This is Boris Vian’s most famous song, and a hymn for pacifists and antimilitarists around the world. The song was created in the very delicate context of the end of the Indochina war (1946-1954) and the beginning of the Algerian war (1954-1962). During these decolonisation wars, many young French men were sent to war to defend the French presence there. So when this song was out, it was a big scandal, not only for the government but for some members of the army, especially parachutists, who tried several times to prevent Boris Vian to sing this song, seen as antipatriotic. The song was forbidden in the radio until the end of the Algerian war. It was sung and covered by many people, and it even travelled abroad, in Italy, America, and so on.
[More about Boris Vian]
The following version, by Serge Reggiani, uses, as an introdcution, the famous poem “le dormeur du Val” by Arthur Rimbaud. The link between these two pieces is interesting.
The singer Renaud made his own version of this song, entitled “Déserteur”, and that I will translate on day if I have the time and motivation 😉 but it’s a great song and it’s also an anarchist one, very characteristic of the spirit of Renaud.
[There’s been several versions of the song, so I chose the most common and famous one.]
- Monsieur le Président
- Je vous fais une lettre
- Que vous lirez peut-être
- Si vous avez le temps
- Je viens de recevoir
- Mes papiers militaires
- Pour partir à la guerre
- Avant mercredi soir
- Monsieur le Président
- Je ne veux pas la faire
- Je ne suis pas sur terre
- Pour tuer des pauvres gens
- C’est pas pour vous fâcher
- Il faut que je vous dise
- Ma décision est prise
- Je m’en vais déserter
- Depuis que je suis né
- J’ai vu mourir mon père
- J’ai vu partir mes frères
- Et pleurer mes enfants
- Ma mère a tant souffert
- Qu’elle est dedans sa tombe
- Et se moque des bombes
- Et se moque des vers
- Quand j’étais prisonnier
- On m’a volé ma femme
- On m’a volé mon âme
- Et tout mon cher passé
- Demain de bon matin
- Je fermerai ma porte
- Au nez des années mortes
- J’irai sur les chemins
- Je mendierai ma vie
- Sur les routes de France
- De Bretagne en Provence
- Et je dirai aux gens
- Refusez d’obéir
- Refusez de la faire
- N’allez pas à la guerre
- Refusez de partir
- S’il faut donner son sang
- Allez donner le vôtre
- Vous êtes bon apôtre
- Monsieur le Président
- Si vous me poursuivez
- Prévenez vos gendarmes
- Que je n’aurai pas d’armes
- Et qu’ils pourront tirer
- Mister President
- I’m writing you a letter
- That you’ll read perhaps
- If you’ve got time
- I just received
- My military papers
- To go to war
- Before Wednesay evening
- Mister President
- I don’t wanna do it
- I’m not on Earth
- To kill poor people
- I don’t wanna upset you
- I gotta tell you
- My decision is taken
- I’m gonna desert
- Since I was born
- I saw my father die
- I saw my brothers leave
- And my kids cry
- My mother suffered so much
- That she’s inside her grave
- And doesn’t care for bombs
- And doesn’t care for verses
- When I was a prisonner
- They stole my wife
- They stole my soul
- And all my beloved past
- Tomorrow early in the morning
- I’ll close the door
- In the face of dead years
- I’ll go on the paths
- I’ll beg my life
- On the roads of France
- From Britanny to Provence
- And I’ll tell people
- Refuse to obey
- Refuse to do it
- Don’t go to war
- Refuse to leave
- If we gotta give our blood
- Go give yours
- You’re sanctimonious
- Mister President
- If you chase me
- Warn your police
- That I won’t have weapons
- And that they can shoot
French Music into English 