Some Songs by Georges Brassens:  Conclusion

Jack Foley

Georges Brassens died in 1981 at the age of sixty. "The great secret of Georges Brassens," wrote Kenneth Rexroth in "Subversive Aspects of Popular Songs" (1969), "is that he speaks for the hardcore unassimilables with complete self-awareness. He knew that he and behind him his ever-growing following could not and never would be assimilated, and he knew why, and he said so in every song...."

In one of his last gaudrioles Brassens wrote,

Crosse en l'air ou bien fleur au fusil
C'est à toi d'en décider, choisis
A toi seul de trancher s'il vaut mieux
Dire "amen" ou "merde à Dieu"

Make the sign of the cross or hooray for the rifle
You must decide, you must be prepared
You alone must choose, you must not trifle
Will you say "Amen" to God-or "Merde"?

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APPENDIX

One other translation: "Brave Margot" (1952). The name "Margot" is pronounced in French with an emphasis on the second syllable, not, as in English, on the first.

SWEET MARGOT

Margot is a shepherdess in a little village. She finds a cat who has just lost its mother. Margot tenderly presses the cat to her bosom. To her surprise, the cat mistakes Margot for her mother and begins to suckle. Margot allows this. Sweet Margot! But a passing peasant notices this tender scene and runs off to tell everyone. The next day...

Quand Margot dégrafait son corsage
Pour donner la gougoutte à son chat
Tous les gars, tous les gars du village
Etaient là, la la la la la la
Etaient là, la la la la la
Et Margot qu'était simple et très sage
Présumait qu' c'était pour voir son chat
Qu' tous les gars, tous les gars du village
Etaient là, la la la la la la
Etaient là, la la la la la

When Margot opened up a few buttons
And decided to breastfeed her cat
All the guys all the guys in the village-
That is just where they all went running that is just where they all were at!
Poor Margot didn't know what they wanted
She thought they'd come to look at her cat!
All the guys all the guys in the village-
That is just where they all went running that is just where they all were at

Everything in the village shuts down! All the men spend their time looking at Margot. The postman, usually so quick, fails to deliver the letters which, in any case, nobody is interested in reading. Even the policemen--who, Brassens notes, are rather stupid by nature--are touched by this tender scene.

Eventually, however, the women in the village get furious about it: the men are paying no attention to them. Together they murder (Brassens' word is "sacrifice") the cat--poor creature. Margot weeps but is consoled by a husband who becomes the only person to whom she displays her charms. The story is forgotten by just about everybody. Only a few old people say to their grandchildren,