This tune which haunts me day and night
This tune wasn't written today
It comes from as far away as I come
Dragged around by a hundred thousand musicains
One day this tune will drive me mad
A hundred times I've wanted to say why
But it's interrupted me
It always speaks before i do
And its voice drowns out my voice
Padam...padam...padam
It comes running up behind me
Padam...padam...padam
It plays me the trick of: do you remember
Padam...padam...padam
It is a tune that points me out
And I drag after me like a mistake child
This tune that knows everything by heart
It says: "Remember your loves
Remember because it's your turn
There's no reason why you shouldn't cry
Encumbered with your memories
"And me, I see again those who remain
My 20 years * make the drum beat
I see the succession of gestures flash by
All the comedy of love
To this tune which just keeps playing
Padam...padam...padam
The "I love you"s of 14th July **
Padam...padam...padam...
The "always" that you buy dirt cheap
Padam...padam...padam
The "would you's" are there in piles
And all this to come upon on the corner of the street
This tune that recognised me
Listen to the commotion which it causes me
As if my whole past went marching by
Need to keep some sorrow for later
I've got scores full in this tune which beats.
Which beats like a wooden heart