L’Épave - Help given to him in desperate need makes one of life's casualties re-assess who is his good neighbour

The narrator is a man who is left lying incapable in the street, in mortal need of help.  Those who come by are familiar characters from Brassens' world, for most of whom, Brassens had previously expressed admiration and sympathy in different songs: his local barman, a barefoot vagrant, a penniless, long-term student, the good wife of a working class man’ a hard-working street girl, a policeman.

Only one of these proves to be the good Samaritan and it comes as a surprise.

The story reflects a dramatic event in Brassens’  later years.  I have written an account of this, which I have included after the translation notes so that you view the song first.

L'épave(1)  - The human wreck

J'en appelle à Bacchus ! À Bacchus j'en appelle! (2) Le tavernier du coin vient d' me la bailler belle(3). De son établissement j'étais l' meilleur pilier.(4) Quand j'eus bu tous mes sous, il me mit à la porte En disant : " Les poivrots, le diable les emporte! Ça n' fait rien, il y a des bistrots bien singuliers...  Un certain va-nu-pieds(5) qui passe et me trouve ivre- Mort, croyant tout de bon que j'ai cessé de vivre  (Vous auriez fait pareil), s'en prit à mes souliers(6).  Pauvre homme ! Vu l'état piteux de mes godasses, Je dout' qu'il trouve avec son chemin de Damas.(7) Ça n' fait rien, il y a des passants bien singuliers... Un étudiant miteux s'en prit à ma liquette(8) Qui, à la faveur d'la nuit lui avait paru coquette, Mais en plein jour ses yeux ont dû se dessiller. Je l' plains de tout mon cœur, pauvre enfant, s'il l'a mise, Vu que, d'un homme heureux, (9) c'était loin d'êtr' la ch'mise. Ça n' fait rien, y a des étudiants bien singuliers... La femm' d'un ouvrier s'en prit à ma culotte. "Pas ça, madam', pas ça ! Mille et un coups de bottes Ont tant usé le fond que, si vous essayiez  D' la mettre à votr' mari, bientôt, je vous en fiche  (10), Mon billet,il aurait du verglas sur les miches(11)." Ça n' fait rien, il y a des ménages bien singuliers... Et j'étais là, tout nu, sur le bord du trottoir Exhibant, malgré moi, mes humbles génitoires. Une petit' vertu(12) rentrant de travailler, Elle qui, chaque soir, en voyait un' douzaine, Courut dire aux agents : "J'ai vu quelqu' chos' d'obscène !" Ça n' fait rien, il y a des tapins bien singuliers... Le r'présentant d' la loi vint, d'un pas débonnaire. Sitôt qu'il m'aperçut il s'écria : "Tonnerre ! On est en plein hiver, et si vous vous geliez !" Et, de peur que j' n'attrape une fluxion d' poitrine, Le bougre, il me couvrit avec sa pèlerine. Ça n' fait rien, il y a des flics bien singuliers... Et depuis ce jour-là, moi, le fier, le bravache, Moi, dont le cri de guerr' fut toujours : "Mort aux vaches(13) !" Plus une seule fois je n'ai pu le brailler. J'essaye bien encor, mais ma langue honteuse Retombe lourdement dans ma bouche pâteuse. Ça n' fait rien, nous vivons un temps bien singulier...

I appeal to Bacchus! To Bacchus I appeal! The landlord of our pub has just played the dirty on me Of his establishment I was the strongest pillar When I’d drunk my last cent, he had had me slung out Saying: "Drunkards, let them all go to the devil " No big deal; there are some pubs most peculiar. A certain down and out, passes and finds me dead drunk -. Honestly believing that I have stopped living (You would have done the same), made off with my shoes. The poor man! In view of their pitiable state I doubt he’ll find with them his road to Damascus. No big deal; there’re some passers-by most peculiar. A shabby looking student made off with my shirt Which, flattered by the dark, had seemed to  him real smart, But the light of day must  have opened his eyes. I much pity him, poor kid, if he put it on "Shirt of a happy man" it was far from being No big deal; there’re some students most peculiar . The wife of a workman made off with my trousers. “Not those, Madame, not those!"  A’thousand and one boot-caps Have so worn the seat of the pants that if you tried To fit them on your husband, I bet my last cent He would get sheets of ice upon his buttocks." No big deal; there are some families most peculiar. And there I was stark naked, on the pavement edge Showing, despite myself, my humble genitals. A street girl, going back home from one of her jobs , She who, saw a dozen of the same every night, Ran to tell the police: "I’ve seen something obscene!" No big deal; there are some floozies most peculiar. The custodian of the law came sauntering up As soon as he noticed me he exclaimed:  “Good grief! We’re in depth of winter, what if you get frozen!” And for fear I might catch double pneumonia The fellow, he covered me in his heavy  cloak, No big deal; there are some cops  most peculiar... And since that very day, I, the proud, the loud mouth, I, whose war cry had been always: "Death to the pigs!" Not one single time more could I yell it. I try very hard still, but my tongue to its shame Falls heavily back down in my mouth, where it sticks. No big deal; we live in times  most peculiar.

