This song, out in the 70’s, was a real provocation at the time, as homosexuality was still a taboo – even though it’s in fact legal in France since 1791 ! It was still very underground and certainly not something to say publicly. And Aznavour, who was not even gay but had numerous gay friends and wanted to talk about them, not only made this song, but chose it as one of the “singles” of his album, and interpreted it numerous times. But it doesn’t seem to have affected his success and popularity. Apart from that, it’s such a beautiful and sad song, very well orchestrated. I added a live version to give you an example of his intense stage presence.
[More about Charles Aznavour]
- J’habite seul avec maman
- Dans un très vieil appartement
- Rue Sarasate
- J’ai pour me tenir compagnie
- Une tortue deux canaris
- Et une chatte
- Pour laisser maman reposer
- Très souvent je fais le marché
- Et la cuisine
- Je range, je lave, j’essuie
- À l’occasion je pique aussi
- À la machine
- Le travail ne me fait pas peur
- Je suis un peu décorateur
- Un peu styliste
- Mais mon vrai métier c’est la nuit
- Que je l’exerce travesti
- Je suis artiste
- J’ai un numéro très spécial
- Qui finit en nu intégral
- Après strip-tease
- Et dans la salle je vois que
- Les mâles n’en croient pas leurs yeux
- Je suis un homme, oh
- Comme ils disent
- Vers les trois heures du matin
- On va manger entre copains
- De tous les sexes
- Dans un quelconque bar-tabac
- Et là on s’en donne à cœur joie
- Et sans complexe
- On déballe des vérités
- Sur des gens qu’on a dans le nez
- On les lapide
- Mais on fait ça avec humour
- Enrobé dans des calembours
- Mouillés d’acide
- On rencontre des attardés
- Qui pour épater leurs tablées
- Marchent et ondulent
- Singeant ce qu’ils croient être nous
- Et se couvrent, les pauvres fous
- De ridicule
- Ça gesticule et parle fort
- Ça joue les divas, les ténors
- De la bêtise
- Moi les lazzi, les quolibets
- Me laissent froid puisque c’est vrai
- Je suis un homme, oh
- Comme ils disent
- À l’heure où naît un jour nouveau
- Je rentre retrouver mon lot
- De solitude
- J’ôte mes cils et mes cheveux
- Comme un pauvre clown malheureux
- De lassitude
- Je me couche mais je ne dors pas
- Je pense à mes amours sans joie
- Si dérisoires
- À ce garçon beau comme un dieu
- Qui sans rien faire a mis le feu
- À ma mémoire
- Ma bouche n’osera jamais
- Lui avouer mon doux secret
- Mon tendre drame
- Car l’objet de tous mes tourments
- Passe le plus clair de son temps
- Au lit des femmes
- Nul n’a le droit en vérité
- De me blâmer, de me juger
- Et je précise
- Que c’est bien la nature qui
- Est seule responsable si
- Je suis un homme, oh
- Comme ils disent
- I live alone with mum
- In a very old flat
- On Sarasate street
- I have to keep me company
- A turtle, two canaries
- And a female cat
- To let mum rest
- Very often I go to the market
- And cook
- I tidy, I clean, I wipe
- Occasionally I also quilt
- With a machine
- I’m not afraid to work
- I’m a little decorator
- A little stylist
- But my real profession, it’s at night
- That I do it, travested
- I’m an artist
- I have a very special show
- That ends in an integral nude
- After a stip-tease
- And in the room I see that
- Males can’t believe their eyes
- I’m a man, oh 1
- As they say
- At around three in the morning
- We go to eat between buddies
- Of all sexes
- In some bar
- And then we have a lot of fun
- And without complex
- We unwrap truths
- About people we can’t stand
- We lapidate them
- But we do that with humour
- Coated in puns
- Wet with acid
- We meet retarded people
- Who, to wow their guests
- Walk and undulate
- Mimicing what they think is us
- And cover themselves, the poor madmen
- With ridicule
- It gesticulates and speaks loud
- It plays the divas, the tenors
- Of foolishness
- Me, the jokes, the quips
- Leave me stone-cold since it’s true
- I’m a man, oh
- As they say
- At the time when a new day begins
- I go back to find my lot
- Of loneliness
- I take away my eyeslashes and my hair
- Like a poor unhappy clown
- Full of weariness
- I lay on the bed but I don’t sleep
- I think about my unhappy loves
- So unsignificant
- About this boy handsome like a god
- Who without doing anything put the fire
- To my memory
- My mouth will never dare
- To confess to him my sweet secret
- My tender drama
- Because the object of all my sorrows
- Spends most of his time
- In bed with women
- Truth be told, no one is entitled
- To blame me, to judge me
- And I precise
- That it’s really nature who
- Is the only responsible if
- I’m a man, oh
- As they say
Note :
- Warning, long note ! I hesitated on how to translate this. And I decided to be faithfull to what I believed on the first time that I heard this song. There is indeed a double possibility of interpretation of this two syllabs [ho]-[mo] : it can either mean “homme, oh” (man, oh) or be the diminutive of “homosexual”. “Homo” would indeed be more appropriate since it’s the topic of the song. But a lot of people have made the same mistake as me when they first heard the song. And I’ve seen it written in both ways on various lyrics sites. And coming from Charles Aznavour anyway, it’s probably meant. So this “man, oh” that me and some other people heard, can add a dimension to the song. When the “males” in the room are astonished by the character’s strip-tease and nudity, it’s also because paradoxically it shows a certain manhood and virility, far away from the clichés about gays or travested people. Either way, this two syllabs seem caracteristic of the taboo about homosexuality : the word is not fully pronounced, and there’s this final and descending “oh” that shows a discomfort and maybe a desire to stifle and silence this phenomenon. This is at least how I chose to interpret it (I hope it’s clear haha !). But I couldn’t transpose this homophony into English so it looks rather strange…
French Music into English 