Musique mécanique [English translation]

When summer comes, from my window under the roofs

I hear rising from the old bistro at the foot of the building

Muffled laughter and songs

Pianola1

Polkas

The pretty girls with short hair and long heels

Come looking for a little fling, a little thrill

The landlord serves the muscadet

Cool wine

Which makes one gay

And the music turns, turns, and the dancers

Cling to one another as they would to real happiness

That fragile instant when love passes away, when love is born

And spins your head

Right around

The landlord asks the landlady to dance

They suddenly forget their counter

And mingle with the cheeky couples

Tripping in front of the little bar

It’s twenty years since they took on this old café

They’ve left it as it was, changing not a thing

The old mirror must have seen ten thousand lovers

Gazing into

Each other’s eyes

Even if there’s rain falling on the cobbles

The sun’s out when the pianola starts up its churning

The old customers nod their heads in time

To set the rhythm

Of every dance

The grumpy dog lays its muzzle on its fat paws

The white cat matter-of-factly applies the finishing touches to its wash

One more round of claret, then we’re off

Goodbye

We’ll be back tonight

As night falls, I climbed down to the little bar

The pianola played its mildly weird music

There was a guy seated at the far end of the bar

I went up

To him

He smiled, we found a wordless understanding, and

We danced so close

His heart was beating, my heart was beating, on and on

And then

We kissed

And now, we live together, we’re happy

When summer comes, at the window, we dream a single dream

And every night, up to us rises the music

That lovely

Mechanical music

1. Also known as a player-piano, on which the keys are played mechanically in order as the pedals are pressed by the player’s feet