Charles Aznavour "La bohème" lyrics

La bohème

Je vous parle d'un tempsQue les moins de vingt ans ne peuvent pas connaîtreMontmartre en ce temps-là accrochait ses lilasJusque sous nos fenêtres et si l'humble garniQui nous servait de nid ne payait pas de mineC'est là qu'on s'est connusMoi qui criait famine et toi qui posais nue.

La bohème, la bohème.Ça voulait dire on est heureuxLa bohème, la bohème.Nous ne mangions qu'un jour sur deux

Dans les cafés voisinsNous étions quelques-unsQui attendions la gloire et bien que miséreuxAvec le ventre creuxNous ne cessions d'y croire et quand quelque bistroContre un bon repas chaudNous prenait une toile, nous récitions des versGroupés autour du poêle en oubliant l'hiver

La bohème, la bohème,Ça voulait dire tu es jolie.La bohème, la bohème,Et nous avions tous du génie.

Souvent il m'arrivaitDevant mon chevaletDe passer des nuits blanchesRetouchant le dessinDe la ligne d'un seinDu galbe d'une hanche et ce n'est qu'au matinQu'on s'asseyait enfinDevant un café-crèmeÉpuisés mais ravisFallait-il que l'on s'aime et qu'on aime la vie.

La bohème, la bohème,Ça voulait dire on a 20 ansLa bohème, la bohème,Et nous vivions de l'air du temps.

Quand au hasard des joursJe m'en vais faire un tourÀ mon ancienne adresseJe ne reconnais plusNi les murs, ni les ruesQui ont vu ma jeunesseEn haut d'un escalierJe cherche l'atelierDont plus rien ne subsisteDans son nouveau décorMontmartre semble triste et les lilas sont morts.

La bohème, la bohème,On était jeunes, on était fous.La bohème, la bohème,Ça ne veut plus rien dire du tout.

La bohème

...I tell you about a time...That teenagers (lit.: those less than 20 years old) cannot know about...At that time, Montmartre hung its lilacs (pale blue or white, early-blooming flowers)...right up to our windows, and even if our humble furnished room...That served us as a (love-)nest didn't look like much...It was there that we knew each other...Me, crying hunger, and you, posing in the nude

...La bohème, la bohème. That meant "one is happy"...La boème, la bohème. We only ate once every two days.

...In the neighbouring cafes...We were people...that waited for glory (fame) and although miserable...with empty stomacs (lit.: hollow bellies)...we never stopped believing [in it] and when some pub (of course, 'bistro' is a typically french café)...in exchange for a warm meal...accepted a painting (lit.: a canvas), we recited verses...gathered around the stove, forgetting about winter.

...La bohème, la bohème. That meant "you are pretty"...La bohème, la bohème, and all of us were geniuses (lit.: 'had genius')

...Often [it happened to me that],...before my easel, (i.e. the stand upon which a painter puts the canvas he is working on)...I spent sleepless nights...touching up (=making minor corrections to) the drawing...of the line of a breast...of the figure of a hip, and only at morning...one sat down at last...before a café-crème (coffee with much hot milk)...exhausted, but exhillarated...It must have been so that we loved each other, and that we loved life (a rather stiff translation of a fluent French sentence, but I don't know how to put it otherwise)

...La bohème, la bohème. That meant "one was twenty years old"...La bohème, la bohème and we lived from the 'spirit of the age' (That's literally what 'air du temps' means, but I'm sure that's not the right way to put it in English. In French it has the connotation of living from air and nothing else, especially nothing material while at the same time referring to the typical feeling in society at that particular time)

...When, some days in a whim...I go out and take a walk...to my old address...I no longer recognise...nor the walls, nor the streets...that witnessed (lit.: saw) my youth...At the top of a stairway...I search for the workshop...of which nothing remains...In its new décor...Montmartre looks sad, and the lilacs have died.

...La bohème, la bohème. We were young, we were crazy...La bohème, la bohème. It doesn't mean anything at all anymore.

Here one can find the English lyrics of the song La bohème by Charles Aznavour. Or La bohème poem lyrics. Charles Aznavour La bohème text in English. Also can be known by title La boheme (Charles Aznavour) text. This page also contains a translation, and La boheme meaning.