Tempête dans un bénitier [English translation]

Tempest in a stoup

The supprem pontiff with

The bishops, the archbishops,

Are making a hell of a mess.

They don't know what they're missing,

All of these damn bigots,

Without latin, without latin,

The mass bothers us.

At the liturgic feast,

No more great fanfare, suddenly,

Without latin, without latin,

No more magic mystery.

The rite that bewitchs us

Turns out to be trivial then,

Without latin, without latin,

And the faithfuls doesn't give a darn.

Oh most Holy Mary mother of1

God, say to these fucking

Monks that they're hassling us

Without latin.

I'm not the only one, damnit!

Since these rules are applied

Who goes to the Sunday

Service only when it rains.

They don't know what they're missing,

All of these damn bigots,

Without latin, without latin,

The mass bothers us.

By waiving the Occult,

They'll have to give up

(Without latin, without latin)

The contribution to parish costs.

At the spring season,

Swiss, beadle, sacristan,

Without latin, without latin,

Will cut church2

Oh most Holy Mary mother of

God, say to these fucking

Monks that they're hassling us

Without latin.

These birds3 are crazy,

These crows who saw, trim, slice

The safe and good old branch

Of the cross on which they are perched.

They don't know what they're missing,

All of these damn bigots,

Without latin, without latin,

The mass bothers us.

The wine of the holy chalice

Goes down the drain4,

Without latin, without latin

And its virtues are weakening.

In Lourdes, Sète5 or Parma,

Just as in Quimper-Corentin,

The presbytery without latin

Has lost its charms.

Oh most Holy Mary mother of

God, say to these fucking

Monks that they're hassling us

Without latin.

Chorus :

They don't know what they're missing,

All of these damn bigots,

Without latin, without latin,

The mass bothers us.

The wine of the holy chalice

Goes down the drain,

Without latin, without latin

And its virtues are weakening.

In Lourdes, Sète or Parma,

Just as in Quimper-Corentin,

The presbytery without latin

Has lost its charms.

Oh most Holy Mary mother of

God, say to these fucking

Monks that they're hassling us

Without latin.

1. Here Brassens makes an elision of the second "e" of "mère" and insists on the "e" of "de", so this way "Marie mère de" (Mary, mother of) sounds exactly like "Marie, merde" (Mary, shit). I thought it was important to show the mischief of this singer.2. This is difficult to translate : in France, to say "to play hooky, to play truant, to cut class", we have this funny expression : "faire l'école buissonnière", litterally "to go to the school of bushes". Here, Brassens plays with the expression (like he often does) : "faire l'église buissonnière" would mean "to go to the church of bushes"3. In France "drôle d'oiseau" (strange bird), or even just "oiseau" is a common stylistic device meaning "weirdo, funny-looking guy"; in addition, the mitre of the bishops looks like a bill and makes them look like giant weird birds, and I think Brassens noticed that.4. "Partir/Se changer en eau de boudin" (To go away/to change in pudding water)=to vanish or to turn out badly. In French it's funny because the wine in the chalice is supposed to be the blood of the christ, and pudding is made with pork blood too.5. Brassens is born in Sète, a city in the south of France