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Amir & Indila — Carrousel Lyrics & English Translation

Amir & Indila — Carrousel Lyrics & English Translation

Carrousel” (Meaning: carousel, merry-go-round; Pronunciation: kaʀuzɛl) is a hit song by French-Israeli singer Amir Haddad and features French singer Indila. Carrousel was released on Amir’s album, “Ressources” in 2020. This song is a duet where both Amir and Indila sing together. See below for complete lyrics and video.

Carrousel by Amir and featuring Indila

Become an expert in French song lyrics
Using song lyrics is one of the most effective ways to learn French. For Indila, a leading French female singer, we’ve analyzed the lyrics of the following hit songs: Tourner Dans Le Vide, Ainsi Bas La Vida, Dernière Danse, Love Story andS.O.S.. Angèle is a leading Belgian female singer. For Angèle, we’ve covered Bruxelles je t’aime andBalance Ton Quoi. Stromae is a leading Belgian male singer. For Stromae, we’ve covered: Alors On Danse,Papaoutai, Formidable, Tous Les Mêmes, Santé,L’enfer and Mon Amour.

Carrousel song overview

The song, “Carrousel” by Amir and featuring Indila is a beautiful duet where Amir (the male voice) declares his love for Indila (the female voice).

In the song, the male makes several strong statements of his feelings: “Qu’est-ce qui m’arrive? elle est si belle“; What’s happening to me? She is so beautiful”.

He then declares that he found a ticket for her on the carrousel: “J’ai trouvé un ticket pour elle
Dans ce carrousel
; I found a ticket for her on this carousel”.

In the female’s response, she expresses her seriousness, singing: “Je ne joue pas, ce n’est pas un game;
Là tu t’engages quand tu m’aimes
; I’m not playing, it’s not a game. You’re committed when you love me”.

Then, both the male and female voices take turns singing the chorus: “Oui je cours, J’ai le cœur en aller-retour, Dans ce carrousel; Yes I’m running, My heart is going back and forth, on this carrousel”.

Carrousel lyrics

Lyrics analysis

In the following section we’ve analyzed the lyrics line-by-line, explaining both vocabulary and grammar which offer interesting insights into learning French.

Qu’est-ce qui m’arrive, qu’est-ce qui me traîne?

This line translates to “What’s happening to me? What’s dragging me around?”. In addition to meaning “to arrive”, the French verb arriver also means “to occur” and “to happen”.

The verbtraîner has several translations including “to drag”, “to lug around” and “to dawdle” or “to hang around”.

“Qu’est-ce que” means “what” in French. When preceding a verb, “qu’est-ce que” becomes “qu’est-ce qui”. Est-ce que on its own means is, are, do and does for a yes-no question.

J’ai le Vésuve au fond des veines

This line translates to “I have Vesuvius deep in my veins”. “J’ai” means “I have” and is the first-person singular (je) form ofavoir(to have).

“Vésuve” refers to Mount Vesuvius, a volcano in Italy. We believe Amir is using Mount Vesuvius as a metaphor to express his feelings of love and passion.

Aah, elle est si belle

This line translates to “Ah, she is so beautiful”. “Elle” means “she” in French and is a subject pronoun. Si has several translations including “so”. In this context, “tellement is a synonym and also means “so”. “Belle” is the feminine form of “beautiful” in French.

Le plus beau des coups que la vie

This line translates to “The most beautiful of blows that live gives”. “Le plus beau” is a superlative, meaning “the most” beautiful. The word coup has many meanings and usages but it’s underlying meaning is “hit” or “strike”.

In this line, the wordque is a relative pronoun, meaning “what” or “which”. In other contexts, “que” can mean “what”. “Vie” means “life” and is used in the expression, c’est la vie.

Le plus beau décor, de corps qui jouent la scène

This line translates to “The most beautiful décor, two bodes that play on the stage”. The word corps in French means “body”. The verb jouer means “to play”. Scène in French translates to both “state” and “scene”.

Je suis tant étourdi, je tiens à peine

This line translates to “I’m so dazed, I’m barely holding on”. Je suis is the first-person singular (je) form of être (to be). The adverb tant has several translations and usages including “so”. The adjective étourdi translates to “dazed” or “stunned”.

“Tiens” comes from the verb tenir, which has several usages but translates literally to “to hold”. The expression, à peine means “barely”.

Mais ces désirs me retiennent

This line translates to “But these desires are holding me back”. The word mais means “but” in French. The wordces is a demonstrative adjective and means “these”. The “me” in this sentence is a relative pronoun and translates to “me” in French.

