French lyrics -- Éloge de la page blanche

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I'm listening to a CD by Jim Corcoran, a Canadian singer-songwriter who,
despite the name, sings in French.

This song, so far as I understand it, is about a writer contemplating a
blank page. I've got most of the verses, but these escape me. Any help
would be appreciated.

Exercise de stylo
Sur le dos du beau
Détournement du blanc
Par le bic baveux
Le vide attire
Une plume pressée
Cette page était pleine... blanche

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Re: French lyrics -- Éloge de la page blanche

Quote:

Exercise de stylo
Sur le dos du beau
Détournement du blanc
Par le bic baveux
Le vide attire
Une plume pressée
Cette page était pleine... blanche

This is a tough one, and when Francis shows up, you'll get a better translation, but here goes:

An exercise with a pen
On the back of a lovely (handsome)
Diversion (hijacking?) of white
By a dribbling (sloppy?) bic (meaning a pen)
The void attracts
A hurried pen
This page was full . . . white

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Thanks, Set. I completely missed 'bic' as meaning pen!

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Nice job, Set, for a non-native!

However, some quibbles:

An exercise with a pen (play on words with a French common saying: Exercice in style as in the book of Raymond Queneau : Exercices in Style)
On the back of a lovely (handsome) (at the expenses of the beauty)
Diversion (hijacking?) of white - ok for hijacking
By a dribbling (sloppy?) bic (meaning a pen) - ok for sloppy
The void attracts
A hurried pen
This page was full . . . white

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Thanks Francis . . . i completely missed the part about "at the expense of" . . . i am flattered that you thought i had not done badly, given that i almost never get to speak the language . . .

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That means you got your lessons right, Set.

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Veuillez croire, cher monsieur, a l'expression de ma reconnaisance sincère . . .

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Francis, thanks for dropping by.
I can barely handle straightforward prose.
Figuarative language -- forget it.

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Setanta wrote:

Veuillez croire, cher monsieur, a l'expression de ma reconnaisance sincère . . .

Votre reconnaissance, cher Monsieur, ne saurait me faire oublier qu'elle est manifestement sans objet.

En effet, ma tendance naturelle est à la sollicitude, à la droiture et à la vérité.

Et, quoi qu'on en dise, ce sont là des qualités toutes empreintes de gallicité.

(Simple exercice de syle).

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George - Usually, modesty becomes you. But that's not justified...

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Bien dit . . . d'un style élégant . . .

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Back again with another perplexing stanza:

Le secret du blanc tranquille
Souillé par le blanc bec
Qui fait du sacré
Son banal brouillon

As before, I've looked up the individual words,
but their meaning in composition I don't grasp.

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Just popping by to say that I listen to Jim Corcoran's program A Propos on the CBC pretty much every Saturday night.

I think it's really a wonderful primer on what's happening in Francophone music. There have been a couple of request programs where Jim talks about, and plays, his own music.

I'd recommend the program to anyone who can pick up the CBC on radio or internet.

http://www.cbc.ca/apropos/

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from a review of Pages Blanches

Quote:

While Corcoran does sing entirely in French <snip> he emphasises every word in a dramatic way that always remains interesting to the listener and needs no translation.

ha!

http://www.popjournalism.ca/pop/reviews/2005/00151jimcorcoran.shtml

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ehBeth wrote:

from a review of Pages Blanches

Quote:
While Corcoran does sing entirely in French <snip> he emphasises every word in a dramatic way that always remains interesting to the listener and needs no translation.

ha!

http://www.popjournalism.ca/pop/reviews/2005/00151jimcorcoran.shtml

I was in complete agreement till I got to "needs no translation."

I've never heard Jim's show. For that matter, I've never tried to listen
to a radio show over the internet. I'll give this a try Saturday.

Thanks, ehBeth.

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George wrote:

Back again with another perplexing stanza:

Le secret du blanc tranquille - The secret of the quiet white
Souillé par le blanc bec - Soiled by the go-getter
Qui fait du sacré - Who makes of the sacred (holy)
Son banal brouillon - His trivial draft

As before, I've looked up the individual words,
but their meaning in composition I don't grasp.

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Francis wrote:

George wrote:
Back again with another perplexing stanza:

Le secret du blanc tranquille - The secret of the quiet white
Souillé par le blanc bec - Soiled by the go-getter
Qui fait du sacré - Who makes of the sacred (holy)
Son banal brouillon - His trivial draft

As before, I've looked up the individual words,
but their meaning in composition I don't grasp.

Wow, Francis, thank you.

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French lyrics -- Éloge de la page blanche

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