Pierre Perret – Lily – French Music into English

It’s probably Pierre Perret’s most famous -and of his most politically engaged- songs. I thought it would be a good choice for today, since it’s a message that we would have taken for granted only a few weeks or months ago, but there’s apparently some things that need to be repeated over and over again…

On la trouvait plutôt jolie Lily
Elle arrivait des Somalies Lily
Dans un bateau plein d’émigrés
Qui venaient tous de leur plein gré
Vider les poubelles à Paris

Elle croyait qu’on était égaux Lily
Au pays de Voltaire et d’Hugo Lily
Mais pour Debussy en revanche
Il faut deux noires pour une blanche
Ça fait un sacré distinguo

Elle aimait tant la liberté Lily
Elle rêvait de fraternité Lily
Un hôtelier rue Secrétan
Lui a précisé en arrivant
Qu’on ne recevait que des blancs

Elle a déchargé des cageots Lily
Elle s’est tapé les sales boulots Lily
Elle crie pour vendre des choux-fleurs
Dans la rue ses frères de couleurs
L’accompagnent au marteau-piqueur

Et quand on l’appelait Blanche-Neige Lily
Elle se laissait plus prendre au piège Lily
Elle trouvait ça très amusant
Même s’il fallait serrer les dents
Ils auraient été trop contents

Elle aima un beau blond frisé Lily
Qu’était tout près à l’épouser Lily
Mais la belle-famille lui dit nous
Ne sommes pas racistes pour deux sous
Mais on n’veut pas de ça chez nous

Elle a essayé l’Amérique Lily
Ce grand pays démocratique Lily
Elle aurait pas cru sans le voir
Que la couleur du désespoir
Là-bas aussi ce fût le noir

Mais dans un meeting à Memphis Lily
Elle a vu Angela Davis Lily
Qui lui dit viens ma petite soeur
En s’unissant on a moins peur
Des loups qui guettent le trappeur

Et c’est pour conjurer sa peur Lily
Qu’elle lève aussi un point rageur Lily
Au milieu de tous ces gugusses
Qui foutent le feu aux autobus
Interdits aux gens de couleur

Mais dans ton combat quotidien Lily
Tu connaîtras un type bien Lily
Et l’enfant qui naîtra un jour
Aura la couleur de l’amour
Contre lequel on ne peut rien

On la trouvait plutôt jolie Lily
Elle arrivait des Somalies Lily
Dans un bateau plein d’émigrés
Qui venaient tous de leur plein gré
Vider les poubelles à Paris

People found her quite pretty Lily
She was coming from Somalia Lily
In a bot full of emigrants
Who all came of their own will
To empty the bins in Paris

She thought we were all equal Lily
In Voltaire and Hugo’s country Lily ¹
But for Debussy ² howewer
Two blacks are needed to make a white ³
It makes quite a difference

She loved freedom so much Lily
She dreamed of fraternity Lily
An hotelkeeper on Secrétan street
Spécified at her arrival
That only whites were received

She unloaded crates Lily
She does all the dirty works Lily
She shouts to sell cauliflowers
In the street her brothers of color
Accompany her on the jackhammer

And when they called her Snow White Lily
She didn’t let herself be trapped any more Lily
She found that very amusing
Even though she had to grit her teeth
They would have been too happy

She loved a handsome curly-haired blonde Lily
Who was all ready to marry her Lily
But the family in-law told him “We
Are not racists at all
But we don’t want that at home”

She tried America Lily
This great democratic land Lily
She wouldn’t have believed, hadn’t she seen it
That the color of despair
Was the black there as well

But at a meeting in Memphis Lily
She saw Angela Davis Lily
Who told her come my little sister
By getting together we’re less afraid
Of the wolfs that threat the trapper

And it’s to ward off her fear Lily
That she too raises a vengeful fist Lily
In the middle of all these people
Who burn down the buses
Forbidden to the people of color

But in your daily struggle Lily
You’ll know a good chap Lily
And the child who’ll be born one day
Will have the color of love
Against which you can’t do nothing

People found her quite pretty Lily
She was coming from Somalia Lily
In a bot full of emigrants
Who all came of their own will
To empty the bins in Paris

Notes :

Voltaire is a famous French philosopher from the XVIIIth century, who belongs to the “Enlightenment” movement. He generally defended equality of treatment between humans (even though, in fact, he was kind of racist and antisemitic from what I remember). He took position in favour of tolerance of protestantism in France, in the context of the “Callas affair”. / Victor Hugo, who lived in the XIXth century, is one of France’s most famous authors. He made theater, poetry, novels… He was also very engaged politically, for example against slavery and against death sentence.
Claude Debussy is a very famous French compositor of classical music. He appears in my article about French classical composers.
Globally, in term of music rythm, classical music differenciates several types of notes based on their length in number of pulsations. A “noire” (black) is one pulsation long, while a “blanche” (white) is two pulsations long. I hope it’s not too confused 😉

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