Write-and-Release.
Not waiting for perfect to share a piece.
It may be small, but that's ok.
Send it out and it may grow one day.
There are things I didn't know about France (see my "Who Knew?").
And then there are things I did realize about France a long time ago.
Like wine and cheese are incredibly good and cheap.
Most stores are closed on Sunday (less true now in Paris).
Funny French movies are not funny (IMHO).
Le Père Noël Est Une Ordure
But some things didn’t really sink in until I was living here.
Writing here.
Rhyming here.
It really hit me, listening to the song “Paris S’Éveille” by Jacques Dutronc.
Here's my response, the agony I felt in that moment.
It may be a song when it grows up. Now that it's released :)
Doing a deep dive into French chanson
As I sit here and look out on Golfe Juan
And snack on some flan
A small piece, pas grand
Apres un moment
Pas tres long
Je comprends
Pourquoi les chansons
Francais sont
Si bon (ok, that should be "bonnes")
It’s not fair – non, non, non!
Everything rhymes in French
Their lyrics are poems without the snooty stench
Of reaching for rapture but falling off the bench
As I fight for perfect rhyme in the English trench
I turn grumpy as a Grench
Feel my teeth grind and my jaw clench
In English, the word “love” is a monkey wrench (shove, glove, above, of – that’s it!)
There are nine million rhymes for love
In French.
In French, everything rhymes
Makes me long to commit perfect-rhyme crimes
Like “poem” and “home” – or write a show about Tammy Grimes
Or give up words altogether, like one of those mimes.
I recall all the hair-tearing times
When I begged for a talent to equal Sondheim’s
I remember one vacation in tropical climes
Drowning my frustration in tequila with limes
(They say booze the inspiration pump primes).
I’d write in French, but I lack the linguistic enzymes
Curse you French, you slimes,
Everything rhymes.
Ok, I won't go out a sore loser. Here's Dutronc's amazing song.
Please share other amazing French lyrics you know and admire. I'd rather not just complain, but learn!
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