Et je cours, J’ai le cœur en aller-retour

These two lines translate to “And I’m running, My heart is going back and forth”. Et means “and” in French. The -t is never pronounced. “Cours” comes from the verb courir(to run). Coeur means “heart”.

Aller-retouris an expression that translates literally to “to go, return” and is often used in the context of a “round-trip” ticket. We used the translation “back and forth” after watching Vishela’s translation of “Carousel” in YouTube.

C’est la première fois

This line translates to “it’s the first time”. There are two words for “time” in French: “temps” and “fois”. “Fois” is used in the context of “how many times”. “Premier/premiere” means “first“.

J’ai trouvé un ticket pour elle

This line translates to “I found a ticket for her”. “J’ai trouvé” is the passé composé (a French past tense use to describe events which occurred at a specific moment in time) of the verb “trouver” (to find).

In French, there are two words for “ticket“: “ticket” and “billet”. The word “ticket” is used for small and inexpensive tickets such as metro tickets. “Billet” is used for more expensive tickets such as plane tickets.

Dans ce carrousel

We translated this line to “On this carousel”. The prepositiondans normally means “in”, or more specifically “in side of”. However, in the context of the song’s lyrics, we translate it to “on”, which would normally be surin French.

Je ne joue pas, ce n’est pas un game

This line translates to “I’m not playing, it’s not a game”. “Ne + verb + pas” is the most standard form of French negation. The lyrics use the word “game” as an anglicism. However, the real word for game in French is “jeu”.

Là tu t’engages quand tu m’aimes

This line translates to “You’re committed when you love me”. The word in French translates to both “here” and “there”. It can also be used as a filler word in conversation.

“Quand” means “when” in French. “Tu m’aimes” means “You love me”. The verb “aimer” means both “to like” and “to love”. This page covers how to say “I love you” in French.

Faudra me préserver

This line translates to “You’ll need to protect me”. “Faudra” is the future tense of il faut, which translates literally to “it’s necessary to”. “Préserver” has several meanings in French including “to preserve” and “to protect”.

Jusqu’au souffle dernier

This line translates to “Until the last breath”.Jusqu’à means “until” in French. “Au” is a contraction of the the preposition “à” (meaning to and at) and the definite article “le” (the). The noun “souffle” means breath and verb “souffler” means “to blow”.

J’ai trouvé enfin l’essentiel

This line translates to “I finally found the most important thing”. Enfin means both “finally”, “in the end” and “at last”. Essentiel as a noun means “the most important thing”. As an adjective, it means “essential”.

T’es belle, rebelle, je suis immortel, C’est toi qui descelles tout ce que ma peau recèle

These lines translate to “You’re beautiful, a rebel, I’m immortal; You’re the one who unseals everything that my skin contains”. The translation of “C’est toi qui” is “you’re the one who”. “Toi” is a stress pronoun, meaning “you” in French.

The verb desceller, which means “to detect” and “to uncover”. “Peau” means “skin” and the verb receler means “to contain” and “to hold”.

J’ai peur de toi comme d’une sublime attraction

This line translates to “I’m afraid of you like a magnificent attraction”. Peurmeans fear and the expression “avoir peur de” means “to be afraid of”. Comme means both “like” and “as” in French. The adjective means sublime means both “sublime” and “magnificent”.

Une seconde avant l’action

This line translates to “One second before the action”. In French,avant means “before”, in the context of one event occurring before another. This is not to be confused with “devant”, which means in front of physically.

Si tu m’aimes, Si je t’ouvre mon cœur

This line translate to “If you love me, If I open my heart to you”. One of the several translations of si in French is “if”. “Ouvre” is the third-person singular form of ouvrir (to open).

C’est que tu sèmes, Une graine, une fleur

These lines translate to “It’s that you sow; A seed, a flower”. The verb semer means “to sow” and the noungrainemeans “seed”.

Tu devras me garder, abîmée ou belle

This line translates to “You’ll have to keep me, damaged or beautiful”. “Devras” is the tu-form of the verb “devoir” (must, to have to) in the future tense.

Carousel

Carrousel French Lyrics & English Translation

(Amir singing)
Qu’est-ce qui m’arrive, qu’est-ce qui me traîne?
J’ai le Vésuve au fond des veines
Aah, elle est si belle
La douleur qui m’interpelle

What’s happening to me? What’s dragging me around?
I have Vesuvius deep in my veins
Ah, she is so beautiful
The pain that calls out to me

(Amir singing)
Le plus beau des coups que la vie
Le plus beau décor, de corps qui jouent la scène
Je suis tant étourdi, je tiens à peine
Mais ces désirs me retiennent

The most beautiful of blows that live gives
The most beautiful décor, two bodes that play on the stage
I’m so dazed, I’m barely holding on
But these desires are holding me back

