Here below you will find the translation of all the lyrics of the album « Caroline Harvey et son public ». They have been translated by Caroline Harvey and are available in the order of the album.
A NOTE TO SAY NO TO WAR – Un bémol à la guerre
Lyrics: Caroline Harvey / Music: Scotty Wright
In a land of fire, of blood
Reigned a powerful military man
A dictator, enemy of artists
In this country also lived
A great free-spirited pianist
Who followed his heart and his wishes
But who knows the price of words
Before saying one word too many
One evening during a recital
Turning to the general
He said to him, silencing the bravos
When I play the piano
I hear the bombs
The screams of women on the graves
Tonight I’m playing
What for you I can’t keep quiet any longer
A note, a note to say no to war
Tonight I’m playing
What for you I can’t keep quiet any longer
I’m adding my note to say no to war
The soldiers came to get
His piano to confiscate
A punishment worse than the prison
He now writes letters by the hundreds
His supplications receive no answer
Tyrants have neither pity nor pain
For those who do not know the price of words
Before saying one word too many
But the statement takes flight
And on every piano around the world
The maestro’s courage now resonates
When I play the piano
I hear the bombs
The screams of the children on the graves
But then I touch
What’s good on Earth
It’s my note to say no to war (repeat)
BALLAD FOR BAD BAGHDAD – Ballade pour bad Baghdad
Lyrics: Caroline Harvey
Music: Caroline Harvey & Léo Chupin
Bad Baghdad
Bad, bad, bad Baghdad
A ballad for you
Bad Baghdad
Your flying carpets
Are nailed to the floor
Scheherazade does nothing but cry
A thousand and one arabian nights of nightmare
Bad Baghdad
Bad, bad, bad Baghdad
A ballad for you
Bad Baghdad
Your money is not even worth its paper anymore
Ali Baba gives a good fight
But in Babylon the suspended gardens have fallen
Bad Baghdad
Bad, bad, bad Baghdad
A ballad for you
Bad Baghdad
Review your stories
Revise your prayers
Your oil is your jackpot
But it’s your poison too
In God We Trust (ad lib)
MY COMRADE – Mon camarade
Lyrics and music: Caroline Harvey
It’s been two years now
Of talking a little about ourselves and a lot about the world
Talking about the little things that matter to me
And from coffees to long walks we take together
While listening to him, my comrade
He taught me everything
And I have learned to love everything about him
There is nothing about him that doesn’t draw me in
His smile, his convictions which he defends with such passion
I love his lips and the words they speak
While confession burns my own lips
How I wish I could lay my cards on the table!
If I dared to say it all / If I dared
Would he listen?
Every time he walks me home, I want to speak
I’d love to give him all the keys
The keys to my room, the keys to my heart
But to confess my dream of happiness, I fear it might just vanish into thin air
If I dared to say it all / If I dared
Would he answer?
From which pain must I shield myself?
Which hurt would be the lesser one?
Broken by love or by friendship
Between the two wavers my heart
I’d rather just slip away
Is the price to pay for having a lover the same as that of keeping a friend?
I say, “Bye now, see you next time!”, and lock away my secret
No matter what I say, I’m thinking:
“I love you, I want your lips on mine, you’d be my honeycomb.”
But on my lips that I keep sealed
The honeycomb turns into a mouthful of salt
Would it drive him away forever—my love?
Would I lose him for life—my friend?
I want your lips on mine, you’d be my honeycomb / But on my lips that I keep sealed
The honeycomb turns into a mouthful of salt
Would it drive him away forever—my love? / Would I lose him for life—my friend?
I KNOW THAT I DON’T KNOW ANYMORE – Je sais que je ne sais plus
Lyrics and music: Caroline Harvey
I have long said « I know, I know » about anything and everything
Every subject and its opposite
I knew everything
Except how to keep quiet
My confidence in myself was equalled only by my ignorance
Now I know
I know that all that I know
Is that I don’t know anymore
And that even if I don’t know anymore
I have never enjoyed living as much as I do now
(Spoken)
Is happiness our only goal?
