Le petit bal perdu [English translation]

It was just after the war,

In a ballroom that had suffered

On a floor in ruins,

There were these two, so exposed.

They danced among the rubble

In this little ball, what was its name…

What was its name…

What was its name…

What was its name…

(Refrain)

No, I don’t recall

The name of this lost ball

What I remember

Are these two lovers

With eyes for no one but each other.

There was such insouciance

In their moving gestures,

So what does it matter

The name of the lost ball?

No, I don’t recall

The name of this lost ball.

What I remember

Is that they were happy

Lost in each other’s eyes

As it should be…

As it should be…

They drank from the same glass

Never turning away their gaze

They both made the same wish

To be happy, forever after

They smiled among the rubble

In this little ball, what was its name…

What was its name…

What was its name…

What was its name…

(Refrain)

Then when the accordionist

Stopped playing, they left

Evening fell over the dance floor,

Over the rubble and over my life.

A melancholy site, it became

This little ball, what was its name,

What was its name…

What was its name…

What was its name…

No, I don’t recall

The name of this lost ball.

What I remember

Are these two lovers

With eyes for no one but each other.

There was so much light,

With them in the street,

So what does it matter,

The name of the lost ball.

No, I don’t recall

The name of this lost ball.

What I remember

Is that they were happy

Lost in each other’s eyes

As it should be…

As it should be…