De temps en temps

POUR QUE TU M'AIMES ENCORE (French lyrics by Jean-Jacques Goldman)
"So that you'll love me again"

J'ai compris tous les mots, j'ai bien compris, merci
Raisonnable et nouveau, c'est ainsi par ici
Que les choses ont change, que les fleurs ont fane
Que le temps d'avant, c'etait le temps d'avant
Que si tout zappe et lasse, les amours aussi passent


I understood all the words, thanks, I've got the message
Sensible and new, it's like that over here too
Things have changed, the flowers have faded
The past is the past
If everything zaps and bores us, love also passes off




Il faut que tu saches

You have to know

J'irai chercher ton coeur si tu l'emportes ailleurs
Meme si dans tes danses, d'autres dansent tes heures
J'irai chercher ton ame dans les froids dans les flammes
Je te jetterai des sorts pour que tu m'aimes encore

I'll go get your heart if you take it away
Even if your hours of dancing are danced with others
I'll go get your soul in the cold in the flames
I'll cast spells over you so that you'll love me again

Fallait pas commencer m'attirer me toucher
Fallait pas tant donner moi je sais pas jouer
On me dit qu'aujourd'hui, on me dit que les autres font ainsi
Je ne suis pas les autres
Avant que l'on s'attache, avant que l'on se gache

You shouldn't have begun, attracted me, touched me
You shouldn't have given so much, I don't know how to play games
They tell me that today, they tell me that others do it like this
I'm not the others
Before the involvement, before the break-up

Je veux que tu saches

I want you to know

J'irai chercher ton coeur si tu l'emportes ailleurs
Meme si dans tes danses, d'autres dansent tes heures
J'irai chercher ton ame dans les froids dans les flammes
Je te jetterai des sorts pour que tu m'aimes encore

I'll go get your heart if you take it away
Even if your hours of dancing are danced with others
I'll go get your soul in the cold in the flames
I'll cast spells over you so that you'll love me again

Je trouverai des langages pour chanter tes louanges
Je ferai nos bagages pour d'infinies vendanges
Les formules magiques des marabouts d'Afrique
J'les dirai sans remords pour que tu m'aimes encore

I'll find languages to praise you in
I'll pack our luggage for endless journeys
The magic enchantments of the African marabou
I'll say them without remorse so that you'll love me again

Je m'inventerai reine pour que tu me retiennes
Je me ferai nouvelle pour que le feu reprenne
Je deviendrai ces autres qui te donnent du plaisir
Vos jeux seront les autres si tel est ton desir
Plus brillante plus belle pour une autre etincelle
Je me changerai en or pour que tu m'aimes encore

I'll crown myself queen so that you'll hold me again
I'll renew myself to kindle old flames
I'll be these others who give you pleasure
Your games will be ours if that's what you wish
More brilliant more beautiful, for another spark
I'll turn myself into gold so that you'll love me again

****
II. INTERPRETATION

"Pour que tu m'aimes encore" is about being unable to accept the end
of a relationship. It is about obsession and the refusal to move on.
It is about what happens when you lose something you thought would
last forever.

It takes two people to create a relationship, but only one to break
it off. So what happens to the one who doesn't feel it has to end?
"Pour que tu m'aimes encore" is sung by such a woman. She has been
left by her man, and is desperate to have him back. In the song, she
tells us what she's ready to do, and why she feels so cheated.

The words she says that she has understood are those of him breaking
up with her. He was being sensible, but it was unexpected. If their
love had been a flower, it had faded. If everything zaps (i.e.
changes rapidly and constantly), then love is no exception. However,
this is what *he* said; she is of another opinion. She understands
him, but she doesn't agree with him.

Expressing her own view on the matter, she ignores the words she
described so eloquently in the first paragraph. When she says that
she'll go get his heart if he takes it away, the "heart" is his love
for her. If he dances with others (probably a euphemism for making
love), it won't matter to her. She will make him love her again.

She then tells him that if he didn't want the relationship to last
in the first place, he shouldn't have started it. He shouldn't have
given so much of himself that she would fall in love with him. She
says that she can't play the games that the others play: short-lived
relationships without any commitment or future. According to the
woman, before starting a relationship, the man should've known that
she wouldn't let go easily.

The marabou - whose song the woman evokes - is a West African bird,
a special kind of stork. (Whether that bird has a particularly
enchanting song is beyond my knowledge.

In the final paragraph, the woman appears very confused. The song
has been building up to this point, where basically she says that
she'll become even more lovable and attractive: she'll be the Queen
(he is the King). In a very submissive tone ("if that's what you
wish"), she tells him she'll do whatever he wants her to.

"Pour que tu m'aimes encore" is both optimistic and depressive. It's
about having found true love and wanting to hold on to it, but it's
also about not realizing that there are two people in a relationship
with an equal right to end it. I think that people who are in the
woman's situation are likely to agree with her.



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