"La religieuse"is the song which gave the title to the album which Brassens released in 1969.
This song may cause offence through its sexual content and also Brassens’ typical disrespect for organised religion.
This song may cause offence through its sexual content and also Brassens’ typical disrespect for organised religion.
The girl who is the subject of this
song had had her head shaven on becoming a nun, with the aim of erasing her
beauty and the sexual allure that that implied.
The charms of her body had been hidden for life in a shapeless black robe
down to the floor.
However on Sundays, when she attended
mass, she wore the striking headgear which some orders of nuns had contrived
to introduce in spite of the obvious vanity.
This enhanced the beautiful face with which she had been gifted.
The effects of this untouchable woman of mystery on the imaginations of the men (and boys) in the congregation are vividly described. These reactions were certainly not in keeping with the aims of religious authorities who might seek to repress human sexuality.
In this song Brassens contrasts the lurid vitality of human imagination with a cold,sterile reality.
I think that students of French language will appreciate the clarity of this recording made by Manuel Hernandez in June 2015
The effects of this untouchable woman of mystery on the imaginations of the men (and boys) in the congregation are vividly described. These reactions were certainly not in keeping with the aims of religious authorities who might seek to repress human sexuality.
In this song Brassens contrasts the lurid vitality of human imagination with a cold,sterile reality.
I think that students of French language will appreciate the clarity of this recording made by Manuel Hernandez in June 2015
Tous les cœurs se
rallient à sa blanche cornette(1),
Si le chrétien succombe
à son charme insidieux,
Le païen le plus sûr,
l'athée le plus honnête
Se laisseraient aller
parfois à croire en Dieu.
Et les enfants de
choeur font tinter leur sonnette...
Il paraît que dessous
sa cornette fatale,
Qu'elle arbore(2) à la
messe avec tant de rigueur,
Cette petite soeur
cache, c'est un
scandale!
Une queue de cheval et
des accroche-cœurs(3).
Et les enfants de
choeur s'agitent dans les stalles(4)...
Il paraît que, dessous
son gros habit de bure(5),
Elle porte coquettement
des bas de soie,
Festons, frivolités,
fanfreluches, guipures(6),
Enfin, tout ce qu'il
faut pour que le Diable y soit.
Et les enfants de
choeur ont des pensées
impures...
Il paraît que le soir,
en voici bien d'une autre !
(7)
À l'heure où ses
consoeurs sont sagement couchées
Ou débitent pieusement
des patenôtres,
Elle se déshabille
devant sa psyché.(8)
Et les enfants de
choeur ont la fièvre, les pauvres...
Il paraît qu'à loisir
elle se mire nue,
De face, de profil, et
même, hélas ! de dos,(9)
Après avoir, sans gêne,
accroché sa tenue
Aux branches de la
croix comme au portemanteau.
Chez les enfants de
choeur le Malin s'insinue...
Il paraît que, levant
au ciel un oeil complice,
Ell' dit : "Bravo,
Seigneur, c'est du joli travail !"
Puis qu'elle ajoute
avec encor' plus de malice :
"La cambrure des
reins, ça, c'est une
trouvaille !"
Et les enfants de
choeur souffrent un vrai supplice...
Il paraît qu'à minuit,
Bonne Mère, c'est pire :
On entend se mêler,
dans d'étranges accords,
La voix énamourée des
anges qui soupirent
Et celle de la soeur
criant "Encore ! Encore !"
Et les enfants de
choeur, les malheureux, transpirent...
Et monsieur le curé,
que ces bruits turlupinent,
Se dit avec raison que
le brave Jésus
Avec sa tête, hélas !
déjà chargée d'épines,
N'a certes pas besoin
d'autre chose dessus.
Et les enfants de
choeur, branlant du chef(10), opinent...
Tout ça, c'est des faux
bruits, des ragots, des sornettes,
De basses calomnies par
Satan répandues.
Pas plus
d'accroche-coeurs sous la blanche cornette
Que de queue de cheval,
mais un crâne tondu.(11)
Et les enfants de
choeur en font, une binette(12)...
Pas de troubles
penchants dans ce coeur rigoriste,
Sous cet austère habit,
pas de rubans suspects.
On ne verra jamais la
corne au front du Christ (13)
Le veinard sur sa croix
peut s'endormir en paix,
Et les enfants de
choeur se masturber (14), tout tristes...
Album La religieuse (1969)
Georges Brassens
|
All hearts are won over by her nun’s white cornette,
If the Christian succumbs to its insidious
charm,
The staunchest pagan, the most open atheist
Would sometimes go as far as believing
in God
And young choristers make their little bells
tinkle.
It appears that under her fatal cornette
Which she shows off at mass with so much rigour,
This little sister hides, it’s a scandal!
A pony tail and several kiss-curls.
And the young choristers get worked up in their
pews
It appears that under her loose homespun
nun’s robe,
She wears seductively stockings of silk
Scallops, fancy items, frills and flounces,
guipures
In short all it takes for the devil to be
there.
And the young choristers get thoughts that
are impure.
It appears that at night, here’s a very big shock!
When her fellow nuns properly are tucked in
bed
Or piously
reciting their Pater Nosters
She takes off her clothes before her
full-length mirror.