Is love a lack or a plenitude?
Does History have a meaning?
Should we understand evil?
Are we worthy of being free?
Should action always precede reflection?
Does salvation come through revolt?
Is nature a work of art?
Is all truth illusory?
Is there a life after death?
Is there a life before death?…
The older I get, the less superfluous is my luggage
I don’t always know where I am or where I’m going
But I don’t feel lost anymore
I’m not worried
I don’t worry anymore
I’m not worried
I don’t worry anymore
I have long said « I know, I know » about anything and everything
Every subject and its opposite
I knew everything
Except how to keep quiet
I was giving the answers before they asked the questions
Now I know
I know that all that I know
Is that I don’t know anymore
And that even if I don’t know anymore
I have never, ever enjoyed living as much as I do now
Never enjoyed living so much
EXIT PARASITE
Lyrics and music: Caroline Harvey
You may have a go at me
And put everything on my back
Even humiliate me
And find faults in my caracter
Pick up your things
Never again, do you hear me?
I’m going to let this happen
From now on I will stand up to you
That’s it / Take the exit
I’m taking my heart back
And I’m taking back my place in my bed
That’s it / Take the exit
We are over
Take the exit
Parasite / That’s it
You may say « it’s not true » and challenge me
It’s categorical I’m no longer part of this
No longer will I be among the statistics of those who get hurt
This violence is final, yes, it’s final!
That’s it / Take the exit
Can you hear the countdown?
Can you see the volcano coming into the world?
Your caressing hand on one side
And on the other side your clenched fist
Love that harms
The limit is crossed
This way, the exit
Quick, fast, fast, fast
Parasite!
That’s it / Take the exit
I’m taking my heart back
As well as the keys to my car
That’s it / Take the exit
You exit, parasite
And it’s not a moment too soon
That’s it / You exit
Take the exit / Parasite
That’s it!
YOUR FAVORITE SONG – Ta chanson préférée
Lyrics: Caroline Harvey
Music: Caroline Harvey & Stéphane Aubin
Your favorite song was « Syracuse »
You were humming it all the time
Sometimes, you were forgetting some words
You were apologizing for having so little a voice
We sang so often, you and I, « Syracuse »
It made you travel through time and space
The song brought to the surface
All the faces of your past
Of the time before your youth wore out
Of the time your springs had faded
(Musical quotation of the very famous French song « Syracuse », lyrics by Bernard Dimey, music by Henri Salvador)
All alone at the piano
I drew the curtains
My voice does what it can
Sobbing
You’re gone
The song is over
But I refuse to let it be over
Your favorite song
(Instrumental)
All alone at the piano
Where we used to be, the two of us
My voice does what it can
Sobbing
The song comes to its end…
(Instrumental)
If I could sing by your side once again
Even if it were just for few measures of the song
It would be enough to start all over again
But…
We will never again sing « Syracuse » together
The wind resonates of your first name
I will keep on listening to Yves Montand singing your favorite song
So as not to forget you
And I will wear out the furrows (of the memory) = the groove of the disc (bis)
THE SONG OF ME & THE PRODUCER – La Chanson de moi & du producteur
Lyrics: Caroline Harvey
Music: Caroline Harvey and Stephane Aubin
Dark hallway, black raincoat / Grey hat and glasses
High heels, accessories / And above all… The cassette
Red door, black letters / A famous name hypnotizes me
His secretary shows her teeth
I paralyze and wait… wait…
With my fists clenched and my heart at the bottom of the water
Suddenly the door opens / The man is there!
Blue suit, cigarette
His cunning eyes looking straight at me / I give him… my cassette…
« That’s not it! It’s not great! It’s too jazz! It’s too cautious!
