Ferré composed “Avec Le Temps” ("With Time") for an album in 1969 but his studio released it only in 1971 as a single. It was inspired by Ferré’s breakup with his second wife Madeleine who, Ferré believed, had unnecessarily put down his pet chimp Pépée and other animals at their Chateau Pechrigal in the Lot. They divorced in 1973, he remarried, and after a long decline with alcoholism Madeleine died in 1993, the same year he died.
More a poem than a song, with finely crafted expressions attuned to the music, “Avec Le Temps” manifests deep pessimism and depression. In time, everything changes, fades and dies—memory goes, even love itself. Each of the six segments begins with the refrain: “Avec le temps…avec le temps, va, tout s’en va.” It is his most famous song and widely-covered worldwide: “with its minor-key melody…a sad expression of cosmic resignation” (New York Times). It is a classic song.
From 1990 to his last appearance, Léo Ferré ended each concert with a performance of “Avec Le Temps” and asked the audience to allow him, without applause or curtain call, to exit alone to the silence and darkness behind the stage. The structure and rhyming scheme of this song is varied. Each of the 6 stanzas begins with the same refrain but is followed by a varied number of lines with a haphazard rhyming pattern. The extensive notes below reflect the challenging nature of translating the song.
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Avec le temps...
Avec le temps, va, tout s'en va On oublie le visage et l'on oublie la voix Le cœur, quand ça bat plus, C'est pas la peine d'aller chercher plus loin, Faut laisser faire et c'est très bien Avec le temps... Avec le temps, va, tout s'en va L'autre qu'on adorait qu'on cherchait sous la pluie L'autre qu'on devinait au détour d'un regard Entre les mots, entre les lignes et sous le fard D'un serment maquillé qui s'en va faire sa nuit Avec le temps tout s'évanouit Avec le temps... Avec le temps, va, tout s'en va Mêm’ les plus chouett’s souv’nirs ça t'as un’de ces gueules À la gal’rie j'farfouille dans les rayons d’la mort Le samedi soir quand la tendresse s'en va toute seule Avec le temps... Avec le temps, va, tout s'en va L'autre, à qui l'on croyait pour un rhume, pour un rien L'autre, à qui l'on donnait du vent et des bijoux Pour qui l'on eût vendu son âme pour quelques sous Devant quoi l'on s'traînait comme traînent les chiens Avec le temps, va, tout va bien Avec le temps... Avec le temps, va, tout s'en va On oublie les passions et l'on oublie les voix Qui vous disaient tout bas les mots des pauvres gens “Ne rentre pas trop tard, surtout ne prends pas froid” Avec le temps... Avec le temps, va, tout s'en va Et l'on se sent blanchi comme un cheval fourbu Et l'on se sent glacé dans un lit de hasard Et l'on se sent tout seul peut-être mais peinard Et l'on se sent floué par les années perdues Alors vraiment... avec le temps... on n'aime plus |
With time ...
With time, it goes, everything goes away We forget the face and we forget the voice. The heart, when it beats no more, It’s not worth going further, Let it go and that’s fine. With time ... With time, it goes, everything goes away The one we loved whom we searched in the rain The one we understood with a glimpse Between the words, between the lines, and under the gloss Of a gussied-up vow that fades in the night. With time, everything vanishes With time ... With time, it goes, everything goes away, Even the best memories take on a haggard mien In the cheap store, I rummage among the shelves of death, Saturday evening when tenderness leaves all alone With time... With time, it goes, everything goes away The other, in whom we believed for a cold, for nothing The other, to whom we gave wind and jewels For whom we'd sell our soul for several pennies Around whom we hung around like dogs With time, it goes, and everything's fine With time ... With time, it goes, everything goes away We forget the passions and we forget the voices That whispered the words of poor folk: "Don't return too late, and especially don't catch cold." With time... With time, it goes, everything goes away And we feel bleached like a broken-down horse And we feel frozen in an unfamiliar bed And we feel all alone perhaps but “peaceful” And we feel cheated by the lost years So really…with time… we don't love anymore. |
NB:
"À la gal’rie j'farfouille dans les rayons d’la mort”
- Ferré’s repeated use of the pronoun “on” impersonalizes and generalizes the experiences expressed since it translates as “we.” His use of “l’on” instead of just “on” is an old-fashioned formality. The frequent use of “l’autre” has a similar effect of impersonalizing and generalizing the protagonists. The one time he uses “je” (“I”) is in “A la gal’rie j’farfouille.” Clearly, the song intends to depict the general human condition and not that of a specific individual.
- The sudden heavy use of elision in the third stanza is unexpected and of uncertain significance although when spoken or sung it leads to a “chewing” of words that Ferré seems to enjoy:
"À la gal’rie j'farfouille dans les rayons d’la mort”
- “L'autre qu’on devinait au détour d'un regard” is ambiguous but translates as “who one understood at a glimpse,” denoting an intimate acquaintance.
- “D'un serment maquillé qui s'en va faire sa nuit.” “maquillé” (“madeup”) picks up on the word “fard” (“makeup”) in the previous line. A “serment maquillé” is an “insincere vow.” “S’en va faire sa nuit” means to retire in the evening to do what one does (whatever that might be for a “serment maquillé").
- “Chouette:” literally means “owl,” but in slang it means “great,” “cool,” or “nice.”
- “pour un rhume, pour un rien” (a mere nothing, really). This may be the proferred explanation for the expiration (“va, tout s’en va”) of the preceding “l’autre, a qui l’on croyait”? People die from the sniffles; it’s all random.
- “L'autre, à qui l'on donnait du vent et des bijoux” draws meaning from a nautical perspective, which Ferré likely knew from his Brittany years. “To give wind” (“donnait du vent”) means putting wind behind one’s back.
- “ça t'as un’de ces gueules:” the words “ça t'as” mean “it got/made you” as in “it got you in trouble.” “Gueule” means mouth but typically in a derogatory way. “Un de ces gueules” means “one of these faces” in a pejorative (hangover) sense, translated here as “a haggard mien.” Even one’s “chouett’s souv’nirs” shrivel and disappear.
- “les rayons de la mort” presents a challenge. Literally, it is “the shelves of death” in the shopping gallery, but what does that mean? Perhaps it refers to vintage clothing? The phrase can also literally mean “death ray” in French, but that makes no sense in context. Perhaps Ferré is simply lashing out at the deadly protocols of consumerism, which was certainly one of his “bêtes noires.”
- “peinard:” means “chill,” “comfortable,” “easy,” “cushy,” “peaceful,” “laid-back.” The phrase “seul peut-être mais peinard” means, “alone perhaps but peaceful.”
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