And the choristers’ temperatures soar, poor
lads.
It seems she takes her time gazing at herself nude,
Full frontal, in profile even alas rear-view,
After hanging her outfit with no inhibition
On the arms of the cross as if on a coat-stand.
With the choristers the Devil sneaks himself
in…..
It seems, raising a knowing eye up to heaven
She says: ”Well done Lord, that’s a fine piece
of work!”
Seems that then she adds, even more
mischievously:
The curve of the behind is something special
And the choristers experience real torture.
It seems, at midnight Holy Mother, things
get worse:
One hears blending together in strange harmonies
The love-stricken voice of angels who are
sighing ,
And that of the Sister yelling “Again!
Again!”
And the wretched choristers, break into a
sweat.
And the reverend priest who’s disturbed
by these noises
Tells himself quite rightly that the good lord
Jesus
With his head, alas, already laden with
thorns
Certainly does not need anything else put on
it
And the shuddering choir nod their heads in
agreement.
All this talk is false rumour, nonsense, balderdash,
The basest of slander spread around by Satan
No more are there kiss curls beneath the
white cornette
Than any pony tail, but a skull shaven bald
And the young choristers screw their faces at that.
No dark inclinations in this rigorist heart
Beneath this austere robe no suspicious
ribbons
One will never see horns on the forehead
of Christ.
The lucky fellow on his cross can sleep in
peace
And the choir-boys, glumly, can do it for themselves...
|
This is Brassens singing the song in concert at the Bobino in 1969
La religieuse Translation Notes
1) Se rallient à sa blanche cornette –
“Cornette” translates in English « cornet », the headgear
of certain orders of nuns, pictured previously. In this first line, Brassens is
making play with a famous rallying cry in French history. Before the battle of Ivry in 1590, Henry of
Navarre’s rallying cry was “Ralliez-vous à mon panache blanc”. Se rallier à means to join/ change sides to a
certain cause.
2) Arborer means to wear with a sense of
ostentation
3)
Un accroche-cœur This is a curl of
hair worn over the the forehead or temple, which my French source tells me is a
traditional device of sexual seduction.
The same source gave me the picture below.
Une queue de cheval - I am taking this to mean pony tail. However, in old superstition, finding animal parts hidden in some-one’s clothing was proof of a person’s communion with the devil.
Une queue de cheval - I am taking this to mean pony tail. However, in old superstition, finding animal parts hidden in some-one’s clothing was proof of a person’s communion with the devil.
(4) les stalles... In English as in French church
choirs sit in choir “stalls” but, because of the previous mention of horses, I prefer to say “pews” realising that there is
the same dual meaning of “stall”in French
and my fear of the distraction of a false association might be
unfounded.
(5) Bure refers to homespun material but it is used
for the frock worn by clergy. Thus “porter
la bure” means to be a monk.
(6) Guipure – My dictionary tells me that this is heavy
lace consisting of embroidered motifs held together by large connecting
stitches.
(7)
en voici bien d'une autre ! This is an
expression to prepare for a surprising revelation about to be made.
(8) sa psyché.
This word has two meanings in French. Firstly, it is the name given to the long
mirrors which tilt on a pivot, used for example in fashion shops. Secondly as used by Brassens here, there is a
reference to the derivation of the word.
In Greek mythology, Psyche was a woman of exceptional beauty. The young nun is therefore gazing at her own
striking beauty.
(9) même, hélas ! de dos – From other songs we know
that Brassens particularly admired the well- rounded female bottom see "Venus callipyge"
(10) branlant du chef, opinent... « opiner de
la tête » means to nod your head in agreement. “Branler la tête/ branler du chef” mean to
shake/ wag your head. Some French
commentators say that Brassens is suggesting the choir boys were shaking something else.
(11) un
crâne tondu- The heads of nuns are shaven bald. We note the outrage that Brassens always felt
to see those in power hurting the susceptible or the helpless and we think of his song: “La Tondue”
(12)
les enfants de choeur en font, une binette. – In normal usage une binette is a
garden tool – a hoe. However in familiar language, it is an alternative word (unflattering
usually) for face or facial expression, just as in English we use the word “mug”.
(13) On ne verra jamais la corne au front du Christ
- As the little nun obeys her nun’s vows strictly, there is no question of her
being unfaithful to her husband Jesus Christ.
When a girl or woman becomes a nun she undergoes a ceremony of marriage
to Jesus Christ, wearing a wedding dress and wedding ring, lying prostrate on
the Church floor.
Explanation of “La corne”. In France when a married woman deceives her
husband, they say that her unfortunate partner « porte des cornes » -
that is he wears horns. Why is the image
relevant? It is said that when a wife is
unfaithful the last person to realise it is the husband. Thus the deceived husband walks around with
horns on his head but everyone sees them but the victim.
(14) Many listeners will have had suspicions from
the start that the excited choirboys might be doing something private under
their cassocks and might have appreciated it as a gentle suggestion.. However here in the last line Brassens
deliberately shocks us by telling us bluntly what had been going on. Some of us
translators would prefer to keep the ambiguity and I am taking that liberty in
my translation, but readers should suit themselves according to their personal
reactions.
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