Rien à jeter -a Georges Brassens love song

This is a light-hearted love song written for Joha Heiman. The poet is playing the popular game of deciding the most important things that he would take with him if he were marooned on a desert island. In fact, he is selecting the most treasured parts of his girl friend’s body. He begins at the top and moves down. In the last two verses he becomes impatient knowing her charm is the whole person. On one French Brassens website, this song is placed in twelfth position in a list of the most popular Brassens songs



Rien à jeter

Sans ses cheveux qui volent
Without her wind-blown hair
J'aurais, dorénavant,
I would have, forever more
Des difficultés folles
Great difficulty to see
À voir d'où vient le vent.
Where the wind is coming from.

Tout est bon chez elle, y a rien à jeter,
All she’s got’s spot on – there’s nothing to discard,
Sur l'île déserte il faut tout emporter.
On the desert isle, we need to take the lot.

Je me demande comme(1)
I stop to wonder just how
Subsister sans ses joues
I’d fare without her cheeks
M'offrant deux belles pommes
Giving me two fine apples
Nouvelles chaque jour.
Fresh-new every day

Tout est bon chez elle, y a rien à jeter,
All she’s got’s spot on – there’s nothing to discard,
Sur l'île déserte il faut tout emporter.
On the desert isle, we need to take the lot.

Sans sa gorge(2), ma tête,
Without her bosom my head
Dépourvue de coussin,
Deprived its cushioning
Reposerait par terre
‘d be resting on the ground
Et rien n'est plus malsain.
And nothing does more harm.

Tout est bon chez elle, y a rien à jeter,
All she’s got’s spot on – there’s nothing to discard,
Sur l'île déserte il faut tout emporter.
On the desert isle, we need to take the lot.

Sans ses hanches solides(3)
Without her full hips so firm
Comment faire, demain,
How will I manage tomorrow
Si je perds l'équilibre,
If I should overbalance
Pour accrocher mes mains ?
To grab hold with my hands?

Tout est bon chez elle, y a rien à jeter,
All she’s got’s spot on – there’s nothing to discard,
Sur l'île déserte il faut tout emporter.
On the desert isle, we need to take the lot.

Elle a mille autres choses
She has a thousand other things
Précieuses encore
Prized by me the same
Mais, en spectacle, j'ose
But in public I don’t dare
Pas donner tout son corps.
Give all her body parts

Tout est bon chez elle, y a rien à jeter,
All she’s got’s spot on – there’s nothing to discard,
Sur l'île déserte il faut tout emporter.
On the desert isle, we need to take the lot.

Des charmes de ma mie
Some charms of my darling
J'en passe et des meilleurs.
I skip and some the best.
Vos cours d'anatomie
Your lessons in anatomy
Allez les prendre ailleurs.
Go ‘n get them somewhere else

Tout est bon chez elle, y a rien à jeter,
All she’s got’s spot on – there’s nothing to discard,
Sur l'île déserte il faut tout emporter.
On the desert isle, we need to take the lot.

D'ailleurs, c'est sa faiblesse,
Besides, it is her weakness
Elle tient à ses os
She’s keen on her bones
Et jamais ne se laisse-
And never will she allow
Rait couper en morceaux.
Her cutting up in bits.

Tout est bon chez elle, y a rien à jeter,
All she’s got’s spot on – there’s nothing to discard,
Sur l'île déserte il faut tout emporter.
On the desert isle, we need to take the lot.

Elle est quelque peu fière
She’s a touch on the proud side
Et chatouilleuse assez
And is ticklish somewhat,
Et l'on doit tout entière
And people have to, all complete
La prendre ou la laisser.
Take her or to leave her.

Tout est bon chez elle, y a rien à jeter,
All she’s got’s spot on – there’s nothing to discard,
Sur l'île déserte il faut tout emporter.
On the desert isle, we need to take the lot.

Georges Brassens
1969 - La religieuse - after Misogynie

TRANSLATION NOTES
1) Comme is here used in the old sense meaning - comment
2) Gorge means throat but sometimes has the sense of bust e.g. soutien-gorge = bra
3) Ses hanches solides - In several poems Brassens expresses his admiration for a well-rounded female bottom and wrote a full poem in its praise: Vénus Callipyge.

BIOGRAPHICAL NOTE
During a conversation in the later years of his life, Brassens named this song among those he said were inspired by his love for his lifelong partner, Joha Heiman. Although it is a powerful declaration of love - he would not change the least part of her-, there is also the teasing which we come to expect when Brassens talks of his "Püppchen". He was only a shy youth of eighteen when her beauty had first captivated him. He used to gaze upon her as she passed him along the streets of the quartier of Paris, where he lived. (Fuller notes about their relationship are posted with the song: Je me suis fait tout petit



Another love song that makes play of detachable parts of the body in the game of love is “All of me”. Here it is sung by Billie Holiday (1941)



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