Words, a voice and a lament from out of the ages...
Translation of Roberta Flack's Killing Me Softly with his Song by T Wignesan
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kgl-VRdXr7I
Refrain :
Strumming my pain with his fingers
Singing my life with his words
Killing me softly with his song
Killing me softly with his song
Telling my whole life with his words
Killing me softly with his song
(Ses doigts piquaient les nerfs de ma douleur comme sur un guitare les cordes
En chantant ma vie avec ses paroles
En m'assassinant doucement avec sa chanson
En m'assassinant doucement avec sa chanson
En racontant ma vie avec ses paroles
En m'assassinant doucement avec sa chanson)
I heard he sang a good song, I heard he had a style
And so I came to see him to listen for a while
And there he was this young boy, a stranger to my eyes
(J'ai entendu parler qu'il chantait bien et qu'il était doté d'un style particulier
Ainsi je me suis allé lui voir un peu pour lui écouter
Et là ce jeune gars me semblait à mes yeux une étrange vision)
Strumming my pain with his fingers
Singing my life with his words
Killing me softly with his song
Killing me softly with his song
Telling my whole life with his words
Killing me softly with his song
I felt all flushed with fever, embarrassed by the crowd
I felt he found my letters and read each one out loud
I prayed that he would finish but he just kept right on
(Je me suis senti sur le coup d'une fièvre accablante devant la foule dans l'embarras
Je pensais qu'il ait trouvé mes lettres et les lisait chacune à voix haute-là
Je priais que la lecture soit achevée mais il continuait sa récitation)
Strumming my pain with his fingers
Singing my life with his words
Killing me softly with his song
Killing me softly with his song
Telling my whole life with his words
Killing me softly with his song
He sang as if he knew me in all my dark despair
And then he looked right through me as if I wasn't there
But he just carried on singing, singing clear and strong
(Il chantait comme s'il ait eu connaissance de l'abîme de mon désespoir
Et puis son regarde posa sur moi comme si je n'y fusse pas là
Mais il n'arrêta pas à chanter, chantant à voix haute avec détermination)
Strumming my pain with his fingers
Singing my life with his words
Killing me softly with his song
Killing me softly with his song
Telling my whole life with his words
Killing me softly with his song
With old songs like this, I want to sing along. But I find that I have forgotten the words. So as soon as I started reading, I started singing. And in doing so, I found that I have no voice anywhere near Roberta Flack! ;-)
I'm sure the French appreciate your translation. I wonder how it works with the melody and if it works as well as the original version.
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I'm sure the French appreciate your translation. I wonder how it works with the melody and if it works as well as the original version.
Ron