TRANSLATION NOTES

1)     Épave – means wreck or shipwreck but also a person who has fallen into an abject state. At first, I had seen this as a light- hearted song.  However, having since learnt of a close friend , who had known glittering success but took progressively to drink and saw all the elements of his life disintegrate around him, I see the same situation in this song - the tragedy of addiction.

2)     J'en appelle à – « en appeler à » means to appeal to- in this case to the Greek God of wine and winemaking

3)     Vous me la baillez belle means “you are trying to deceive me”, “you are pulling the wool over my eyes”.

4)     Pilier –means a pillar – the idiom: C’est un pilier de bistro means some-one who spends their life in pubs

5)     Un certain va-nu-pieds – Un va-nu-pieds means a tramp or a beggar.  In history “les Nu-Pieds” were the common people of Normandy who rose in revolt in July 1639, reduced to misery by a succession of bad harvests and an outbreak of plague. As the characters in the song are representatives of Brassens’ earlier assocates perhaps the barefoot man is a fellow impecunious revolutionary in pursuit of a lofty ideal, whose realisation might or might not come like the flash of light to Saint Paul on the road to Damascus

6)     S’en prendre à = to set about/ to lay into

7)     Son chemin de Damas – symbolises an overwhelming moment of enlightenment as it was on the road to Damascus that St Paul was converted with his vision of Christ

8)     Ma liquette – apparently “liquette” is slang for shirt.

9)     ….. d'un homme heureux,  c'était loin d'êtr' la ch'mise – The fable of the « Shirt of a happy man » seems to be quite well-known in France, although I have never met it in England.  Jules Verne has a story about it and at the start of his “La chemise d’un homme heureux”, he gives us an explanation, that helps us understand this line:

Once upon a time a son of the great Haroun-al-Raschid, who was not happy, went to consult an old derviche.  The wise old man answered him that happiness was a difficult thing to find in this world.  “However”, he added “I know an infallible means of procuring happiness for you.

“What is it?” asked the prince.

“It is,” replied the Derviche, “to put on the shirt of a happy man!”

10)  Ficher mon billet means to bet my bottom dollar

11)  Une miche – is a round bun, hence in less polite usage it means buttock.  For reason of its shape it is also a rude word for a breast.

12)  “Une femme de petite vertu” is a term for a prostitute.  Brassens has condensed the expression.

13)  10) Mort aux vaches ! – This is the standard abusive slogan used in France when violent extremists are restrained by the police.  The choice of cows as a symbol of oppression is most puzzling as we think of them usually as animals peacefully chewing grass in fields.  A theory is that the expression dates back to 1914- 1918 War, when the French people of the occupied Northern area shouted the slogan:”Mort au Wacht”.  The Wacht were the German police.

Brassens would have shouted this slogan often in his mid-twenties when he was a in an activist Anarchist group, of which he was one of the leaders.  His song Hecatombe (1953) shows his earlier, bitter anti-police feelings, where uses the slogan in the following lines (“Elles” refers to evil belligerent women in their mob):

Frénétiqu' l'une d'elles attache

Le vieux maréchal des logis

Et lui fait crier: "Mort aux vaches,

Mort aux lois, vive l'anarchie!"
L’Epave is a song of his mature years, when Brassens is pointing out that there is good and bad in us all, no matter how we are labelled.  Brassens had had a dramatic personal reminder of this, when he collapsed outside a theatre where he was performing (See below).