I have no time nor money
Come back tomorrow
I’m a businessman, me
You have to produce love songs
You just have to shut up, you
But I know that you know that one day
You’ll go very far! »
I put back my black raincoat / Grey hat and glasses
With an incidental smile / I take back my tape
Wounded to the core, enraged to the bone
Red door behind me / The sky is blue
I stop at a café near by
And I think about my cassette, and dream… Yes, I dream
A little further, a little higher
My name in the newspapers
My photo on the poster
I’m always more beautiful, always richer
Success takes hold of me, the public is waiting for me
I’m finally recognized for my talent
That’s how I like it
The images of jazz
Power and money are of no interest to me
The business seems illusory to me
I’m a woman of hope
My voice holds my hand
The door will open for me tomorrow
Or… the day after tomorrow!
BECAUSE IT WAS YOU – Parce que c’était toi
Lyrics: Caroline Harvey
Music: Caroline Harvey & Stephane Aubin
You believed in me
So I believed in myself also
and I dared
You supported me
You believed so much that I would succeed
That it was as if I had succeeded already
You already knew that I was close to my goal
You knew that I was about to reach it
You believed in me
So I did everything to surpass myself
I didn’t think it was possible
For me to reach my target anymore
We needed to be two
So that I could reveal myself to you
And reveal myself to myself
So I could love myself better
If I have succeeded in doing so
It’s because someone believed in me
And because that someone was you
Your hand
Your eyes
Your words
Even your silences
Everything about you tells me
That I count for you
And that I can count on both of us
If I’m still here
It’s because it was you
My heart was twisted with sorrow
I was moving in the dark
I didn’t think I could take a step further
Because as you know the hardest step of all
Is the last step just before your goal
You have staked your bet on me
So I won the race without ever looking back
The first surprised is me
You were the emissary sent by my destiny
Your hand
Your eyes
Your words
Even your silences
Everything about you tells me
That I count for you
And that I can count on both of us
If I’m still here
It’s because it was you
SILENCE FULL OF BLUES – Silence de blues
Lyrics: Caroline Harvey
Music: Caroline Harvey & Yves Bouchard
When the thunder thunders in my heart
When I feel a desire for I don’t know what
When I cry more than a weeping willow cries
And it all stays inside
I’m dying to leave the parade
What makes me reborn again?
Behind my efforts to keep a façade
I’m hiding my true décor
Silence of blues
REFRAIN :
No speeches
When my life moves and shakes
It’s not always like a painting in the Louvre
All drums are dying in my silence of blues
Nostalgia gives me blues bumps
I’m in pain but I don’t know why
Even though I have my age of my friends
I feel I have a soul as old as their grandmothers’
REFRAIN
I’m keeping quiet
Because there would be too much to do, too much to say
Because everywhere on Earth
There are rivers red of the blood of the peoples oppressed
Where does the flood of our inhumanity lead us?
Silence of blues
REFRAIN
THE SOWER OF JAZZ – Le Semeur de jazz
Lyrics & Music: Caroline Harvey
The sower of jazz
Improvises his life
I follow his rhythm
With, in my skin, the chords that our accord creates
He sings at the piano
All the heritage of jazz
He spreads, as if he were sowing seeds, a particular art of living
And a certain tempo
The eyes of my soul
Are looking with wonder
At the story of jazz
Unfolding in his voice
Standard after standard
His singing, full as a fruit,
Is a cry of freedom
For a sower of jazz
A woman is dying of love…
When he sings for me
In a Sentimental Mood
He makes me see flowers
Of astonishing colors and audible scents
To be a woman with him
Is the peak of a lifetime
He is the only man to whom
I have given who I fully am
Is it him who plays
But it’s like if it was me
Me as a man
In Black
In jazz
And in English
My love, friend, king, brother, guardian, guide
Sorcerer of my senses
Gardener of my inside
For a sower of jazz
A woman is dying of love…
(Note: in French semeur, sower, is pronounced exactly the same as se meurt which means ‘dying of ».)
