Does anyone with a knowledge of French have an idea what the title song in this film (which is nominated for an Oscar for Best Original Song) is about? Some reviews say it is complete nonsense, but I would think it would be unlikely for song that is deliberately nonsense to be nominated.
The song does have a composer and a lyricist named.
Well, the closing credits has the song sung in English, but I don’t remember much of the lyrics (the song grooves like crazy, though–it’ll be a treat to see it performed at the ceremony).
As for preivously nominated nonsense songs, “Bibbidi-Bobbidi-Boo” from Disney’s Cinderella is largely gobbledy-book, but it got nominated. And the largely ridiculous “Say You Say Me” won!
I’m sure I’ll be buying the score soon (it’s a terrific piece) so I’ll report back then. Oh, and one of the nominated lyricists (Sylvain Chomet) is also the director of the film.
They nominated TWO songs from White Nights incredible!
Well this blog –
http://www.boucledor.net/blog/2003/09/24/4998-LeRendezvousM – appears to have the French lyrics. I don’t how accurate they are, but when I plug them into http://babelfish.altavista.com/babelfish/tr , I get:
*…Swinging Belleville go
Marathon dance hall doop dee doop
Balas Cancan voodoo taboo
To Belleville swinging go
I do not want to finish my life in Singapore
I say myself how to eat small furnaces
Me I want to be idioticE
Three times over idioticE
Gondoler like a triplette of Belleville …*
Okay… I think babelfish has a long way to go. However, it does appear that French-speaking people are as confused by the song as the rest of us.
The petit fours in the lyrics are French pasteries, not “little furnaces”. The verb gondoler means to bend or warp.
I’ve listened to the CD which has an English version. It doesn’t make much more sense than the Babelfish translator.
But damn is the tune catchy.
What is the “title” song? “Bellville Rendez-Vous”? There doesn’t seem to be a song called “Triplets Of Bellville” on the soundtrack album:
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B000168ACI/qid=1077058696/sr=2-1/ref=sr_2_1/102-9235560-8488932
I have the CD of the soundtrack, and different remixes of the song account for about six of the tracks. Here’s what the chorus sounds like to me:
Swinging Belleville rendez-vous
Congo dancing*, whoop-de-doo
Voodoo, ca-ca**, big taboo
Swinging Belleville rendez-vous
*A reference, I thought, to Josephine Baker’s “Banana Dance,” represented in the opening nightclub sequence.
**“Ca-ca” is whispered in some versions, and changed to “Can-Can” in others.
Saw it on Sunday, loved it! although it lagged in places. Bought the CD right afterwards; unfortunately, there’s no translation and no lyrics in the booklet. The English version is pretty hard to understand so I guess it’s supposed to be scat-influence nonsense lyrics, although the ‘demo version’ mix seems to have coherent lyrics.
Is Bruno the dog male or female? Obviously Bruno’s a boy dog’s name but it seemed to have distinctive nipples. Being a girl would fit with the female power theme of the movie.
[QUOTE=Revtim]
What is the “title” song? “Bellville Rendez-Vous”? There doesn’t seem to be a song called “Triplets Of Bellville” on the soundtrack album:
Belleville Rendez-Vous is an alternate title for the film.
http://film.guardian.co.uk/News_Story/Critic_Review/Guardian_review/0,4267,1030893,00.html
[quote=Walloon]
The petit fours in the lyrics are French pasteries, not “little furnaces”.
[/quotes]
I should have realized that right away. I’ve enjoyed petits fours. I’m not sure how to eat little furnaces.
J’ai honte.
I seem to recall seeing conspicuous balls on Bruno. He’d be a fine match for Hank Hill’s dog Lady Bird.
Here’s my translation, from the link posted above:
Of course, this doesn’t make much sense, but most of the nonsense comes from rhymes that disapear when translated into English.