(Amir singing)
Et je cours
J’ai le cœur en aller-retour
C’est la première fois
J’ai trouvé un ticket pour elle
Dans ce carrousel

And I’m running
My heart is going back and forth
It’s the first time
I found a ticket for her
On this carousel

(Amir singing)
Et je cours
j’ai le cœur en aller-retour
C’est la première fois
J’ai trouvé un ticket pour elle
Dans ce carrousel

And I’m running
My heart is going back and forth
It’s the first time
I found a ticket for her
On this carousel

(Indila singing)
Dans ce carrousel, dans ce, dans ce carrousel
Dans ce carrousel, dans ce, dans ce carrousel

On this carousel, on this carousel
On this carousel, on this carousel

(Indila singing)
Je ne joue pas, ce n’est pas un game
Là tu t’engages quand tu m’aimes
Faudra me préserver
Jusqu’au souffle dernier

I’m not playing, it’s not a game
You’re committed when you love me
You’ll need to protect me
Until the last breath

(Indila singing)
Je cours
J’ai le cœur en aller-retour
C’est la première fois
J’ai trouvé enfin l’essentiel
Dans ce carrousel

I’m running
My heart is going back and forth
It’s the first time
I finally found the most important thing
On this carousel

(Indila singing)
Oui, je cours
J’ai le cœur en aller-retour
C’est la première fois
J’ai trouvé enfin l’essentiel
Dans ce carrousel

Yes, I’m running
My heart is going back and forth
It’s the first time
I finally found the most important thing
On this carousel

(Amir singing)
T’es belle, rebelle, je suis immortel
C’est toi qui descelles tout ce que ma peau recèle
J’ai peur de toi comme d’une sublime attraction
Une seconde avant l’action

You’re beautiful, a rebel, I’m immortal
You’re the one who spots everything that my skin contains
I’m afraid of you like a magnificent attraction
One second before the action

(Indila singing)
Si tu m’aimes
Si je t’ouvre mon cœur
C’est que tu sèmes
Une graine, une fleur
Tu devras me garder, abîmée ou belle
Dans ce carrousel

If you love me
If I open my heart to you
It’s that you sow
A seed, a flower
You’ll have to keep me, damaged or beautiful
On your carousel

(Amir singing)
Et je cours
J’ai le cœur en aller-retour
C’est la première fois
J’ai trouvé un ticket pour elle
Dans ce carrousel

And I’m running
My heart is going back and forth
It’s the first time
I found a ticket for her
On this carousel

(Indila singing)
Oui je cours
J’ai le cœur en aller-retour
C’est la première fois
J’ai trouvé enfin l’essentiel
Dans ce carrousel

Yes, I’m running
My heart is going back and forth
It’s the first time
I finally found the most important thing

On this carousel

(Indila singing)
Dans ce carrousel, dans ce, dans ce carrousel
Dans ce carrousel, dans ce, dans ce carrousel
Dans ce carrousel, dans ce, dans ce carrousel
Dans ce carrousel, dans ce, dans ce carrousel

On this carousel, on this carousel
On this carousel, on this carousel
On this carousel, on this carousel
On this carousel, on this carousel

Listen to Carrousel on YouTube & Spotify

Video synopsis

The official YouTube video for “Carrousel” has over 16 million views.

At the start of the video, Amir is working as a mechanic in a garage with a colleague. The colleague, played by French comedian Djimo, accuses Amir of not concentrating on his work as Amir has been looking at a woman across the street. The two men discuss walking across the street to meet the woman.

Indila plays a shopkeeper across the street. She can be seen showing a miniature carrousel to a little girl.

Amir can then be seen singing his initial lines of the song. He appears to be on a salt flat and running. Eventually, he sings, “I found a ticket for her on this carousel”.

Indila then appears standing on the carousel wearing a wedding dress singing, “I’m not playing, it’s not a game”. Amir can be seen pushing and pulling a carousel horse while Indila sings her lines.

Indila then sings that “you’ll have to keep me, damaged or beautiful” while Amir joins her on the carousel. Both Indila and Amir appear alternating lines as night falls on the carousel on the salt flat.

The video ends with Amir and Djimo back in the mechanics shop, as if the carousel was a daydream. Indila can be seen across the street in the shop, emptying a shoe full of salt.

You can also listen on Spotify:

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David Issokson

David Issokson is a lifelong language enthusiast. His head is swimming with words and sounds as he speaks over six languages. Of all the languages he speaks, he's the most passionate about French! David has helped hundreds of students to improve their French in his private online lessons. When procrastinating working on his site, FrenchLearner.com, David enjoys his time skiing and hiking in Teton Valley, Idaho.

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