| Les ailes de la Rolls effleuraient des pylônes | The wings of the Rolls were brushing past pylons |
| Quand m’étant malgré moi égaré | When, having unwittingly lost my way, |
| Nous arrivâmes ma Rolls et moi dans une zone | My Rolls and I arrived in an area |
| Dangereuse | That was dangerous, |
| Un endroit isolé | An isolated place. |
| Là-bas, sur le capot de cette Silver Ghost de 1910 | There, on the bonnet of that 1910 Silver Ghost, |
| S’avance en éclaireur | Advancing like a scout, |
| La Vénus d’argent du radiateur | Is the radiator’s silver Venus, |
| Dont les voiles légers volent aux avant-postes | Her light veils fluttering at the vanguard. |
| Hautaine, dédaigneuse | Haughty, disdainful, |
| Tandis que hurle le poste de radio | While the radio blares, |
| Couvrant le silence du moteur | Drowning out the silence of the engine, |
| Elle fixe l’horizon | She stares at the horizon |
| Et l’esprit ailleurs | And, her mind elsewhere, |
| Semble tout ignorer des trottoirs que j’accoste | Seems quite oblivious to the kerbs I pull alongside. |
| Ruelles, culs-de-sac | Narrow streets, dead ends, |
| Aux stationnements interdits par la loi | Where parking is forbidden by law. |
| Le cœur indifférent | With an indifferent heart, |
| Elle tient le mors de mes vingt-six chevaux-vapeur | She holds the bit of my twenty-six horsepower. |
| Princesse des ténèbres, archange maudit | Princess of darkness, accursed archangel, |
| Amazone modern style que le sculpteur, en anglais | An Art Nouveau Amazon whom the sculptor, in English, |
| Surnomma “Spirit of Ecstasy” | Named “Spirit of Ecstasy”. |
| Ainsi je déconnais avant que je ne perde | Such was the nonsense running through my head before I lost |
| Le contrôle de la Rolls | Control of the Rolls. |
| J’avançais lentement | I was moving slowly. |
| Ma voiture dériva | My car veered off course, |
| Et un heurt violent | And a violent impact |
| Me tira soudain de ma rêverie | Suddenly jolted me out of my daydream. |
| Merde | Shit. |
| J’aperçus une roue de vélo à l’avant | I caught sight of a bicycle wheel in front, |
| Qui continuait de tourner en roue libre | Still spinning freely, |
| Et comme une poupée qui perdait l’équilibre | And, like a doll losing her balance, |
| La jupe retroussée sur ses pantalons blancs | Her skirt hitched up over her white trousers… |
| “Tu t’appelles comment?” | “What’s your name?” |
| “Melody” | “Melody.” |
| “Melody comment?” | “Melody what?” |
| “Melody Nelson” | “Melody Nelson.” |
| Melody Nelson a les cheveux rouges | Melody Nelson has red hair, |
| Et c’est leur couleur naturelle | And that’s its natural colour. |
Translation notes and context
The narrator’s attention is absorbed by the figure on his Rolls-Royce’s bonnet. He imagines her as a goddess, a scout and a rider controlling the car, until a collision abruptly interrupts his daydream. Most of the early references to “she” therefore describe the mascot, not Melody.
- Les ailes / le capot / les trottoirs: Ailes means the car’s wings (fenders), while retaining the suggestion of flight. Capot is “bonnet” in British English. Trottoirs literally means “pavements”; “kerbs” makes the driving image more natural here.
- M’étant malgré moi égaré / nous arrivâmes: The first means “having lost my way despite myself”, rendered here as “having unwittingly lost my way”. Arrivâmes is the literary past simple of arriver: everyday speech would normally use nous sommes arrivés. “My Rolls and I” gives the car the status of a travelling companion.
- En éclaireur / aux avant-postes: “As a scout” and “at the forward positions”. The military imagery makes the bonnet figure seem to lead the expedition.
- Couvrant le silence du moteur: “Drowning out the silence of the engine” deliberately preserves the paradox: the radio is loud, while the luxury car’s engine is presented as almost silent.
- L’esprit ailleurs / j’accoste: “With her mind elsewhere” means distracted or lost in thought. Accoster can mean to come alongside or dock; here the car approaches the kerb as though it were a boat.
- Le mors / chevaux-vapeur: A mors is the bit in a horse’s mouth. Chevaux-vapeur means “horsepower”, so the line imagines the engine’s power as horses controlled by the mascot. The unusual English wording keeps that extended metaphor.
- Amazone modern style: An amazone can be a woman warrior or a female rider. The French expression Modern Style is associated with Art Nouveau; it does not simply mean “fashionably modern”. The surrounding horse imagery also gives “Amazon” an equestrian resonance.
- Ainsi je déconnais: Déconner is informal and can mean to talk rubbish, mess about or behave foolishly. Here “such was the nonsense running through my head” captures his fanciful mental rambling. It is more irreverent than simply “I was daydreaming”.
- Avant que je ne perde: The ne is an optional literary ne explétif, not a negative. This means “before I lost”, not “before I did not lose”. Perde is subjunctive, as required after avant que.
- En roue libre / la jupe retroussée: The bicycle wheel is still turning without being driven by the pedals. Retroussée means “hitched up” or “turned up”. The French leaves the doll-like figure suspended in a sentence fragment; the translation retains that abrupt, cinematic impression.
- Melody comment? / cheveux rouges: “Melody what?” asks for her surname. Rouges literally means “red”; roux is the more usual French word for naturally red hair, which makes the final insistence on her natural colour particularly striking.
Recording and year: “Melody”, Serge Gainsbourg — Universal Music Group recording, ℗ 1971 Mercury Music Group.