LIKE A PHOENIX – Comme un phénix
Lyrics: Caroline Harvey
Music: Caroline Harvey & Léo Chupin
When the tree leaves will have fallen under our bomb storms
When the branches of all the forests will have done a striptease
When they’re all naked as jaybirds
Without their colors
When all that is left of us are our bones
And all that is left of our bones is dust
When with too much dust we will have killed the water
When a third of the world will have fallen asleep in the cemeteries
Me, I’ll be singing, I’ll be singing
Heart to heart with the Earth
I will be singing
When we gorge ourselves greedily on emptiness
When the vultures enjoy of their voracity
The silver sceptre spears the hungry flesh
I’ll be singing, I’ll be singing
Heart to heart with the world
I will be singing
If one day my song dies
I want it to be reborn from its ashes
Like a phoenix
Like a phoenix with immense wings
And let my voice become an angel
An angel to go and see who God is
And ask Him, eye to eye
Yes, ask Him, indignantly: « God! Are you just an imposture? »
I write so that my voice will always open its wings
So as my voice will never overfly a forest of coffins
I sing so that my heart remains a burning carat
I’ll be singing, I’ll be singing
Heart to heart with the birds
I will be singing
NOTHING LASTS – Tout passe
Ah! How daily life is! – Jules Laforgue
Words: Caroline Harvey
Music: Caroline Harvey & Leo Chupin
Sitting on the edge of your bed
Your face in your hands
You feel overwhelmed
You don’t understand anything anymore
For years you have sacrificed yourself to get there
Got up early, got to bed late
Always the same sentences
Every day, every week
How daily life is
It’s a thousand gestures put together
Like stones, with love,
On the necklace of days
Tonight your necklace has broken
Parts of your life have fallen
Like so many lost pearls
For futile victories you have fought
In the dark
Lie down to cry better
Let yourself be kissed on the forehead
By angels who will whisper to you in your heart
Nothing lasts
The sorrows, the joys, the days
Are only sighs vanishing into space
Nothing lasts
Even your neverending despair
One day will end
Nothing lasts
Trust me, I’ve been there before
Ah! How daily life is! (repeat)
Sitting on the edge of your bed
Your face in your hands
You feel overwhelmed
You don’t understand anything anymore
For years you have sacrificed yourself to get there
Got up early, got to bed late
Always the same sentences
Every day, every week
How daily life is
It’s a thousand small gestures
Like making a braid
Smoothing, tightening, always starting again
Nothing lasts
The sorrows, the joys, the days
Are only sighs vanishing into space
Nothing lasts
Even your neverending despair
One day will end
Nothing lasts
Trust me, I’ve been there before (repeat)
One morning
Something magical will be back in the air
You’ll have in the world
More friends than you had yesterday
In your mirror
You’ll see the time has come for a new beginning
In your mirror, you’ll see yourself as you are
You’ll see that…
Nothing lasts
The sorrows, the joys, the days
Are only sighs vanishing into space
Nothing lasts
Even your neverending despair
One day will end
Nothing lasts
Trust me, I’ve been there before (repeat)
SAILING TOWARDS ALWAYS – Je vogue vers Toujours
Lyrics: Caroline Harvey
Music: Caroline Harvey & Stéphane Aubin
That’s it / I’m leaving
Today is the day / Now is the time
My mind is not trying to understand my heart anymore
I’m making an appointment with myself / I’m leaving and that’s all
As sure as the bird leaves in spring for the island
As sure as one dies in clay gardens
As sure as I am a woman still alive
I’m leaving, I said it
I’m setting sails
Leaving on the shore all my fears
I raise the flag in the colors of my heart
Everything that comes from yesterday
Is drifting without return
I’m sailing towards Always
That’s it / I’m leaving
Today is the emergency / It’s time now
Because it’s me I’m waiting for
I am making a note of absence
I am already Tomorrow / I’m leaving and that’s good
As sure as a whisper can become music
As sure as we live the measure of our risks
As sure as I’m a woman still standing
I’m leaving, that’s all
I’m setting sails
Leaving on the shore all my fears
I raise the flag in the colors of my heart
Everything that comes from yesterday
Is drifting without return
I’m sailing towards Always
I’m setting sails
Leaving on the shore all my fears
I raise the flag in the colors of my heart
I’ll be the boat, I’ll be the water and I’ll be the master mariner
I’m sailing towards Always (bis)