“Padam, Padam…“ is one of legendary French singer Édith Piaf‘s famous songs. Released in 1951, the song’s lyrics are about a 20 year-old Édith remembering a tune and having it trigger memories. In this post I’ve translated the lyrics into English, read each line aloud and explained the vocabulary and grammar.
Padam, Padam… lyrics translation
Cet air qui m’obsède jour et nuit
Cet air n’est pas né d’aujourd’hui
Il vient d’aussi loin que je viens
Traîné par cent mille musiciens
Un jour cet air me rendra folle
Cent fois j’ai voulu dire pourquoi
Mais il m’a coupé la parole
Il parle toujours avant moi
Et sa voix couvre ma voix
This tune that obsesses me day and night
This tune that wasn’t written today
It comes from as far as I come
Brought by 100,000 musicians
One day this tune will drive me crazy
One hundred times I wanted to say why
But it interrupted me
It always speaks before me
And its voice covers my voice
Padam… padam… padam…
Il arrive en courant derrière moi
Padam… padam… padam…
Il me fait le coup du souviens-toi
Padam… padam… padam…
C’est un air qui me montre du doigt
Et je traîne après moi comme un drôle d’erreur
Cet air qui sait tout par cœur
Padam… padam… padam…
It comes running behind me
Padam… padam… padam…
It uses the old trick – remember
Padam… padam… padam…
It’s a tune that points to me
And I drag behind myself like a silly mistake
This tune that knows everything by heart
Il dit: Rappelle-toi tes amours
Rappelle-toi puisque c’est ton tour
‘y a pas d’raison pour qu’tu n’pleures pas
Avec tes souvenirs sur les bras…
Et moi je revois ceux qui restent
Mes vingt ans font battre tambour
Je vois s’entrebattre des gestes
Toute la comédie des amours
Sur cet air qui va toujours
It says: Recall your lovers
Recall since it’s your turn
There’s no reason for you not to cry
With your leftover memories
And me, I see again what remains
My twenty years have the drum beating
I see movements fighting each other
The entire comedy of lovers
On this tune that always goes (like)
Padam… padam… padam…
Des je t’aime de quatorze-juillet
Padam… padam… padam…
Des toujours qu’on achète au rabais
Padam… padam… padam…
Des veux-tu en voilà par paquets
Et tout ça pour tomber juste au coin d’la rue
Sur l’air qui m’a reconnue
Padam… padam… padam…
“I love yous” from the 14th of July
Padam… padam… padam…
From which we always buy on discount
From bags galore
And all that falls right on the street corner
On the tune that recognized me
Écoutez le chahut qu’il me fait
Listen to the ruckus it does to me
Comme si tout mon passé défilait
As if all of my past was parading
Faut garder du chagrin pour après
J’en ai tout un solfège sur cet air qui bat
Qui bat comme un cœur de bois…
You have to keep some sadness for after
I have an entire solfeggio on this beating tune
Which beats like a heart made of wood
Vocabulary and grammar of the lyrics
In this section I’ve provided explanations of the vocabulary and grammar of the French lyrics.
Padam, Padam
According to britannica.com, a padam is a type of melodic love poem from the south of India.
Cet air qui m’obsède jour et nuit
This line translates to “This tune that obsesses me day and night”. Air in French translates to air, atmosphere and tune or melody. Cet is an demonstrative pronoun meaning “this”.
Cet air n’est pas né d’aujourd’hui
This line translates to “This tune that wasn’t written today”. N’est pas né translates literally to “wasn’t born”. Aujourd’hui means “today” in French.
Il vient d’aussi loin que je viens
This line translates to “It comes from as far as I come”. Aussi loin que (as far as) is an example of the French comparative. Je viens is the first-person singular form of venir (to come).
Traîné par cent mille musiciens
I translated this line to “Brought by 100,000 musicians”. The verb traîner has several translations including to drag or lug around.
Un jour cet air me rendra folle
This line translates to “One day this tune will drive me crazy”. Rendre has several meanings in French including “to give back” and “to render”. In this context it means to make or drive crazy.
Cent fois j’ai voulu dire pourquoi
This line translates to “One hundred times I wanted to say why”. The feminine noun fois means “time” as in how many times. Voulu is the part participle of vouloir (to want).
