Paul Kelly - Other People's Houses - translation of the lyrics into French

Other People's Houses - Paul Kellytranslation in French




Other People's Houses
Les maisons des autres
His mother always let him stay up late on Fridays. They would lie in her room together watching TV. Sometimes she fell asleep before he did and he'd be watching a talk show - one person talking, then another, then all this laughter coming from nowhere. Next thing he knew she would be shaking hime gently. 'Wake up little one, wake up'. Saturday morning. So he'd get up, dress himself, put his shoes on and leave the house without breakfast. Breakfast always came later in other people's houses.
Sa mère le laissait toujours veiller tard le vendredi. Ils étaient allongés dans sa chambre et regardaient la télévision ensemble. Parfois, elle s'endormait avant lui et il regardait une émission-débat : une personne parlait, puis une autre, puis tous ces rires qui venaient de nulle part. L'instant d'après, elle le secouait doucement. "Réveille-toi, mon petit, réveille-toi." Samedi matin. Alors il se levait, s'habillait, mettait ses chaussures et quittait la maison sans prendre de petit-déjeuner. Le petit-déjeuner, c'était toujours plus tard, dans les maisons des autres.
They had to catch two buses to reach their destination and the trip seemed to take forever unless he fell asleep along the way. When they got off at their stop they were in a bigger, brighter neighbourhood. The houses were a long was back from the street and some of them were hidden from view by big hedges. Looking down the street was like looking through the wrong end of a telescope. His mother guided him through this country. She knew exactly where to go. She carried in her bag a big, heavy ring full of keys - all keys to other people's houses.
Ils devaient prendre deux bus pour arriver à destination et le trajet lui semblait interminable, à moins qu'il ne s'endorme en chemin. Lorsqu'ils descendaient à leur arrêt, ils se trouvaient dans un quartier plus grand et plus lumineux. Les maisons étaient très éloignées de la rue et certaines étaient cachées par de grandes haies. Regarder au bout de la rue, c'était comme regarder par le mauvais bout d'un télescope. Sa mère le guidait à travers ce pays. Elle savait exactement aller. Elle portait dans son sac un gros trousseau de clés - toutes des clés de maisons d'autres personnes.
She would turn one of the keys in the lock. Some of the doors needed two keys. Then presto, they were in. The houses had so many things in them yet still so much space. He like to rub his feet quickly on the thick pile then touch a door knob with one finger and give himself a small electric shock. In the first house they always went straight to the refrigerator. There were things in there he couldn't imagine anyone ever eating - strange looking pastes in jars and horrible concoctions in plastic. His mother would sit him down with a jam sandwich and a glass of milk, then set to work cleaning other people's houses.
Elle tournait l'une des clés dans la serrure. Certaines portes nécessitaient deux clés. Et hop, ils étaient à l'intérieur. Il y avait tellement de choses dans ces maisons, et pourtant il y avait encore tant d'espace. Il aimait frotter rapidement ses pieds sur l'épaisse moquette, puis toucher une poignée de porte avec un doigt et se donner une petite décharge électrique. Dans la première maison, ils allaient toujours directement au réfrigérateur. Il y avait là-dedans des choses qu'il n'imaginait pas que l'on puisse manger - d'étranges pâtes en bocaux et d'horribles concoctions dans du plastique. Sa mère l'asseyait avec un sandwich à la confiture et un verre de lait, puis se mettait à nettoyer les maisons des autres.
And so they would go all day long from one house to another, his mother scrubbing, mopping, vacuuming, cleaning, tidying up, leaving him to his own devices. Often if no-one was home, she would play music on the stereo. There was one record she always put on and sang along to. It had two men and two women on the cover and they all looked sort of blonde except for one of the women had dark hair. The stereo flickered like the controls of a spaceship. Other houses were full of books and sometimes he was allowed to take one of the books down from the shelves and open it up. There were books on war and cricket and movie stars. He liked to look at the pictures and pick out big words that he knew. He was very careful with the books. He was very careful with everything in other people's houses.
Et ainsi, ils allaient toute la journée d'une maison à l'autre, sa mère frottant, passant la serpillière, passant l'aspirateur, nettoyant, rangeant, le laissant à lui-même. Souvent, si personne n'était à la maison, elle mettait de la musique sur la chaîne stéréo. Il y avait un disque qu'elle mettait toujours et qu'elle chantait en même temps. Il y avait deux hommes et deux femmes sur la pochette, et ils avaient tous l'air blonds, sauf l'une des femmes qui avait les cheveux noirs. La chaîne stéréo scintillait comme les commandes d'un vaisseau spatial. D'autres maisons étaient remplies de livres et parfois il était autorisé à prendre un des livres sur les étagères et à l'ouvrir. Il y avait des livres sur la guerre, le cricket et les stars de cinéma. Il aimait regarder les images et repérer les gros mots qu'il connaissait. Il était très prudent avec les livres. Il était très prudent avec tout ce qui se trouvait dans les maisons des autres.
Many of the houses had other children in them. They would rush right past him into the yard. He'd follow them out back where the backyard was as big as the house, sometimes even bigger. He'd play with them for a while then sit on the steps watching them. He felt slower than the others. There was a girl about his age who lived in a house they went to every second Saturday. Her name was Stephanie. She used to take him everywhere with her, wherever she went, all around the house, even into her room. He'd never see his mother until it was time to leave. One Saturday his mother told him Stephanie and her family had moved away. Just like that. He still thinks of her now, twenty years later, moving, laughing, sitting down to dinner, making conversation, making love in other people's houses.
Beaucoup de maisons avaient d'autres enfants. Ils se précipitaient devant lui dans la cour. Il les suivait jusqu'à l'arrière, le jardin était aussi grand que la maison, parfois même plus grand. Il jouait avec eux pendant un moment, puis s'asseyait sur les marches et les regardait. Il se sentait plus lent que les autres. Il y avait une fille de son âge qui vivait dans une maison ils allaient tous les deux samedis. Elle s'appelait Stéphanie. Elle l'emmenait partout avec elle, qu'elle aille, dans toute la maison, même dans sa chambre. Il ne revoyait sa mère que lorsqu'il était temps de partir. Un samedi, sa mère lui annonça que Stéphanie et sa famille avaient déménagé. Comme ça. Il pense encore à elle aujourd'hui, vingt ans plus tard, la regardant bouger, rire, s'asseoir pour dîner, faire la conversation, faire l'amour dans les maisons des autres.





