Ton fils [English translation]

Sometimes you lose your life

When you have to earn a living.

Some are born kings,

Others on the bad side.

You, you come from a country you have perhaps forgotten,

Of sand and sun and eternal summer.

Those who have the chance spend their holidays there,

But those born there cannot work.

After all those years just getting by,

I’d like to say to your weary eyes:

I would like your son to live better than you,

To get more respect, to be addressed as ‘vous’,

As a man, a gentleman who doesn’t lower his eyes,

Like those people who speak without an accent.

I would like your son to live better than you,

To have every opportunity, every right,

To have a signature, white hands, a car,

And permanent documents.

You are not very talkative. Nobody has ever asked you to be.

With your sweat, you have paid the price you had to pay.

You want him to have everything without economising

To have all the opportunities like the children of France,

To the last wish, to the last fancy,

The only reason to believe your life has a purpose.

I would like your son to live better than you,

To get more respect, to be addressed as ‘vous’,

As a man, a gentleman who doesn’t lower his eyes,

Like those people who speak without an accent.

I would like your son to live better than you,

To have every opportunity, every right,

To have a signature, white hands, a car,

And permanent documents.