The Great Highway

            On Monday I called up the Toronto Public Health Department to complain about the absence of a “No Smoking Within Nine Metres of the Door” sign above the entrance to PARC and above the other door of the same building, which is the entrance to the food bank. The person I spoke with said that an inspector would be sent out to 1499 Queen West to investigate. It would be nice for a lot of lungs if my call results in a sign going up.

            That evening I took a bike ride. It was quite warm so all that I needed was a tank top and shorts. There were lots of cyclists out and so on the Bloor bike lane I had to go out into the car lane twice just to get ahead of other riders on the narrow path.

            My plan had been to just go as far as Church, but after I’d passed Yonge, Church Street came up so quickly that I decided to extend my far point to Jarvis before turning back. On the way home I went south on Bay Street and then west on College all the way to Brock and then south to home.

            I received another email from Mick Harvey on Saturday, but only got around to responding on Monday.

            Here’s what he wrote:

Thanks for your email.

I agreed with you about the trifle/rifle lines the first time around. It
was a poor outcome at the end of a long and complicated project and I
never fixed it up. Guilty as charged. It does not, however, invalidate the
rest of the translation or the rest of my work. The handgun? Just an
opinion - the song is written in the third person.

I do not agree about using the Strindberg literary reference, not that it
is not what Gainsbourg has referenced but that it has no use to anyone
hearing the song in English - it’s a waste of space.

Invalides was explained in my previous email. I am perfectly aware it is a
Metro station and the line in my version is “For Invalides you change at Opera” I really don’t understand why you raised it again.

All the other complaints you made are based on transcription or aural errors on your part or just…..more opinions. I shall paste my version at the bottom of this email so you can see for yourself. Not that it will bring you much joy.

Your comments about rhyming sounding or feeling "accidental" are indeed something to aspire to but I must say I feel you are coming much more from the poet’s, as opposed to the lyricist’s, point of view. This “ease of rhyming” is not nearly as critical an area in song lyrics - in fact on occasion obvious, strong rhymes can be helpful musically or for emphasis.

Your opinions about cover versions concur very much with mine but with my Gainsbourg project I did not feel the need of interpreting the original music into something personalized nearly as much as when I normally approach someone else’s song. I expect the reason is fairly obvious. It was a project-wide position I took. I was happy to reference and stay close to the original arrangements when they were fantastic in the first place and were what had initially drawn me to his work. I have recorded many so called “cover versions” over the years and they are, precisely, not cover versions (literally a direct copy of a song with the name of the local artist on the cover who was performing it) they are very much interpretations.

All else is just more opinions - interesting or otherwise.

Regards, Mick

THE TICKET PUNCHER OF LILAS

I'm the ticket puncher at Lilas
To whom the passengers pay no regard
There's no sunshine in this Metro station
A strange vacation
To kill the boredom in my vest
I've extracts from Readers Digest
And this book says to me
That life is just a ball in Miami
And all the while I'm working like a slave
Down in this cave
They say work's better than the dole
But all day long I just make holes

I punch holes, little holes, then more little holes
Little holes, little holes, always little holes
I make second-class holes
And punch first-class holes
I punch holes, little holes, then more little holes
Little holes, little holes, always little holes
Little holes, little holes
Little holes, little holes

I'm the ticket puncher at Lilas
For Invalides you change at Opera
I live down in the bowels of this here planet
I have in my head
A carnival of confetti
It even gets between my sheets
Under this white tile sky
The only things that shine are exit signs
At times I dream I go into a daze
And in the haze
The railway platform is a quay
A boat is coming to get me

From this hole, little hole, where I make little holes x2
But the boat is sailing
My day-dream's always failing
And I stay in this hole punching little holes
Little holes, little holes, always little holes
Little holes, little holes
Little holes, little holes

I'm the ticket puncher at Lilas
Arts-et-Metiers direct by Levallois
I've had enough I've had it with this bullshit
Down in this cesspit
I'd like to be on the trapeze
Leave my cap and cloak room keys
The day will come I'm sure
When I will get away to something more
I'll take a car a plane a train a yacht
No matter what
But if the time I have is cursed
I'll have to leave this place feet first

I punch holes, little holes, then more little holes
Little holes, little holes, always little holes
I think I will trifle
With a great big rifle
And make a hole, a little hole, one last little hole
And make a hole, a little hole, one last little hole
And then they'll put me in a hole
Where I will hear no more of holes
Never again of little holes
Of little holes, of little holes, of little holes

Here’s my response:

Mick,

Thanks for your response and for the full text of your translation of "Le Poinconneur des Lilas". I can see now that I made a mistake in how I heard your reference to "Invalides". I didn't catch while listening that you said "for Invalides".

I don't understand though why, if you are unsatisfied with the "trifle" "rifle" rhyme, why you wouldn't change it? I change what I've written all the time when it doesn't feel right.

I also don't get why you think that "The Great Highway" doesn't serve just as well as a death metaphor for an English speaking audience. Everyone gets it when I sing it. The Strindberg play has been performed in English as "The Great Highway" and in French as "La Grand'Route" so obviously the words represent the same symbolism and to remove it in translation thins out the depth of the poem.

I don't agree that there is any difference between song lyrics and poetry in terms of translation and I think that translations of lyrics should aspire to the same intention of the original, unless of course one comes up with an adaptation that improves on the artistic quality of the original. Gainsbourg is hard enough to match, let alone improve upon, but I think that on some occasions I've done so. But I think there has to be sensitivity in translation to the type of speech being used. For instance, a french lyric or poem in colloquial language shouldn't be translated into formal English with a lot of "thee"s and "thou"s as is often done. Also when the work has double meanings or metaphors the translated version should aspire to find equivalents. In the case of this song both of us, I assume, avoided directly adapting the reference to "La fille de l'air" since English audiences really wouldn't recognize the story from the Gogniard and Raymond play that, as far as I know, was never produced in English. But “the daughter of the air” is a strong image and so I think that an English equivalent is needed somewhere in the verse to replace it. That’s why I came up with, “I want to break this cage and fly, just leave my monkey suit behind”.

One image that you came up with that I especially like though is to have the subway platform turn into a quay.

Thanks for the communication.

Here’s to art,

Christian         

            I watched an episode from the last season of Leave It To Beaver that started with Barbara Billingsley having a new hairstyle but in the next scene she was wearing her previous do.