Il jouait du piano debout [English translation]

Don’t tell me that boy I knew was crazy

He just thought life lived like the rest was lazy

What strange cause could be to blame

People make us uneasy,

When they’re not the same?

Don’t tell me that boy I knew was no good

Choosing his own path to take to manhood

What strange cause could be to blame

We tell thinkers that they should

Just play the game?

Just play the game

Chorus:

When he played piano standing

It might take some understanding

But this detail’s far from random

It tells me that he was free

That the world could never brand him

Yes, he played piano standing

Not as cowards knelt, surrendered

Nor like guardsmen tightly banded

He was proud to be himself,

Stood on his own two feet, and nothing else

In only music’s cause he was a patriot

He’d die on the battlefield for just a note

What strange cause could be to blame

For our fear of those who won’t

Let go of dreams?

Sometimes you could hear him and his piano cry

Only when nobody else was nearby

What strange cause could be to blame

For my mind to replay every frame

Every frame…?

Chorus

Yes, he played piano standing

Crazy rhythms never-ending

And this detail’s far from random

It means this, just try to live

Happiness is all

That’s worth defending

Chorus