Mais il m’a coupé la parole
This line translates to “But it interrupted me”. Both couper la parole à quelqu’un and interrompre mean “to interrupt” in French.
Il parle toujours avant moi
This line translates to “It always speaks before me”. The subject pronoun il means “he” in French but means “it” in this sentence, refering back to the tune. Toujours is a commonly used adverb meaning “always”.
Il arrive en courant derrière moi
This line translates to “It comes running behind me”. En courrant translates literally to “while running” and is an example of gerund.
Il me fait le coup du souviens-toi
I translated this line to “It uses the old trick – remember”. This line was very difficult to translate. The expression faire le coup means “to use the old trick”. Souviens-toi is the imperative for of se souvenir (to remember).
C’est un air qui me montre du doigt
This line translates to “It’s a tune that points to me”. The expression montrer du doigt (literally to show of the finger) means “to point”.
Et je traîne après moi comme un drôle d’erreur
This line translates to “And I drag behind myself like a silly mistake”. Drôle is an adjective meaning funny or weird.
Cet air qui sait tout par cœur
This line translates to “This tune that knows everything by heart”. Qui in in this line is a relative pronoun meaning “which” or “that”. Savoir par cœur means to know by heart.
Il dit: Rappelle-toi tes amours
This line translates to “It says: Recall your lovers”. The reflexive verb se rappeler means “to recall” or “to remember”.
Rappelle-toi puisque c’est ton tour
This line translates to “Recall since it’s your turn”. Puisque can translate to “since” or “as”. The noun tour has many meanings in French; one of which is “turn”.
‘y a pas d’raison pour qu’tu n’pleures pas
This line translates to “There’s no reason for you not to cry”. Y a pas is a shortening of il y a (there is, there are) in the negation. The conjunction pour que means “so that” or “in order to”.
Avec tes souvenirs sur les bras…
This line translates to “With your leftover memories”. The expression sur les bras (literally on the arms) means “leftover” or “on your hands”.
Et moi je revois ceux qui restent
This line translates to “And me, I see again what remains”. Translations for the verb rester include both “to stay” and “to remain”.
Mes vingt ans font battre tambour
This line translates to “My twenty years have the drum beating”. An means “year” and is used in association with describing age. Font battre is an example of faire + infinitive (to have an action carried out).
Je vois s’entrebattre des gestes
This line translates to “I see movements fighting each other”. Geste can translate to both gesture and movement.
Des je t’aime de quatorze-juillet
This line translates to “I love yous” from the 14th of July”. Le 14 juillet makes reference to Bastille Day, France’s national holiday.
Des toujours qu’on achète au rabais
This line was difficult to translates. My translation is: “From which we always buy on discount”. The pronoun on means “we” or people in general. Acheter au rabais means to buy on discount.
Des veux-tu en voilà par paquets
This line translates to “From bags galore”. The expression en veux-tu en voilà means “galore”. Paquet can translate to packet or bag.
Et tout ça pour tomber juste au coin d’la rue
This line translates to “And all that falls right on the street corner”. Coin translates literally to “corner” but can also mean “local area”. Rue means street in French.
Écoutez le chahut qu’il me fait
This line translates to “Listen to the ruckus it does to me”. The noun chachut can translate to ruckus, uproar or commotion.
Comme si tout mon passé défilait
This line translates to “As if all of my past was parading”. Défilait is the the imperfect form of défiler (to parade).
Faut garder du chagrin pour après
This line translates to “You have to keep some sadness for after”. Faut is a shortening of the express il faut (it’s necessary, one has to).
More French songs
- Top 12 Édith Piaf songs
- Top 10 Céline Dion French songs
- La Vie en rose (Édith Piaf)
- Non, je ne regrette rien (Édith Piaf)
- Hymne à l’amour (Édith Piaf)
- Sous le ciel de Paris (Édith Piaf)
- Milord (Édith Piaf)
- Pour que tu m’aimes encore (Céline Dion)
- Dominique (Singing Nun)
- Ne me quitte pas (Jacques Brel)
- C’est si bon (Yves Montand)
French songs | Lessons by David Issokson
Not happy with my translation? Please contact me with corrections or suggestions.