The true story behind this song

The videos of Brassens performing his songs onstage often show him sweating and looking strained.  He frequently suffered from excruciating stage fright and and the strain of his stage performances was aggravated as time went on as his health collapsed.   Sometimes he went on stage when he was a very sick man, sometimes with an ambulance waiting at the stage door.  

The incident, upon which “L’Epave” is based, occurred on one such evening.  In his dressing room, Georges Brassens found himself gasping so desperately for breath that he was forced to go outdoors without time to slip on his coat.  As he struggled with his problem, a policeman happened to pass by.  He was alarmed to see a man in such a state on a freezing cold night.  Immediately, he took off his heavy police cape and kept Brassens wrapped in it, until he was sufficiently recovered to go back inside.

The song “L’Épave” is therefore an expression of thanks from Brassens to an unknown Paris police officer.

D.Y 15/06/ 2014

Please click here to go to the Alphabetical List of my collection of Brassens songs

Pénélope -liberation of a woman alone

In this song, the “Penelope” mainly in Brassens’ mind is not the virtuous wife of Ulysses in the legend but the middle class wife, trapped by a rigid social code in a marriage gone stale.  Brassens suspects however that she might, on the quiet, get private relief through the sensual flights of imagination, often involuntary, which must occur to her.   These are able to give her an exhilarating freedom and offer her consolation away from the control of anyone else.  The theme is much the same as that in “Fernande” and as it is the female version, perhaps the great singer Barbara can best convey its undertones.

Penelope

Toi, l'épouse modèle, le grillon du foyer(2), Toi, qui n'as point d'accrocs dans ta rob' de mariée, Toi, l'intraitable Pénélope, En suivant ton petit bonhomme de bonheur(3), Ne berces-tu jamais en tout bien tout honneur De jolies pensées interlopes(4)? De jolies pensées interlopes... Derrière tes rideaux, dans ton juste milieu(5), En attendant l'retour d'un Ulyss' de banlieue, Penchée sur tes travaux de toile(6), Les soirs de vague à l'âme et de mélancolie N'as tu jamais en rêve au ciel d'un autre lit Compté de nouvelles étoiles(7)? Compté de nouvelles étoiles... N'as-tu jamais encore appelé de tes voeux L'amourette qui passe, qui vous prend aux cheveux ? Qui vous conte des bagatelles, Qui met la marguerite au jardin potager(8), La pomme défendue aux branches du verger, Et le désordre à vos dentelles? Et le désordre à vos dentelles... N'as-tu jamais souhaité de revoir en chemin Cet ange, ce démon, qui, son arc à la main, Décoche des flèches malignes, Qui rend leur chair de femme aux plus froides statues, Les bascul' de leur socle, bouscule leur vertu, Arrache leur feuille de vigne(9)? Arrache leur feuille de vigne... N'aie crainte que le Ciel ne t'en tienne rigueur, Il n'y a vraiment pas là de quoi fouetter un cœur(10) Qui bat la campagne et galope (10)! C'est la faute commune et le péché véniel(11), C'est la face cachée de la lune de miel(12) Et la rançon de Pénélope, Et la rançon de Pénélope.

You the model wife, domestic paragon, You who have no snags at all in your bridal gown You, the intractable Penelope, At your little fellow’s beck and call Don’t you ever cradle in all honesty Some pretty thoughts that just sneak in Some pretty thoughts that just sneak in Behind your curtains in your so correct world, Waiting for suburban Ulysses’ return, While engrossed in your needlework, On evenings of emptiness and brooding Have you ever, in dreams, on top a different bed Counted stars quite novel to you? Counted stars quite novel to you? Have you never called out to the object of Your desires, who chances by, grabs you by the hair? Who tells you some sweet nothings, Who puts the wild daisy in the kitchen garden, Puts the forbidden fruit onto  the orchard boughs And gets your lace garments all tangled up And gets your lace garments all tangled up. Have you never wished to bump into again That angel, that demon, who his bow in hand, Fires some cunning arrows Who restores their woman's flesh to coldest statues Rocks them from their pedestal, topples their virtue, Snatches off  their figleaf’s cover? Snatches off their figleaf’s cover? Have no fear that heaven might hold you to account There’s really nothing over which to   lash a heart  That is led astray and goes wild It’s a common failing, merely venial sin It’s the hidden side of the honeyed moon And the ransom of Penelope  And the ransom of Penelope.

