To look ill and pale"4. The "boulevard du Montparnasse" ("boulevard Montparnasse" or "boulevard de Montparnasse" are abuses of language) is a boulevard in Paris which is located at the limit of the 6th, 14th, and 15th arrondissements of Paris. It takes its name from the "Mont de Parnasse" (literally: Mount of Parnassus) which was at the level of the "Vavin" metro, where students came to declaim verses.5. The song "It's five o'clock, Paris wakes up" was released in 1968. However, at the same time, the station of "Paris-Montparnasse", also known as "Gare Montparnasse", was still the old station built in 1930 by Raoul Dautry, then director of state railways. It consisted of a station on two levels, with 20 platform tracks 300 m long on the surface for main lines to the province, and six platform tracks also 300 m long but located underground and electrified which deserved Paris's suburb. It replaced the old station dating from 1840 which was at another location. The latter had been demolished and replaced by a square. It's therefore very likely that the author describes here the old station and its steel structures which must then has been in full demolition since the new station (the current one) was inaugurated in 1969.6. Dating from 1857, "Les abattoirs de la Villette", also called the livestock market of La Villette, were famous Parisian slaughterhouses and for many years a hotbed of Parisian food culture like the Halles de Paris.

The cattle market was established between the Canal de l'Ourcq, the route d'Allemagne (now Avenue Jean-Jaurès), and the fortifications of Paris. The slaughterhouses were built on the other side of the canal between the fortifications, the Saint-Denis canal, and the "rue de Flandre" (currently avenue Corentin-Cariou). This choice made it possible to move these new slaughterhouses away from the city center.

On April 21, 1918, during the First World War, a bombshell launched by the “Grosse Bertha” exploded in the slaughterhouses of La Villette.

In 1948, it was noted that three workers at the slaughterhouses of La Villette died of leptospirosis and that seventeen were infected with it, due to rats. In 1949, the slaughterhouses of La Villette were judged to be dilapidated. Their reconstruction is decided (that's to say a year before the writing of the song by Jacques Dutronc).

All of the site's activities were discontinued as of March 15, 1974. At the time, this site occupied an area of ​​54 hectares.

Instead of the slaughterhouses of La Villette, there are now places for study, leisure and entertainment: Parc de la Villette, Cité de la Musique, Philharmonie, Cité des sciences et de l'Industrie, Zénith de Paris, the Cabaret Sauvage, etc.

However, there are still a few buildings from this period that have been preserved.

Part of the metal structure was bought from the city of Paris by the Seine-Saint-Denis department and still rests somewhere in warehouses while waiting to be used for the construction of a new building. The reinforced concrete structure of the unfinished project of the large slaughterhouse sales hall was partially preserved by the architect Adrien Fainsilber, to build the City of Science and Industry which opened in 1986 and occupies three bays. The fourth bay is finally allocated to the "Vill'up" shopping center which opens in 2016.7. French colloquial name given to a French bread which has an intermediate size between the Parisian baguette of 200 grams and the so-called "Parisian" bread which weighs 400 grams (a little less than 1 pound), The bastard weighs between 250 and 300 grams approximately but its size is half of that of bread or baguette; Hence this name which may seem a little familiar.8. The Eiffel Tower is a puddled iron tower 324 meters high (with antennas) located in Paris, at the north-western end of Champ-de-Mars park on the banks of the Seine in the 7th arrondissement. Built in two years by Gustave Eiffel and his collaborators for the Universal Exhibition of Paris of 1889, celebrating the centenary of the French Revolution, and initially named “tower of 300 meters”, it became the symbol of the French capital and a site prominent tourist. Originally 312 meters high, the Eiffel Tower remained the tallest monument in the world for forty years. The second level of the third floor sometimes referred to as the fourth floor, located at 279.11 meters, is the highest publicly accessible observation platform in the European Union and the second tallest in Europe, behind the Ostankino Tower in Moscow culminating at 337 meters. The height of the tower has been increased several times by the installation of numerous antennas. In addition to its vocation as a tourist site, it has been used in the past for many scientific experiments. Today it serves as a transmitter for radio and television programs, a giant antenna, in a way. Praised by the public from its presentation at the exhibition, it has welcomed more than 200 million visitors since its inauguration. Its exceptional size and instantly recognizable silhouette have made it an emblem of Paris.9. The Arc de Triomphe de l'Etoile is 50 meters high. Often called simply the Arc de Triomphe, it's a monument located in Paris, at the junction of the 8th, 16th, and 17th arrondissements, and placed at the top of the Avenue des Champs-Élysées and the Avenue de la Grande-Armée.

