Le petit tortillard [English translation]

I'm the sluggish train1

that shamelessly runs late.

I drag myself into every station,

I go wooo wooo

My locomotive dances the pogo,

Johnny Rotten and his thugs.

I am everyone's train,

the Madonna of the Sleeping Cars.

The train of my childhood runs

on the tracks of my jadedness

and only stops in Saint-Lazare2

in Paris.

I never go awry, there's nothing to it.

Micheline3, you're such a cow,

just lie down on the tracks.

I never send anyone to the station4,

I'm too much of a nice guy for that.

The cows have a say in this,

beware of the trainspotting phobia.

I'm the sluggish train

that shamelessly runs late.

While I hobble hiter and yon

my cigar on wheels,

I hold a sleeping car

at your disposal, Madam.

Woooo

I'm the sluggish train

that shamelessly runs late.

Woooo woooo (x10)

1. "tortillard" means something like "wriggle-ish", a slow regional train that stops at every station2. one of the main train stations in Paris3. Though it's also a common French first name, a "micheline" was a kind of slow commuter train up until the 80's4. a rather dated expression meaning "tell someone to go to hell"