Georges Brassens - 1960 - Le mécréant

Translation notes 

1)      Pénélope – In greek mythology, Penelope is the wife of Odyseus (Ulysses in the Latin legend). After his victory in Troy, Ulysses’s journey home was constantly delayed and other men assuming his death, courted Penelope.  She resisted all pressure and remained faithful to Ulysses.  She has become the symbol of the ever-faithful wife.

2)       Grillon du foyer –The tiny chimney cricket lived in the ash of the wide chimneys of olden times  its chirping was believed to be a sign of good luck and happiness in that household. The perfect wife in the poem is the representation of the same.

3)      En suivant ton petit bonhomme de bonheur,  This phrase tells us that she was happy to take a subservient role letting her husband take the lead.

4)      De jolies pensées interlopes? – Interlope comes from the English word « interloper”, which is some-one who enters secretly, illicitly and is unwelcome

5)       Juste milieu.  There could be two meanings for milieu.  Firstly it could mean her sense of moderation.  I have chosen a second meaning of «  le milieu social ».  The setting is behind the discreetly closed curtains of a middle class suburban home.

6)       Penchée sur tes travaux de toile – In the 1930s and 1940s, conscientious wives would spend a lot of time sewing, repairing and making clothes and furnishings.  The relevance to Penelope is that she made her sewing an excuse for refusing the proposals of her many suitors, saying that she had first to complete the sewing othe shroud she was making for her elderly father-in- law- and she was careful to make very slow progress

7)      Compté de nouvelles étoiles?  Compter les étoiles – In the dictionary,  le Littré, we read that «  Compter les étoiles » means to waste your time on an unprodutive remote task.   In this poem, the stars were on the canopy over the bed that she shared with her husband and her conventional sexual routine was performed lying on her back looking up, counting the stars and paying little attention to what was happening to her down below. 

8)      Qui met la marguerite au jardin potager, - In his song « La non-demande en mariage », Brassens once again associates the daisy and domestic life:
A aucun prix moi je ne veux
Effeuiller dans le pot-au-feu la marguerite.
The daisy is the symbol of love and the vegetable garden is the symbol of domesticity and the home.  The context of both poems is extramarital relationship.

9)      Arrache leur feuille de vigne? – In English we talk of the fig-leaves and in French of the vine-leaves, which were superimposed on works of art out of prudery, when the artist had depicted sexual parts. 

10)  Here we have a contraction of two expressions (a): "il n'y a pas de quoi fouetter un chat" which means that it is something of no great importance and (b) "un esprit qui bat la campagne" which means a mind that gets misled by unreasonable arguments.

11)  C'est la faute commune et le péché véniel, - These are minor sins as defined in the Catholic Church.  According to Catholic doctrine, people who die while burdened with mortal sin will be sent to burn forever in Hell.   
    However, Brassens advises his Penelope, that her temptation would not be a mortal sin.   The creation of naughty fantasies in the mind, with no intention of actual deeds with another person are classed by the Church as « Sins of the mind ». and these are normally treated as venial sins, which implies excusable sins.

12)   C'est la face cachée de la lune de miel – I am not sure whether, in English, we have any picture of an actual moon when we talk about the honeymoon.   In French there seems to be an awareness of moon + honey, so that Brassens can make this image of the visible side of the moon and the dark side of the moon, representing our public lives and the private lives of our thoughts and imaginings. It cannot surprise us that Brassens, the great libertarian is making the case, in this song, that prisoners of circumstance, symbolised by Penelope, should be allowed to soar totally free in their personal space.

Footnote - from the newspapers

In the week when I was translating this poem, a survey was published, which stated  that couples in relationships had less sex than couples used to have 20 years ago.  The Times columnist, Janice Turner, in her article on November 28^th 2013, commented on these findings, and in her last paragraph suggested an explanation of private sex that seemed to be relevant to this poem.  She wrote:

Modern couples are exhausted, working on their laptops and smart phones, claims the study. Or maybe with their shiny devices, high-speed broadband and websites for the most specialised peccadillos, they have sex, just on their own.

A Times photo of Janice Turner

Click here to return to the alphabetical list of my Brassens selection