Sous les jupes des filles [English translation]

Retinas and pupils,

Boys have twinkling eyes

For a fool's game:

Looking under girls' skirts,

And throughout life,

Absorbed in this endeavour,

In this fool's game:

Looking under girls' skirts.

The girls, quite proud,

Up high on their stepladders,

With a scornful look and letting the wind do it all,

They, so alluring,

The weakness of men,1 the girls know

That the only thing that makes the world go 'round,

Is their flimsy dresses.

We do it a lot,

Bend down, twist our neck around

To see the misfortune

That sums up our lives,

To see all the pride,

All the wars with their mourning,

Death, beauty,

The songs of summer,

Dreams.

If sometimes it embarrasses them and they don't want

Us to ogle their legs, boys go nuts over that.

So it has to all come tumbling down:2

Men or even pigeons,

Beers, the Khmer Rouge,3

The least important buck that moves.

Brass band dressed in blue, white, and anger,

Glasses of red wine and green with anger,

The honour of the military arts,

You will be a man, my son.

The girls, not proud,

Up high on their stepladders,

With an imploring look, and not understanding at all,

They, in the lower notes of the scale,4

The weakness of men, the girls know

That the only thing that makes the world go 'round,

Is their flimsy dresses.

Retinas and pupils,

Boys have twinkling eyes

For a fool's game:

Looking under girls' skirts,

And thoughout life,

Absorbed in this endeavour,

In this fool's game:

Looking under girls' skirts.

La, la, la, la, la...

1. There are several phrases here that don't quite add up to a sentence, even in French. It doesn't quite make sense, in either language. I guess that's what you call poetic license. It lets you get away with anything.2. This section is jam packed with what comes out as nonsense in English. It is only slightly better in French, where there are some clever plays on words as well as words chosen strictly to make rhymes more than to make sense. I'll do my best to translate the words and leave it up to you to give it meaning.3. Yes, we use the same term in English.4. There may be a few ways of translating this line, some of which make more sense than what I've done. Which I hope someone offers me because I could sure use the help. Plus we've got this strange non-sentence again.