Get Drunk

a great poem by Charles Baudelaire



The song at the end was just part of this clip, but even if you don't like Irish folk music, it does give that jolly vibe of having a pint and a laugh with mates at a cosy Irish pub, does it not? There are other versions of people reciting this but this is the one prefer and which I learnt by heart from listening to a Makem and Clancy casette tape when I was 14 (and not drinking but into poetry). The words below are someone else's translation - not exactly what's on the video; the original poem is in French.


Always be drunk.
That's it!
The great imperative!
In order not to feel
Time's horrid fardel
bruise your shoulders,
grinding you into the earth,
Get drunk and stay that way.
On what?
On  wine, poetry, virtue, whatever.
But get drunk.
And if you sometimes happen to wake up
on the porches of a palace,
in the green grass of a ditch,
in the dismal loneliness of your own room,
your drunkenness gone or disappearing,
ask the wind,
the wave,
the star,
the bird,
the clock,
ask everything that flees,
everything that groans
or rolls
or sings,
everything that speaks,
ask what time it is;
and the wind,
the wave,
the star,
the bird,
the clock
will answer you:
"Time to get drunk!
Don't be martyred slaves of Time,
Get drunk!
Stay drunk!
On wine, virtue, poetry, whatever!"

A Happy Event TRAILER

One of the last films I saw in Oz before moving to France...and it's French...and a little scary if you're a woman...

Camélia Jordana - Non non non non

In honour of the Fete de la Musique, held all over France, and at our local bowling club (where the Frenchies play les boules), here is a French pop song that's been stuck in my head lately. The singer was on the French idol/talent/star quest show when she was just a geek-chic bespectacled 16 year old and she's all of 19 now.

First just the tune was catchy, but paying attention to the (simple) lyrics and then the cheesy 'Glee' kinda music video I liked it even more; it reminded me not so much of post break-up cheer-up attempts by friends but more of that feeling of just being in the wrong mood at a woo-hoo!-fun party - everyone else all chipper (Did I mention there's a funeral home called 'Chipper Funerals' here?) and me just being unable to get in that dancey mood. A song like this might have changed all that.





in case you feel the need to sing too -



Camélia Jordana - No no no (listening to Barbara)

How many times shall I
Courteously tell you
I don't wanna go out to the Baron club

No, no, no, no
I don't wanna get some fresh air
No, no, no, no
I don't wanna have a drink
No, no, no, no
I don't wanna forget about him
No, no, no, no
I don't wanna do without him

I only wanna
Feel bad and there's nothing wrong in that
Hanging around, eating nothing at all
Listening to Barbara
Maybe he will come back

No, I don't wanna take a turn
What's the need to take a turn
No, I don't wanna get rid
Of this so beautiful hell
That I'm starting to like
I don't wanna leave my lounge

No, no, no, no
I don't wanna get some fresh air
No, no, no, no
I don't wanna have a drink
No, no, no, no
I don't wanna forget about him
No, no, no, no
I don't wanna do without him

I only wanna
Feel bad and there's nothing wrong in that
Hanging around, eating nothing at all
Listening to Barbara
Maybe he will come back

No , I don't wanna feel better
What's the need to feel better
No, I don't wanna get dressed
Don't wanna put make-up on
Let me be bored
Stop your questions

No, no, no, no
I don't wanna get some fresh air
No, no, no, no
I don't wanna have a drink
No, no, no, no
I don't wanna forget about him
No, no, no, no
I don't wanna do without him

I only wanna
Feel bad and there's nothing wrong in that
Hanging around, eating nothing at all
Listening to Barbara
Maybe he will come back


.

Like there's no-one listening

Posting this song is inspired by my wonderfully sing-y flatmate. It's not way of the singing that is wonderful but the fact of the singing. It's the enthusiasm and gleeful disregard for any prior versions of the song.

He was shouting/singing something the other day that I thought I recognised from long ago. Turns out it wasn't at all what he was singing, but he did helpfully remind me of that 'long ago' singer's name, Mika. I'd only heard of him when some tweeny guests were staying at mum's one summer and had his CD on repeat. It's a feelgood summer kinda music. It goes well with a swimming pool and iceblocks.

As I'm supposed to be studying French today, here is the song, 'Grace Kelly' in French.

How To Fake French

I am TRYING to learn French, ok? I'm at that understanding more than I can speak stage (read: I can understand a few words here and there and can still barely string two words together). Despite living with Frenchmen, all I seem to have picked up are these 'listening noises' shown in this video. That really is how they roll!
A-puh!
Oh lala!
Oh la la la la!
Achhhhhhhh



By the way, just pretending to be French (doing a French accent when reading) helps me get the right pronunciation and also (a handy thing about English being such a magpie language) half the time I can just 'make up' French words by taking a likely English word and saying it as a French stereotype would.

And here's how to use Oh la la (so versatile!)

J'adore des stéréotypes

After a year and a half dating a Frenchman I am finally taking some proper classes at the Alliance Francais so that I might understand a word he says. No, he and my French flatmate both have very good English but as I don't speak French, they are polite and speak English all the time so I can understand. It would be great for us all to be able to have conversations in French, non?

So to celebrate my imminent mastery of the language, and a year and a half since this frenchman and got to talking croissants and Jacques Cousteau, here's a song about wonderful French stereotypes, made by Kiwis.




I love the 60's styling of the clip - an apartment we stayed in in Paris had such brilliant 60's style (as in it hadn't been redecorated since then)- massive patterned and colourful wallpaper everywhere and nothing but floor lamps for lighting. I better go learn some past tenses so I can write 'I loved it!' in French.