Jacques Higelin – Tombé du ciel

One of his most famous songs, and rightly so. It was quite difficult to translate, given that the whole song is built on the verbe “to fall”, which is present in numerous French expressions, and gives a feeling of repetition. I chose to always keep this verb even if it looks quite strange in English, and I’ll explain the meaning of the various expressions in the notes after the translation.

[More about Jacques Higelin]

Notes :

1. “Tomber dans l’oreille d’un sourd” (= to fall in the ear of a deaf) means that an action is useless, that the people you want to talk to will not understand, or refuse to understand. Most of the time, it’s a third person that warns the first one : stop trying to explain them this, it’s like falling in the ear of a deaf. But here, Jacques Higelin takes this expression literally, which adds to the humour and surrealism of the song.
2. To fall in love with, in French, is said “tomber amoureux de” (= to fall enamored of), a form which by the way appears in another moment of the song. But here, Higelin chose “tomber en amour avec”, which is not conventionnal at all : he delibaretely copied the structure of English to make the French-speaking listener smile.
3. “To fall well”, “to fall badly”, “to fall bettter”, “to fall worse” : it’s a French locution that’s quite complicated to translate. It globally means 2 different things. It can mean “to come at the right place, or at the right time” (or the contrary). For example, if you need a friend to help you and here he is comes at this moment, you will tell him : “Ah, tu tombes bien !” Which means, you came at the right moment. On the contrary, if he suddenly comes to party with you and in fact you just lost a member of your family, you will tell him : “Ah, tu tombes mal”, which means : you’re not here at the right time. So this is the first meaning. The other one is more related to luck : for example if you have a new boyfriend, and he’s very handsome, and you get along very well because he’s also very clever and nice and funny, “tu es bien tombé(e)”, which means you were lucky, you won a good prize. But on the contrary if you do an oral exam and you find yourself with the most angry examinator, “tu es mal tombé(e)”, you were not lucky. There are several locutions derivated from this one, like “tu aurais pu plus mal tomber” (= you could have been less lucky). So here, it means “how is it possible to be less lucky ?”
4. “Tomber dans la fleur de l’âge” is an expression that globally means “to fall in your prime”. It is generally used in the context of a war, to speak about young soldiers who are killed. But here, there’s another expression linked to it : “tomber dans l’oubli” = to fall into oblivion.
5. “Tomber sur quelqu’un” means “to meet someone”, but in a more animated way. It includes a dimension of surprise. “Je suis tombé sur elle” means “I suddenly met her” or “I unexpectedly met her”, or “out of all people, it’s her that I met”.