This song is to me one of the most beautiful songs written about a city, and undoubtedly among Claude Nougaro’s best work. He pays a tribute to his city of birth, located in the South of France, which nickname is “ville rose” (“pink city”). He recalls his impressions and memories of this city, realism being intertwined to nostalgia.
[More about Claude Nougaro]
- Qu’il est loin mon pays, qu’il est loin
- Parfois au fond de moi se raniment
- L’eau verte du canal du Midi
- Et la brique rouge des Minimes
- Ô mon païs, ô Toulouse, ô Toulouse…
- Je reprends l’avenue vers l’école
- Mon cartable est bourré de coups de poings
- Ici, si tu cognes, tu gagnes
- Ici, même les mémés aiment la castagne
- Ô mon païs, ô Toulouse, ô Toulouse…
- Un torrent de cailloux roule dans ton accent
- Ta violence bouillone jusque dans tes violettes
- On se traite de cons à peine qu’on se traite
- Il y a de l’orage dans l’air, et pourtant
- L’église Saint Sernin illumine le soir
- D’une fleur de corail que le soleil arrose
- C’est peut-être pour ça malgré ton rouge et noir
- C’est peut-être pour ça qu’on te dit ville rose…
- Je revois ton pavé ô ma cité gasconne
- Ton trottoir éventré sur les tuyaux du gaz
- Est-ce l’Espagne en toi qui pousse un peu sa corne
- Ou serait-ce dans tes tripes une bulle de jazz
- Voici le Capitole, j’y arrête mes pas
- Les ténors enrhumés tremblaient sous leurs ventouses
- J’entends encore l’écho de la voix de papa
- C’était en ce temps-là mon seul chanteur de blues…
- Aujourd’hui tes buildings grimpent haut
- À Blagnac les avions sont plus beaux
- Si l’un me ramène sur cette ville
- Pourrai-je encore y revoir ma pincée de tuiles
- Ô mon païs, ô Toulouse, ô Toulouse !
- How far, how far is my land ¹
- Sometimes inside me resurfaces
- The green water of the Midi canal
- And the red brick of the Minimes ²
- Oh my land ³ , oh Toulouse, oh Toulouse…
- I take back the avenue near school
- My schoolbag is beaten, full of punches
- Here, if you hit, you win
- Here, even grandmas like fights
- Oh my land, oh Toulouse, oh Toulouse….
- A torrent of pebbles rolls in your accent
- Your violence seethes even in your violets
- We call each other asshole every time we argue
- There’s storm in the air, and still
- The Saint Sernin church lightens the evening
- With a flower of coral sprinkled by the sun
- It may be why despite your red and black
- It may be why they call you “pink city”…
- I remember your pavement, oh my city of Gascogne 4
- Your sidewalk, eviscerated on the gas tubes
- Is it Spain that shows up a bit in you
- Or would there be, in your guts, a bubble of jazz
- Here’s the Capitole 5 , I stop my steps there
- The tenors, sick and cold, were shaking under their mantle
- I still hear the echo of daddy’s voice
- He was, during that time, my only blues singer 6 …
- Today your buildings fly high
- In Blagnac 7 planes are more beautiful
- If one of them brings me back on this city
- Will I still manage to find my own heap of tiles
- Oh my land, oh Toulouse, oh Toulouse !
Notes :
- “pays” (= country, land) sometimes also meant a specific territory, sometimes very small, but that had an identity strong enough to be called a land on its own, especially in some rural areas, and globally in territories that have kept a strong identity and preserved their traditions. People used the expression “mon pays” with pride. It can still be used, but very barely and most of the time by older people.
- The Minimes is a district of Toulouse, where Claude Nougaro spent his childhood.
- “Païs” is a word in the language of Southern France (barely used), meaning “country”.
- Gascogne is a territory of Southern France, where Toulouse is located. Its identity goes back to the Middle Ages.
- The Capitole is a monument in Toulouse which includes the City Hall and the Theater of the Capitole. This theater is specialized in ballet and opera.
- Claude Nougaro’s father (Pierre Nougaro) was an opera singer.
- In Blagnac, right next to Toulouse, there is an airport and also the headquarters of Airbus, product of a European collaboration, one of the biggest aerospace companies with Boeing. There are a lot of factories and offices of the Airbus group there. Southern France was already, since decades, a important location of aeronautics.
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