Paroles et traduction Edith Piaf - La petite boutique

La petite boutique

Je sais, dans un quartier d? sert,
Un coin qui se donne des airs
De province aristocratique
J'y d? couvris l'autre saison,
Encastr? e entre deux maisons,
Une miniscule boutique.
Un beau chat noir? tait vautr?
Sur le seuil quand je suis entr? e.
Il leva sur moi ses prunelles
Puis il eut l'air en me voyant
De se dire: "Tiens! Un client...
Quelle chose sensationnelle!"

Ce magazin d'antiquit? s
Excitait ma curiosit?
Par sa d? su? te apparence.
Une clochette au son f? l?
Se mit? tintinnabuler.
Dans le calme et ti? de silence,
Soudain, sorti je ne sais d'o?,
Un petit vieillard aux yeux doux
Me fit un grand salut baroque
Et j'eus l'? trange sentiment
De vivre un tr? s ancien moment
Fort? loign? de notre? poque.

Je marchandais un vieux bouquin
Dont la reliure en maroquin
Gardait l'odeur des chambres closes
Lorsque, je ne sais trop comment,
Je me mis, au bout d'un moment,
A parler de tout autre chose
Mais le vieux ne connaissait rien.
Quel? tonnement fut le mien
De constater que le bonhomme
Ne savait rien,? videmment,
Des faits et des? v? nements
Qui passionnaient les autres hommes.

Il ignorait tout de ce temps,
Aussi bien les gens importants
Que les plus c? l? bres affaires
Et c'? tait peut-? tre cela
Qui, dans ce tranquille coin-l?,
Cr? ait cette? trange atmosph? re.
J'acquis le bouquin poussi? reux
Et je partis le c? ur heureux.
Le chat noir, toujours impassible,
Dans un petit clignement d'yeux
Parut me dire, malicieux:
"Tu ne croyais pas? a possible!..."

Je m'en allai, et puis voil?.
Mon anecdote finit l?
Car cette histoire ne comprend
Ni chute, ni moralit?
Mais quand je suis trop affect? e
Par le potins que l'on colporte,
Par les scandales d? go? tants,
Par les proc? d? s r? voltants
Des requins de la politique,
Afin de mieux m'? loigner d'eux
Je vais passer une heure ou deux
Dans cette petite boutique...

The Little Antique Shop

I know, in a deserted quarter,
A corner that gives itself airs
Of aristocratic province
There I discovered the other season,
Squeezed between two houses,
A tiny little shop.
A beautiful black cat was sprawled
On the threshold when I entered.
He raised his pupils at me
Then he seemed to say to me, seeing me:
"Look! A customer...
What a sensational thing!"

This antique shop
Excited my curiosity
By its strange appearance.
A bell with a cracked sound
Began to jingle.
In the calm and tepid silence,
Suddenly, out of nowhere,
A little old man with gentle eyes
Gave me a grand, baroque salute
And I had the strange feeling
Of living a very old moment
Far from our era.

I was bargaining for an old book
Whose binding in morocco
Preserved the scent of closed rooms
When, I don't know how,
I began, after a moment,
To speak of something else
But the old man knew nothing.
What astonishment was mine
To constater that the good man
Knew nothing, evidently,
Of the facts and the events
That fascinated other men.

He was ignorant of everything about the time,
As well as important people
As the most celebrated affairs
And perhaps it was that
That, in this quiet corner,
Created this strange atmosphere.
I acquired the dusty book
And I left with a happy heart.
The black cat, still impassive,
In a little blink of the eye
Seemed to tell me, maliciously:
"You didn't think that was possible!..."

I went away, and then it was over.
My anecdote ends there.
For this story comprises
Neither fall nor morality.
But when I am too affected
By the gossip that is peddled,
By the disgusting scandals,
By the revolting procedures
Of the sharks of politics,
In order to better distance myself from them
I will spend an hour or two
In this little shop...