Paroles et traduction Aristide Bruant - À la Villette

À la Villette

Il avait pas encor' vingt ans,
I' connaissait pas ses parents,
On l'appelait Toto Laripette,
A la Villette.

Il était un peu sans façon,
Mais c'était un joli garçon:
C'était l'pus beau, c'était l'pus chouette,
A la Villette.

Il était pas c'qui a d'mieux mis,
Il avait pas des beaux habits,
I' s'rattrapait su' sa casquette,
A la Villette.

Il avait des p'tits yeux d'souris,
Il avait deux p'tits favoris,
Surmontés d'eun' fin' rouflaquette,
A la Villette.

Y en avait pas deux comm' lui pour
Vous parler d'sentiment, d'amour;
Y avait qu'lui pour vous fair' risette,
A la Villette.

Il avait un gros chien d'bouvier
Qu'avait eun' gross' gueul' de terrier,
On peut pas avoir eun' levette,
A la Villette.

Quand i' m'avait foutu des coups,
I' m'demandait pardon, à g'noux,
I' m'appelait sa p'tit' gigolette,
A la Villette.

De son métier i' faisait rien,
Dans l' jour i' balladait son chien,
La nuit i' rinçait la cuvette,
A la Villette.

I' f'sait l'lit qu' i' défaisait pas,
Mais l'soir, quand je r'tirais mon bas,
C'est lui qui comptait la galette,
A la Villette.

Quéqu'fois, quand j'faisait les boul'vards,
I' dégringolait les pochards
Avec le p'tit homme à Toinette,
A la Villette.

I' m'aimait autant que j' l'aimais,
Nous nous aurions quitté jamais
Si la police était pas faite,
A la Villette.

Y a des nuits oùsque les sergots
Les ramass'nt, comm' des escargots,
D'la ru' d' Flande à la Chopinette,
A la Villette.

Qu'on l'prenn' grand ou petit, rouge ou brun,
On peut pas en conserver un:
I' s'en vont tous à la Roquette,
A la Villette.

La dernièr' fois que je l'ai vu,
Il avait l'torse à moitié nu,
Et le cou pris dans la lunette,
A la Roquette.

In La Villette

He was not yet twenty,
He did not know his parents,
We called him Toto Laripette,
In La Villette.

He was a little bit cheeky,
But he was a handsome boy:
He was the most beautiful, he was the cutest,
In La Villette.

He was not the best dressed,
He did not have beautiful clothes,
He made up for it with his cap,
In La Villette.

He had little mouse eyes,
He had two little sideburns,
Topped with a fine side curl,
In La Villette.

There were not two like him
To talk to you about feelings, about love;
There was only him to make you smile,
In La Villette.

He had a big cattle dog
Who had a big terrier's mouth,
You can't have a lapdog,
In La Villette.

When he had hit me,
He asked me for forgiveness, on his knees,
He called me his little playmate,
In La Villette.

He did nothing for a living,
In the day he walked his dog,
At night he cleaned the toilet,
In La Villette.

He made the bed that he unmade,
But in the evening, when I took off my stockings,
It was him who counted the money,
In La Villette.

Sometimes, when I strolled the boulevards,
He helped drunkards to come down,
With Toinette's little man,
In La Villette.

He loved me as much as I loved him,
We would never have left each other
If the police had not been there,
In La Villette.

There are nights when the cops
Pick them up like snails,
From the rue de Flandre to the Chopinette,
In La Villette.

Whether you take him tall or short, red or brown,
You can't keep one:
They all go to La Roquette,
In La Villette.

The last time I saw him,
His torso was half naked,
And his neck was caught in the loop,
At La Roquette.