Writer(s): Paul Kelly

Paul Kelly - The A to Z Recordings
Album
The A to Z Recordings
date of release
01-01-2010

1 Dumb Things
2 Adelaide
3 Pretty Place
4 Please Myself
5 Our Sunshine
6 Other People's Houses
7 One More Tune
8 The Oldest Story in the Book
9 Nothing but a Dream
10 No You
11 My Way Is to You
12 Midnight Rain
13 Meet Me In The Middle Of The Air
14 Maralinga (Rainy Land)
15 Luck
16 Love Never Runs on Time
17 Love Is the Law
18 Little Boy Don’t Lose Your Balls
19 Leaps and Bounds
20 Lately
21 King of Fools
22 Just About to Break
23 Jump to Love
24 The Ballad Of Queenie And Rover
25 Jandamarra/Pigeon
26 Smoke Under the Bridge
27 Shane Warne
28 Sweet Guy
29 You Can't Take It with You
30 I Won't Be Your Dog
31 If I Could Start Today Again
32 Don't Explain
33 Difficult Woman
34 Desdemona
35 Deeper Water
36 Cradle of Love
37 Coma
38 Cities Of Texas
39 Charlie Owen's Slide Guitar
40 Change Your Mind
41 Careless
42 (The) Cake and the Candle
43 Bradman
44 Blues for Skip
45 Big Fine Girl
46 Behind the Bowler's Arm
47 Beggar On The Street Of Love
48 Before Too Long
49 Beautiful Promise
50 Be Careful What You Pray For
51 Anastasia Changes Her Mind
52 After the Show
53 Don't Harm the Messenger
54 Don't Stand so Close to the Window
55 Don’t Start Me Talking
56 Down To My Soul
57 I'd Rather Go Blind
58 Somebody's Forgetting Somebody
59 Somewhere in the City
60 South of Germany
61 Standing on the Street of Early Sorrows
62 Stolen Apples
63 Stories of Me
64 Stupid Song
65 Summer Rain
66 Sydney from a 747
67 They Thought I Was Asleep
68 Thoughts in the Middle of the Night
69 To Her Door
70 Until Death Do Them Part
71 When I First Met Your Ma
72 Wintercoat
73 Won't You Come Around?
74 Would You Be My Friend
75 You Broke a Beautiful Thing
76 You Can Put Your Shoes Under My Bed
77 Saturday Night And Sunday Morning
78 Randwick Bells
79 Rally Round The Drum
80 I Keep on Coming Back for More
81 I Don't Know Anything Anymore
82 I Close My Eyes and Think of You
83 I Can't Believe We Were Married
84 How to Make Gravy
85 Going About My Father's Business
86 Glory Be to God
87 (The) Gift That Keeps on Giving
88 God Told Me To
89 I Wasted Time
90 Gathering Storm
91 From Little Things Big Things Grow
92 Forty-Eight Angels
93 Forty Miles to Saturday Night
94 Foggy Highway
95 The Foggy Fields Of France
96 Everything's Turning to White
97 Everybody Wants to Touch Me
98 Every Fucking City
99 Emotional
100 From St Kilda To Kings Cross

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