La ballade des cimetières [English translation]

I’ve got cemetery plots galore,

burial places I can choose,

in every graveyeard of any significance

I have my own burial rights.

From the humble mound to the mausoleum,

always with someone inside,

I have the paths full of little bumps,

and I’m still unhappy...

Because I don’t have any, and it irritates me,

and it dosn’t suit my self-image,

in the Montparnasse cemetery1

four steps from my house. (twice)

I have some at Père Lachaise,2

at Bagneux3, at Thiais4, at Pantin5,

and even, if I may mention it,

deep in the marine cemetery,

in town as well as in the country,

anywhere one can make a hole,

I even have some burial places in Spain6,

Let people envy me much or not...

But I don’t have the slightest sign of any,

not the smallest little hint

at the montrnasse cemetery,

four steps from my house. (twice)

On All Soul’s Day, I run, I fly,

I go, indefatigably,

from necropolis to necropolis,

from tombstone to monument.

I’m spotted beneath a funeral

wreath at Champerret7,

a little later it’s at Charonne8

that I’m seen under a cypress...

But only a liar would dare

to say “I saw you at the edge of

Montparnasse cemetery,

four steps from your house. (twice)

In front the castle of my great aunt,

the marchionesse of Carabas9,

my blesséd family languishes waiting:

Will she die, won’t she die?

One wants her gold, another her furniture,

some her jewels, some her knickknacks,

some her woodlands, some her buildings,

some her carpets, some her paintings...

Me, I plead for just one favour.

That is that she spends her dead time

in the Montparnasse cemetery

four steps from my house. (twice)

Thus sang, with a heavy heart,

a good, sound young man,

In the course of reviving the flame

of the soldier whom he well knew,

but the heaven got fed up with

hearing him talking about his vaults,

and God signalled to Death

to dispatch him on rue Froidevaux10...

But the undertakers, who were from Chartres,

in a dreadful delivery error

took his remains to Montmartre11,

on the far side from his house. (twice)

1. The Montparnasse cemetery was one of the early Paris cemeteries outside the city boundaries, but with the shift of city boundaries in the 19th century ended up within the city boundaries. It's in the southern part of the city, and is one of the main green areas within the current city boundaries. It occupies a bit less than 19 hectares and has about 1200 trees.2. The Père Lachaise Cemetery is the largest(44 hectares) cemetery within the city of Paris and is the most frequently visited cemetery in the world. It's still operating, but getting crowded - there's usually a waiting list for plots there.3. The Parisian Cemetery of Bagneux is the smallest(61.5 hectares) of Paris's three large cemeteries ouside the city boundaries - even as smallest of the three it has more than 5000 trees and has plenty of space, currently running at 10 burials per day. 4. The Parisian Cemetery of Thiais is the 2nd largest (103 hectares) of Paris's three large cemeteries outside the city. It's also the newest (opened in 1929).5. The Parisian Cemetery of Pantin is the largest(107 hectares) of Paris's out-of-town cemeteries. As well as about 200,000 graves it contains more than 8000 trees and 20 miles of road.6. "tombs in Spain" is a bit like English "castles in the air", except that they are tombs not castles7. Champerret was merged in 1866 with Village Levallois to form Levallois-Perret (which is now the most densely populated commune in France and possibly in Europe) It is to the northwest of Paris, a short distance ouside the city boundary. The nearest gate in the city wall was called La Porte de Champerret and there is now a metro station named for that gate and close to where it used to be. There is also Camperret Barracks just inside the city boundary, a short distance to the west of that station (both are in the 17th Arrondissement) which houses the city fire brigade (the Paris city fire brigade is a military unit, not a civilian one). The commune also contains the northern part of the Ile de Jatte, and that might be a more likely place to find a painting including a funeral wreath8. the northern part of teh 20th arrondissement, which is the esternmost part of the city9. the master (fictional, invented by the cat) of puss-in-boots, and converted by Brassens using a single small "e" from master to mistress10. A street running roughly east by southeast along the south side of the Montparnasse cemetery11. The Montmartre cemetery is in the north part of Paris (within the city boundaries since the 19th century boundary changes). It's on the other side of the river, about 4 miles from the rue Froidevaux. At midday that's about 30 minutes by car, or 45 mins by public transport (unless of course they've knocked a lot of central Paris down to provide wider roads since I was last there, which seems extremely unlikely), so on the far side of the Paris city centre from his house