“Les Champs Élysées“ (pronounced le ʃɒ̃z eɪli zeɪ) is the greatest hit of French-American singer Joe Dassin (1938-1980). Released in 1969, the song and was a French adaption of Waterloo Road, a British song. This post explains the vocabulary and grammar of the French lyrics.
Lyrics synopsis
Les Champs Élysées song lyrics recount the story of a man approaching a woman on the street. She invites him to spend the night singing and dancing in a bar. The two emerge the following day on to the street as lovers. The Champs-Élysées is a major avenue in Paris.
Les Champs Elysées lyrics and English translation
Je m’baladais sur l’avenue le cœur ouvert à l’inconnu
J’avais envie de dire bonjour à n’importe qui
N’importe qui et ce fut toi, je t’ai dit n’importe quoi
Il suffisait de te parler, pour t’apprivoiser
I was walking on the avenue with my heart open to the stranger
I wanted to say hello to anybody
Anybody, and that was you; I said whatever to you
All I had to do was speak to you to win you over
Aux Champs-Elysées, aux Champs-Elysées
Au soleil, sous la pluie, à midi ou à minuit
Il y a tout ce que vous voulez aux Champs-Elysées
On the Champs-Elysées, on the Champs-Elysées
In the sun, under the rain, at noon or at midnight
You can find whatever you want on the Champs-Elysées
Tu m’as dit j’ai rendez-vous dans un sous-sol avec des fous
Qui vivent la guitare à la main, du soir au matin
Alors je t’ai accompagnée, on a chanté, on a dansé
Et l’on n’a même pas pensé à s’embrasser
You told me: “I have a meeting in a basement (bar) with some crazy people
Who live with a guitar in-hand from the evening until the morning”
So I went with you, we sang, we danced
And we didn’t even think of kissing each other
Aux Champs-Elysées, aux Champs-Elysées
Au soleil, sous la pluie, à midi ou à minuit
Il y a tout ce que vous voulez aux Champs-Elysées
On the Champs-Elysées, on the Champs-Elysées
In the sun, under the rain, at noon or at midnight
You can find whatever you want on the Champs-Elysées
Hier soir, deux inconnus et ce matin sur l’avenue
Deux amoureux tout étourdis par la longue nuit
Last night, two strangers and this morning on the avenue
Two lovers completely dazed by the long night
Et de l’Étoile à la Concorde, un orchestre à mille cordes
Tous les oiseaux du point du jour chantent l’amour
And from Place de l’Étoile to Place de la Concorde, an orchestra playing a thousand strings
All the birds at dawn singing love
Aux Champs-Elysées, aux Champs-Elysées
Au soleil, sous la pluie, à midi ou à minuit
Il y a tout ce que vous voulez aux Champs-Elysées
On the Champs-Elysées, on the Champs-Elysées
In the sun, under the rain, at noon or at midnight
You can find whatever you want on the Champs-Elysées
(chorus repeats)
Vocabulary and grammar of the lyrics
The song lyrics are very easy to understand and don’t use any advanced grammar. In fact, they’d be excellent for students learning French at the upper-beginner or intermediate level.
Je m’baladais sur l’avenue le cœur ouvert à l’inconnu
This first translates to “I was walking on the avenue with my heart open to the stranger”. The reflexive verb se balader means to take a walk or stroll. This line is in the imperfect tense, which is used to express on going actions. Cœur means “heart” in French.
J’avais envie de dire bonjour à n’importe qui
This line translates to “I wanted to say hello to anybody”. J’avais envie is the imperfect form of the expression avoir envie (to want, to fancy). Dire bonjour means “to say hello”. N’importe qui means “anybody”. This lesson explains n’importe expressions.
N’importe qui et ce fut toi, je t’ai dit n’importe quoi
This line translates to “Anybody, and that was you; I said whatever to you”. Fut is the passé simple, a literary past tense, of être (to be). The expression n’imorte quoi has several meanings incluing “whatever” and “nonsense”
Il suffisait de te parler, pour t’apprivoiser
This line translates literally to: “It was enough to speak to you to tame you”. The expression il suffit de can translate to “all you have to do is” and “it’s enough to”. Translations for apprivoiser (to take) on allthelyrics.com include “to know” and “to become acquainted”. Thus, I translated the line to “All I had to do was speak to you to win you over”.
Au soleil, sous la pluie, à midi ou à minuit
This line translates to “In the sun, under the rain, at noon or at midnight“. This lesson covers weather terms and this lesson covers telling time.
Il y a tout ce que vous voulez aux Champs-Elysées
I translated this line to: “You can find whatever you want on the Champs-Elysées”. The literal translation is: “There is all what you want on the Champs-Elysées“. The expression il y a means there is or there are. Ce que is an indefinite relative pronoun, meaning what. “Vous voulez” is the vous form of vouloir, which means to want.
Tu m’as dit “J’ai rendez-vous dans un sous-sol avec des fous
I translated this line to: “You told me: “I have a meeting in a basement (bar) with some crazy people”. Tu m’as dit is the passé composé of the verb dire, which means to say. Rendez-vous translates to both meeting and appointment. While sous-sol means basement, I interpreted this as a bar on the Champs-Elysées.
Qui vivent la guitare à la main, du soir au matin
This line translates to “Who live with a guitar in-hand from the evening until the morning”. The verb vivre means “to live” in French.
Alors je t’ai accompagnée, on a chanté, on a dansé
I translated this line to “So I went with you, we sang, we danced”. Alors translates to both so and then. This line uses the pronoun on, which can be used to refer to us or “nous”.
Et l’on n’a même pas pensé à s’embrasser
This line translates to “And we didn’t even think of kissing each other”. The ne…pas is a basic French negation. The word même translates to both same and even. This line uses a reciprocal reflexive verb, s’embrasser which can translate to “to kiss” or “to embrace”.
Deux amoureux tout étourdis par la longue nuit
This line translates to “Two lovers completely dazed by the long night”. Amoureux is both a noun meaning lover and adjective meaning “in love”. The word tout can translate to all or completely. Étourdi has several translations including dazed and giddy.
Et de l’Étoile à la Concorde, un orchestre à mille cordes
This line translates to “And from Place de l’Étoile to Place de la Concorde, an orchestra playing a thousand strings”. L’Étoile à la Concorde refers the entire length of the Champs Elysées. An orchestra playing a thousand strings is meant to be a metaphor for the singing of the morning birds at dawn.
Tous les oiseaux du point du jour chantent l’amour
This line translates to “All the birds at dawn singing love”. The expression point du jour means brake of day or dawn.
More French songs
- Hymne à l’amour (Edith Piaf)
- La vie en rose (Edith Piaf)
- Non, je ne regrette rien (Edith Piaf)
- C’est si bon (Yves Montand)
- Ne me quitte pas (Jacques Brel)
- La Bohème (Charles Aznavour)
- Dominique by The Singing Nun (Sœur Sourire)
French songs | Lessons by David Issokson