Napoleon I, the day after the battle of Austerlitz, declared to the French soldiers: “You will only return to your homes under triumphal arches. The Emperor referred to the triumphal arches erected under the Roman Empire to commemorate a victorious general marching at the head of his troops.

By an imperial decree dated February 18, 1806, he ordered the construction of this triumphal arch dedicated to perpetuating the memory of the victories of the French armies.

It's the architect Jean-François Chalgrin who's selected to propose the construction plans of the monument. The latter was inspired by the tetrapyle arch of Janus and the arch of Titus in Rome, then in a full restoration. However, the Emperor of the French will not see the monument since he finds himself later exiled from European territory by the English on the island of Saint Helena. The construction of the building was repeatedly interrupted by various crises across the country.

More spectacular is the frieze located at the top of the Arc and which is divided into two parts: "Le Départ des Armées" and "Le Retour des Armées" with a long central stage to the glory of the Nation. Its construction was carried out between 1832 and 1836 by the architect Guillaume-Abel Blouet. The Arc de Triomphe was inaugurated on July 29, 1836, under the reign of Louis-Philippe who succeeded Charles The 10th. The latter had barely reigned six years. He had been overthrown by "The Revolution of July", the second French revolution of July 27, 28, and 29, 1830.

Louis-Philippe The 1th is the last monarch to have reigned in France, between 1830 to 1848, with the title of "King of the French"

The remains of an unknown soldier, killed during the First World War, were buried there on January 28, 1921. Two years later, André Maginot, then Minister of War, supported the project to install a "flame of the war" there which was first lit on November 11, 1923, by the Minister. This eternal flame is, with that of the altar of the Fatherland in Rome, the first of its kind since the extinction of the flame of the Vestals in 391. It commemorates the memory of soldiers who died in combat and never goes out: It's revived every evening at 6.30 p.m. by associations of veterans or victims of war.10. The "Luxor Obelisk" dates from the 13th century BC, measures 23 meters in height, and weighs 222 tons, to which must be added the 240 tons of the pedestal.

It's an obelisk originally from the Luxor temple in Egypt, erected in 1836 in the center of the Place de la Concorde in Paris (at the bottom of the Avenue des Champs Élysées).

The Luxor Obelisk was classified as a historical monument in 1937. Taking into account its manufacture which dates back to ancient Egyptian civilization, that makes it the oldest monument in Paris, prior to the founding of the capital.

It was Mehmet Ali, Viceroy of Egypt, as a sign of good understanding who, with the agreement of Baron Taylor and then of Jean-François Champollion, offered Charles The 10th and France at the beginning of 1830 the two obelisks erected in front of the Luxor temple. But only the one on the right (looking at the temple) is shot and transported to France.

President François Mitterrand officially announced on September 26, 1981, that France definitively renounced taking possession of the second obelisk which remained in place, thus restoring its property to Egypt.

The transport of this Obelisk of gigantic dimensions to France required colossal means to implement, both in Egypt and in France.

Louis-Philippe The First decided to erect it in the center of the "Place de la Concorde in Paris". It replaces a monument in honor of Louis XVI, beheaded in this same place during the French Revolution.

The foundation stone for this monument was laid by Charles The 10th on May 3, 1826.

The royal statue which occupied the center of the square was destroyed in 1830.

The choice of a monument totally foreign to national history was intended to prevent disputes over memory and attempts to appropriate this high place of the French Revolution by such and such a faction.

The obelisk was erected with great fanfare on October 25, 1836, by engineer Apollinaire Lebas using lifting machines and gigantic capstans.

Louis-Philippe The First, whose was the first major public outing since the Alibaud attack of June 25, 1836, hadn't wanted to take the risk of being ridiculed if the operation failed had therefore settled discreetly, with the royal family, at the windows of the Hôtel de la Marine.

At the precise moment when the obelisk rises on its plinth, the king and his family appear on the balcony in a perfectly regulated setting and receive the ovation of the considerable crowd which pressed to attend the operation.