Nos chères maisons [English translation]

In the days of my incumbency

In a little whorehouse they’ve shut down

I’d spend days on end

Reading Baudelaire and Mallarmé

On Saturdays, a few madames

Who I’d known in their prime

Would bring me their warmest regards

And the news from their establishments

What ever happened to the licensed brothels1

Where I whiled away such sweet days?

My complexion then was rosy

And they were all at my feet

I meet my fellow-boarders,

Poor dears! On the boulevard

They work each one alone

And their smiles rend my heart

I treat them to a measure

Of grenadine in the neighbourhood bar

They tell me their troubles

Alas! Our happy days are so far off!

What ever happened to the licensed brothels

Where I whiled away such sweet days?

My complexion then was rosy

And they were all at my feet

A friend of mine, very rich and very loving

Who’s worshipped me twenty years

Understood me at last one day

And set my heart at ease

Instead of the cosy establishment

Where happiness was bought and sold

He thought to give me in La Villette2

A cinema club for connoisseurs

What ever happened to the licensed brothels

Where I whiled away such sweet days?

My complexion then was rosy

And my home was your home from home

1. Literally a 'closed house', hence the 'houses' of the title.2. An outer district of Paris